Hello Living Wightman Supporters!
Haringey has recently been consulting on its proposals for safety and accessibility improvements to Wightman Road and Alroy Road - a copy of the consultation document can be found attached to the first post in a HarringayOnline discussion thread here. Living Wightman has submitted the below comments - we would encourage our supporters to email their views and suggestions too, to frontline.consultation@haringey.gov.uk (consultation closes on 17th August 2018):
- Living Wightman strongly supports the removal of pavement parking in order to meet government design guidelines for minimum pavement widths, enabling full use of the pavement by pedestrians including those with buggies or using mobility aids or wheelchairs,
Figure 1: Pavement parking makes walking unsafe or even impossible - Living Wightman also strongly supports the removal of “pedestrian refuge islands” which create dangerous pinch points for cyclists on an already hostile road with over 1000 vehicle movements per hour for most of the day (actually higher than some neighbouring A-roads such Figure 2 “Refuge islands” are dangerous for cyclists
- Living Wightman has serious concerns about the introduction of new “informal pedestrian crossings” to replace the refuge islands. We understand these crossings comprise simply of red anti-skid paint. We do not believe these are appropriate for a road which experiences traffic
Figure 3: "Informal crossing" on Endymion Road is ignored by both drivers and walkers and has not created a safe crossing - Living Wightman requests that Haringey Council exercises its power to revoke the classification of Wightman and Alroy Roads as the B138. The existence of the classification undoubtedly misleads drivers to believe that the road is suitable for through-traffic and this
Figure 4: Google and other maps suggest Wightman is wider than the Ladder rungs – it isn’t - Living Wightman is disappointed that the council is not moving forward with any measures to reduce traffic on Wightman Road. For example, modal filtering of Wightman Road would eliminate rat-running through-traffic and be strongly aligned with key TfL and Haringey strategies to increase the proportion of journeys made by walking and cycling and reduce reliance on motor vehicles. Modal filtering was supported by 61% (279/456 responses)
Figure 5: Modal filter on Eade Road allows walking and cycling but prevents vehicular through traffic - Living Wightman requests that the works contractors should be provided with a detailed itinerary of signposts and other street furniture that should be removed as part of the proposed works. Removal of redundant street furniture is often overlooked when new
Figure 6: Example of signpost to be removed - Living Wightman requests that further automatic traffic count surveys should be carried out once the works are completed, using pneumatic tubes at the same locations on Wightman Road as the previous surveys, to assess the impact on traffic volumes, speeds and quality (e.g. proportion of HGVs).