There is not even a traffic island on this stretch of road. There's one further up, but not a zebra crossing, even though a lot of schoolkids use it.
Here, although it says "20 mph", is a busy and often fast road. Cars heading up the hill are acellerating up something which, by virtue of the walls on either side "feels fast". Certain if you are on a bike, it feels safer to go on the old ashley road, parallel to this.
Kate lived on Milverton Gardens -you can see how pedestrian friendly that is.
If you live here, there is nowhere you can get to without crossing this road or walking all the way down the hill.
On our last visit, the same cars were parked in the same places. They must be "their" bits of pavement.
Because this is just within the 20mph zone, the anti-20mph people will cite this as an example of how 20 mph zones don't work. Sadly, in this instance -it wasn't enough.
Jon Rodgers recently posted that funding has now been secured to make a safe crossing on Ashley Hill where the path comes up from the Farm and meets the railway line.
ReplyDeleteI live just off of that section of Ashley Down Road and cycle down it often and find that the 20 mph limit is seldom observed. It's a bit of a joke really.
Sad news. I'm one the hippies who used to live in St Weburghs and had a friend who lived in Milverton Gardens so I know the area pretty well.
ReplyDeleteCrossing Ashley (Down?) Road is often a frustrating experience. Even where there is an island, just below Hurlingdon (formerly Hurtle-down Rd), I'd often find myself patiently waiting literally minutes as a stream of cars whistled by, none of them allowing me to cross.
Maybe it would be a good idea if pedestrians weren't given the faulse impression that traffic is doing 20MPH.
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