Getting the hump

Sometimes the human race makes me sick

An interesting quote, don't you think. Where does it come from? Now this may surprise you. It comes from Chapter 10 of the Cursed Earth Chronicles, which was part of a Judge Dredd story from around 1978. It was said by Judge Dredd in response to the senseless slaughter of the children of a harmless and defenceless alien.

This is probably the strangest way to start a blog about the removal of road humps in my road, but I'm sorry to say this is exactly how I feel about what has happened. Since the Labour / Lib Dem administration were booted out of office in 2002 by the electorate of Barnet, Barnet Council has been persuing a policy of road hump removal in Barnet. The messiah of this "motorist first" policy is Councillor Brian Coleman and it is the reason for the existence of this blog.

Have you ever been run over? I was in 1988. I was hit, crossing Burnt Oak Broadway in 1988. The driver told the police that he was travelling at 40 mph. let me tell you what it was like. The pain in my thigh, which bore the brunt of the impact was so severe, that I screamed like a baby until I was given some pethadin. Then I was a bit more chilled. The doctors told me that usually people died when they were hit at this speed. They said that if I hadn't been training to run a marathon and I didn't have well developed muscles in my legs, I would be toast. Sadly at the time they missed the stress fractures in my spine, which have caused problems ever since. It rather made me appreciate the difference between 30 pmh and 40 mph.

My son is now 10. Do you have any children (Brian Coleman doesn't so most likely doesn't understand this). On Saturday, I took him for the first time to the City of Manchester Stadium, for the City Vs Wolves game. We had a great day. My kids bringme more joy than anything. When he was 3 years old, I was putting the rubbish out and left the front door of my house open. My son ran out of the house, across the pavement and into the road. As there was a road hump, the car which was travelling down Millway, was doing 20 MPH and stopped short of him. I felt terrible. I would say that any parent who has experienced such a moment would understand. I guess a man such as Coleman doesn't. You make a silly mistake and seconds later, given the grace of God you are on your knees giving thanks for sparing your sons life.

So why the blog? Last Tuesday, we got a letter from Barnet Council saying that the following day our road was being resurfaced. By Friday, our road had a fantastic new surface, free of potholes. It is also free of humps. As it is used as a ratrun between Mill Hill Broadway and the A1/A41, we now have a speed track outside the front door. Before the humps were put in, we'd regularly lose wing mirrors and get scrapes. Had my son ran out today in front of a car, he'd be toast. Were we consulted? No, the letter said that the consultation will follow. Residents of Uphill Road were consulted, all but 3 said they wanted humps retained, Barnet Council ignored them. According to Brian Coleman "The Motorist comes first".

The consultation is a waste of money. Nothing will change Colemans mind. It is money down the drain, to pretend that they care. They don't. The cost of the consultation would save a care assistents job. It is all window dressing. The road has been resurfaced, the consultation should have taken place beforehand. Getting the road amended now will be prohibitively expensive.

If and when my car is damaged, I will be sending Coleman the repair bill and taking the Council to court for it if necessary. If any of my loved ones are injured or killed as a result of cars speeding, then I will sue the council for failing in their duty of care to my family and for negligence in preventing an accident which would not have happened previously.

What really makes me sick though, is that this administration which cares nothing for the children who cross our roads has been re-elected twice now and Coleman has been put in charge of the Fire Authority by Boris Johnson, when his attitude to the well being of the people he has a duty to has been known for years.

Sometimes I'm ashamed to be a Barnet resident.

Getting the Humps !!!!

Let me tell you about Mr Novak. Mr Novak lives in Uphill Road, Mill Hill. For those of you who don't know Uphill Road, it is one of Barnet's most well to do roads. It is also used by many children walking to Mill Hill County High School. It is also used as a ratrun by many drivers travelling between Totteridge Lane and Mill Hill Circus roundabout. You don't have to be a genius to see that this is a potentially dangerous mix.

The previous Council addressed this problem by putting in road humps. The current Tory administration resurfaced the road and as they are "pro car" removed the humps. To moderate the speed on the road, they installed 4 speed operated warning signs which tell you to slow down if you exceed 30 mph. These 4 signs replace 14 humps.

Now cars, if they wish can hurtle up the road as fast as they like. Mr Novak sees this every day. Being a responsible citizen, he decided to do something about it. He lobbied his neighbours and managed to get all but three of them to support him in his campaign to reinstate the humps. As I was leaving last Mondays lobby of the Barnet Council Cabinet, I saw Mr Novak going in. I recognised him as he is a customer of my studio. I thought I'd see what he was up to.

He had spent his time preparing his case and he gave a presentation to the Cabinet of Barnet Council. Mr Novak presented a very compelling case and was clearly on top of his brief. The Cabinet listened. Mr Novak explained how

a) There was near unanimous support for the humps to come back by residents
b) How there have been a string of minor accidents caused by speeding cars
c) The only objections were from the emergency services and these fears could be shown to be unfounded
d) There were 14 humps, there are 4 signs. Motorists soon learn that the signs are merely advisory & hurtle past them
e) The road is one of the most popular thoroughfares for children and they were at risk

Mr Novak has clearly given many presentations and was very impressive. When he finished, the Leader asked councillors if any would like to question Mr Novak. To my surprise, they all chickened out. Mr Novak was dismissed.

Councillor Andrew Harper, supremo for roads stepped up to demolish Mr Novaks case. The trouble is, unlike MrNovak, although Harper is a lovely bloke, he's rather dim. It seems as if maths is not his strong point. He announced that a speed survey had refuted Mr Novaks claims of speeding. The average speed of cars on Uphill road is 29.6mph he triumphantly announced. Now as Mr Novak had been dismissed he couldn't point out a couple of rather obvious facts to Harper. Firstly if the average speed is 29.6mph, this must mean that almost 50% of cars are breaking the speed limit. As the road is prone to congestion at busy times, some of the cars are travelling at a virtual standstill. Harper didn't reveal how many cars were travelling at or above 40mph a day, although he surely knows. 40mph is the speed at which 95% of children will die if hit.

As to the accidents, he stated that as no one had been hurt yet, there was no case to answer. It seems the Harper strategy is wait for a child to be killed or injured, then look at the problem. I suppose that when this happens a Council Officer will get the sack.

Harper also stated that the emergency services objected to the reinstatement of humps. He didn't address Mr Novak's points that these could be shown to be invalid. The humps were down for years. If there was a case to answer about the humps delaying emergency vehicles, these would have been available. One other point of note, several teenagers have been killed by speeding police cars. Maybe there is a case for slowing these down where children are walking. Let me just quickly summarise what shocked, amazed and disgusted me about this.

1. The opinion of residents were ignored
2. The facts were ignored
3. The figures were misrepresented
4. Mr Novak was treated with contempt and not even given the opportunity to answer questions

Perhaps the thing which most shocked me is the fact that Mill Hill is a marginal ward. It has 2 Lib Dems and 1 Tory Councillor. Uphill Road, one of Barnets most wealthy roads should be staunch Tory territory. The sheer contempt for their core voters was stunning. Harper told Mr Novak that Barnet was a pro car Tory Council who don't like roadhumps. If this is how their "core voters" are treated, it's no surprise that the rest of us don't stand a chance.

Following on from the sheltered housing debate, it demonstrated, in it's own way exactly what is wrong with Barnet's Conservatives. I don't suppose Harper will take much notice of me, I don't suppose he takes much notice of anyone apart from his boss, Mike Freer.