Ashley Brown wrote:
Is Queen's Gate - Prince Consort Road - Ex. Road viable? An extra
stop outside the Royal Albert Hall as well perhaps?
(snip)
AFAIR, a right turn from Kensington Gore into Exhibition Road is
possible although rather annoying for buses in the same way as the
Harrington Road / Queen's Gate junction where vehicles pass
offside-offside - meaning a bus turning north tends to get stuck next
to a Range Rover turning south as they find it difficult to maneouvre
past each other. (I know whose side I'm on...)

I feel a junction modification coming on... Or a bus modification - I've
always been a fan of a big rubber bumper all round the bus to push
things out of the way .

As long as it can push Range Rovers out the way. Bus-mounted ballistics
might be more effective; whoever sits on the top deck at the front can
man a turret. If that doesn't get people on the buses, I don't know what
will...

(snip)
Incidentally there was yet another taxi/pedestrian/zebra crossing
incident today, this time on the Queen's Gate crossing rather than the
Prince Consort Road one. I'm not sure if it was a student involved
this time.

Any citizens' arrest this time?[1] I quite often take a step back and
wave taxis through if I'm the only person at the crossing there.

Not this time AFAIK. I'm afraid I believe in absolute pedestrian
priority at zebra crossings (these London drivers need to be trained to
stop!), so I only don't step out if I feel my life would be in danger if
I did so... I usually wave thanks to taxis letting me cross though.

I used to be a bit paranoid at zebra crossings as a few years ago as a
driver, I stopped at a zebra crossing to let a lady cross but the van
behind me didn't, and shunted me all the way across the crossing.
Luckily the lady hadn't stepped out, otherwise she'd have been very
badly hurt. Unfortunately, in London, if you just wait at a zebra
crossing, often drivers just don't bother stopping - hence the need for
them to be "taught" to be ready to stop...

Similarly crossing at crossroads where pedestrians are not protected on
a phase, I will always cross unless someone is indicating to turn. If
they don't indicate then they can just wait!

Some of the crossings where pedestrians have a protected phase that is
independent from the crossroad traffic lights and set back from them
(like Queen's Gate / Cromwell Road) can be quite dangerous, as some
drivers just assume the red light is for traffic heading straight on and
doesn't apply to them.

[1] After a low-speed student vs taxi collision on the zebra crossing on
Prince Consort Road, the taxi driver attempted to place the student
under arrest.

I still can't quite envisage how that happened. I'm inclined to think
the student was pratting around, but then the taxi should have been
travelling at an appropriate speed *not* to hit him.

--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London