The council has removed the speed cushions in Swains Lane between Highgate Road and Chester Road as part of road resurfacing work.
They are now asking local residents and statutory consultees whether they agree that the speed cushions to be removed should NOT be reinstated but that the speed limit remains at 20mph.
Click here to see the consultation leaflet
This part of Swains Lane is a busy shopping street and part of the Dartmouth Park 20 mph zone. Without the humps, there would be nothing to enforce or even encourage appropriate speeds.
This probably represents the thin end of the wedge being used by the new council to get rid of speed humps and cushions. It needs to be opposed very forcefully.
CCC’s response
The consultation document states clearly that the speed cushions were put in to combat inappropriate vehicle speeds and that without the speed cushions, this part of Swains Lane would no longer be part of the Dartmouth Park 20 mph zone, because it would not have any speed enforcement measures as required by the government.
To quote from the Slower Speeds Initiative: “In general, every 1mph reduction in average speed is accompanied by a 5% reduction in the number of crashes. Casualty severity is very sensitive to impact speed. Even minor reductions in speed can make the difference between a crash being fatal or serious, and between serious and slight. This relationship is especially important where pedestrians and cyclists are present.”
CCC is watching the speed camera trials in Mansfield Road with interest, but understands that the results will not be available until later this year and that further applications of the technology will not be possible until 2008/9 at least. Therefore there is little likelihood of seeing 20 mph speed cameras in Swains Lane in the near future.
It therefore would be irresponsible not to re-install the speed cushions in this section of Swains Lane unless an alternative method of enforcement is currently on offer. This street includes a busy shopping street and is shown on the London Cycle Guides as a Recommended route on quieter roads.
We are therefore very strongly in support of reinstating the speed cushions.
