COUNCIL TEXT
I am writing to inform you that under the Road Traffic Act 1988 (Section 39), the Council has a duty to prepare and carry out a programme of measures designed to promote road safety. As such the Council has adopted a policy to reduce the number of accidents involving personal injury.
The Council is therefore proposing to improve safety at the junction of Rosslyn Hill/Pond Street/Lyndhurst Road by providing facilities for pedestrians and cyclists. This proposal will form part of a local safety scheme, funded by Transport for London (TfL).
This junction is located in Hampstead, in close proximity of the Royal Free Hospital and between Hampstead and Belsize Park Underground Stations. Hence, has a high pedestrian activity and is heavily used by buses and ambulances.
During the period between 1 August 2001 and 31 July 2003, there were in total 11 recorded accidents (2 serious and 9 slight) of which five involved pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.
The Council’s consultation board on 26 April 2005 approved the report, which recommended that, local safety schemes, whose main aim is to reduce accidents, should not be open for the public to be consulted on the principle of the scheme. However, the public should be informed of the proposals and given the opportunity to provide comments on the proposed scheme.
The Council is informing you of its proposals for improvements at this junction (as shown on the attached drawing), which includes the following:
The implementation of an " all red" traffic signal phase which will allow pedestrians to cross all arms of the junction safely. Currently pedestrians can cross only three arms of the junction as there are no dedicated crossing facilities across the northern arm of Rosslyn Hill, by the House Hotel.
Removal of the existing traffic island on the northern arm of Rosslyn Hill and minor kerb realignment to improve turning manoeuvres for larger vehicles.
We welcome the assistance to pedestrians offered by the all red signal phase for pedestrians.
CCC’s response
We also welcome the proposal to introduce ASLs at all four arms of the junction.
However, we do have concerns about the feeder lanes, which are shown as being very short. The feeder lanes should be long enough to allow cyclists to pass any traffic queue that may form at that location. Our members have reported on the queues experienced at this junction.
The most critical is the one on Pond Street. Cyclists are riding up a steep hill there and should not be expected to lose momentum by stopping half way up due to motor vehicles being too close to the kerb – they therefore require a mandatory lane stretching right back to South End Green. The ride northbound up Rosslyn Hill is also up hill and for similar reasons a mandatory and adequately long feeder lane is essential.
In addition, we are concerned that there is not room to provide adequate feeder lanes in addition to two lanes of traffic on Rosslyn Hill.
