Mill Hill Traffic accident - SLOW DOWN

Many people in and around Mill Hill and Edgware will have been inconvenienced by the accident in Hale Lane yesterday. The Hendon Times reports that

AN 81-year-old Mill Hill man is being treated for suspected fractures of the leg and hip after a traffic incident on Hale Lane yesterday.

The full Times story is available here. Having just returned from a parish council meeting at the Sacred Heart, I am sorry to report that there is a little bit more to the story and it's rather sad. The 81 year old man is a well known and loved member of the local community. He was walking to the bank to pay in proceeds from a charity collection, for a charity which he works. It appears that the car driver lost control and mounted the pavement, breaking his hip. When the news was broken to us, my thoughts went back to one of my mothers more bitter sayings "No good deed ever goes unpunished".

And why do accidents like this happen? Generally because people drive too fast. The location of the accident is approximately 50 yards from Matilda Marks School. I am just thankful that the accident didn't happen as the children were being let out.

The man responsible for roads and highways in Barnet is Councillor Brian Coleman. He has a policy of positively encouraging drivers to "get from a to b as quickly as possible". Traffic calming measures all over Barnet have been ripped out. I'm an advocate of 20 mph zones around schools, which if strictly enforced, may well have prevented this horrible accident. Do we have to wait until some maniac mows down a whole bunch of school children before we see sense. Does Coleman never learn?

Barnet on the radio again for dangerous roads

I awoke to hear the news on BBC London 94.9. Barnet Council was being berated for having the highest number of deaths on the roads last year. Who is the architect of this policy? None other than Brian Coleman, who announced when he took over, that his policy was "Roads,Roads,Roads". His excuse? We have more miles of roads than any other Borough? Yet another example of crass complacency. Coleman has been instrumental in removal of road humps and other traffic calming measures. Who are the main victims? The elderly & children. For fatal road accidents, speed is a major factor. It is an undisputable fact that whilst 90% of victims survive a being hit by  a car travelling at 30mph, at 40mph, 90% die. Barnet has several well known blackspots (Tally Ho corner).

Coleman wants to become the leader. I personally think his crass disregard for other peoples safety should rule him out. He is crass, incompetent and uncaring. Is this the image the Tories really want to project, especially with the GLA elections next year

Another Barnet Council Hypocrite

There is an interesting new press release on Barnet Councils website - Councillor Daniel Thomas, Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, said:

"Encouraging our youngsters to get to and from school using healthy and sustainable forms of transport is a great idea for so many reasons. It teaches the importance of keeping fit and healthy from a younger age while helping to reduce the level of carbon emissions from cars."

Forgive me while I foam at the mouth with rage. One of the Borough of Barnets largest schools is Mill Hill County High School. Many of the children who attend the school live at Poets Corner in Mill Hill. If you look at the map (click on it to enlarge) The school is shown at the top towards the left. Poets Corner is the block of roads towards the bottom right. As you can see, children have to cross Lawrence Street to get to the school. There is no safe crossing on this road.  During the rush hour, when children are crossing, it is a dangerous scrum of traffic, where they cross to access the quickest route via Uphill Road. I've held meetings with Conservative Councillors and the Highways department, but they say "no one has been killed, so it's not a priority". They also said "No children are crossing". Durr, why do you think that is? Because no sane parent would let them. The route is also used by children passing the other way from West of Lawrence Street to Goodwyn School, St Pauls C of E and St Vincents Primary Schools as well as Mill Hill Public. It's all very well for the likes of Councillor Daniel Thomas to urge parents to abandon the car, but they won't spend a penny to make such a move safe.

Now you may be surprised to know that the person who tipped me off about this ridiculous press release wasn't complaining about how the Council can come out with this, when their policies are completely the opposite of what they say. No they were quite rightly drawing attention to the crass hypocricy of a member of Barnet Council claiming they want to get people out of cars, when their own policy is to force the Wardens who look after the elderly of the Borough to have to drive from location to location. As you may know, the High Court declared this policy illegal. Leader of Barnet Council, Lynne Hillan hasn't given up and she's starting the consultation again.

Why is it great for Lynne Hillan to strip sheltered housing residents of their wardens and force them to drive from site to site, but terrible for parents to drive their children to school, when no safe corridor exists. There is a pattern in all of this. Safety - be it that of Children crossing roads, or the elderly in Sheltered housing - it is the least of the Barnet Councils priorities. Car Journeys are great when it is a warden saving the Council money, but awful when it's a normal resident.

Safe Passage

By Boris the Bard,

Whilst we teach our children to cross the roads in as safe as manner a possible what we have is a situation where it is only a matter of time before more lives are lost.

 

The Ridgeway: Belmont School, Mill Hill School, St.Paul's, St.Vincent's. Every single day of the school term, morning and afternoon...chaos. Buses cannot pass and the chosen few in their 4 x 4's give way to nobody. Suggestion: Make it a Red Route on one side, half-on pavement parking the other...and enforce it.I would also point out that the traffic/parking has been made worse by the traffic generated by the new restaurant at Belmont Stables. The car park is impassable due to the snow so customers are parking on what is already the busiest part of the Ridgeway.

 

Lawrence Street/Mill Hill Circus: Mill Hill County High School: A substantial percentage of it's 2,000 plus pupils use this junction. We must have a safe crossing point here. Every single day, traffic emerging from Uphill Road, mainly 4 x 4's use their own special imaginary 3rd lane usually reserved for traffic travelling in the opposite direction. I have seen several accidents here, yet, according to the Police, there have been none. If they don't write it down, it doesn't exist. With the speed restrictions removed from Uphill Road, it is only a matter of time before a tradegy occurs.

 

Dawes Lane /Hammers Lane/Wise Lane: Hideously dangerous "rat-runs" where the traffic regularly exceeds the 30m.p.h limit. Given the proximity of the Mill Hill Park, why nothing to protect pedestrians? The Government and Council implores us to exercise our young. I implore them to give us a safe environment in which to live. 

 

Mill Hill Circus: Give us traffic cameras on the lights before someone dies. Drivers are less likely to shoot the lights if there are cameras: fact.

 

Dollis Junior School: Chaos every morning and afternoon. Parking and u-turns on zig-zags are the norm.

 

At none of these locations are there any Police, traffic or otherwise enforcing the law. The least we can do is to try and make our streets safer for our own children, friends and realtives, it is up to us...it seems that nobody is going to help us. Barnet Council and Transport for London tell us there is no money. Shame on them.

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Boris the Bard is a parent living in Mill Hill. His children have to run the guantlet of cars on their daily journey to school, on roads where he has seen many accidents.

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Brian Colemans latest outburst against Boris Johnson

Brian Coleman is at it again, doing what he does best. Yup he's been shooting his mouth off and slagging off Boris Johnson.

You would think that Brian Coleman would support a Tory Mayor in the run up to a general election, but the normal rules don't apply as far as Brian Coleman is concerned.

According to Brian Coleman,  

"The Mayor has been hoodwinked by Transport for London by imposing a 20mph limit. And the decision to do it through the phasing of traffic lights to deliberately slow the traffic contradicts Boris Johnson’s pledge to rephrase lights to improve traffic flow".

 What on earth does Coleman mean? Boris Johnson is in charge of TFL, he's the CHAIRMAN !!!!!

Does Brian Coleman think Boris has hoodwinked himself?  What Brian Coleman is saying is that Boris Johnson, the has taken charge of TFL and broken key campaign pledges. I bet Boris is so glad that he gave Brian Coleman that nice fat allowance and the job of running the London Fire Service.

We all know about Mayor of Barnet, Brian Colemans attitude to speed limits, road safety and safe driving