John Rowland wrote:
Hi all,
I have recently found several roads which have dead-end signs at
both
ends but are not dead ends at all. For instance in North Pinner,
Barrow Point Avenue/Lane has dead end signs at the junctions with
Avenue Road and Oakhill Avenue, but the road between them is a
through road. The condition and age of the tarmac suggest that if a
barrier has been removed, it has not happened recently.
This road is not a useful shortcut for any journey that doesn't
start
or end within a few yards of it, so it is hard to know what purpose
the deceiving signs could serve. I would also like to know whether
there are any councillors living on it, since it seems to be the
roads which contain a councillor or two which are generally deemed
to
be too precious to be used by the Hoi Poloi.
In the long term a policy of deceptive road signs will be counter
productive, because people will stop trusting them.
I live in such a road. On most maps (A-Z, Street Finder, etc.) it
looks as though my road goes into the docks near Canary Wharf. In
reality there is only a pedestrian access to Mill Harbour and the
road goes through two 90 lefts and comes back on itself but vehicles
were virtually queuing up to ask locals how to get into the Docks.
The worst thing was that 40 foot trucks would get to the end, find no
exit and were too long to get round the corners to get out so they
would reverse the whole length of the road with a couple of inches to
spare from the residents' cars either side. Several kids got injured
and there were many more near misses!
I wrote to the Council (Tower Hamlets) several times but got no reply
so, when I had a chance to speak to the head of Highways at a public
meeting, I suggested that they put up signs saying "No Access to
Docklands". This was duly done but because the signs were only
2-foot square black on white nobody noticed them. After further
consultation the Council finally put up proper 'No Through Road'
signs and the problem was solved.
The road isn't a rat-run as it just comes out near where it comes in
but it does get busy with kids and adults going to the Leisure
Centre/Swimming Pool opposite me and the extra traffic and reversing
lorries had made it a nightmare.
BTW I am *not* a councillor, just one of the peasants who found his
voice and used it :-)
--
Phil ,,,^.".^,,,
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