After more than a decade of (undoubtedly underwhelming) lobbying by local Tory councillors, Transport for London, under London Mayor Sadiq Khan, is to carry out some significant works on the A22 Godstone Road to provide a safe place for pedestrians to cross the busy road.
Ready for works: engineer markings on the A22 near Kenley Co-op show preparations to build the long called-for zebra crossing
Inside Croydon first reported on the calls for a zebra crossing to be installed close to Kenley Station and Hayes Lane back in 2013, after the latest fatal collision on the stretch of road.
The best that the then Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, and the ineffectual Conservative councillor at the time, Steve “Three Jobs” O’Connell, could come up with was a road island which many considered simply placed pedestrians at increased risk of harm from often recklessly speeding vehicles.
TfL wrote to residents last week to advise of the start of the works “to install a new zebra crossing ” (would they ever install an old one?) on the A22 near the junction with Hayes Lane. “The new crossing will replace the existing uncontrolled pedestrian crossing”, which is also known as “Boris’s Death Trap”.
Works will begin from next Monday, August 11, and continue through to Friday August 29, and will require temporary traffic lights as well as some pavement closures.
Godstone Road will be closed overnight, from 9pm to 5am, on Sunday August 31 to Monday September 1 for carriageway resurfacing.
Works detail: how TfL have advised residents of the A22 project
There will also be some disruption to bus services, with bus stops for routes 407 and 434 by the Kenley Hotel suspended for the duration of the work.
All the works – barring unforeseen circumstances and poor weather – should be completed before the start of the school term in September.
Carriageway works: final touches will see Godstone Road closed overnight on Aug 31/Sep 1
Riddlesdown Collegiate, many of whose pupils have to cross Godstone Road on their way to and from school, stepped up the campaign for a safer crossing following accidents involving children at the crossing. This has been going on for more than two years. It is now a year since TfL staged a consultation about the need for a crossing.
The plans include a speed hump for the zebra crossing, designed to force drivers to slow their vehicles. TfL also intends to provide an enlarged road island, remodel the kerb line, as well as providing new road markings, tactile paving, signage and lighting.
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Well done for the zebra crossing. However I have always been doubtful of the value of a speed table being added to a formal crossing.
A recent Councillor report of a collision in High St, Penge, said that the speeding car from Maple Rd had been launched into the air by the speed table there.
It collided with the Grade II Listed Watermen’s Arms residential gatehouse, of which half the frontage has now been rebuilt.
Injuries occur less on a car hitting pedestrian legs than, as I see, the car bonnet being raised up on hitting the edge of a speed table and so aiming for the upper body with vital organs, more especially for children.
If a car is going to fast, it is too late to be slowing it down at the zebra / speed table itself.
For 99. 999% of the time, a speed table is just causing passenger discomfort, vehicle wear and tear, reducing emergency response times and pain to ambulance patients.
I have spent a while waiting for buses near the Blackheath Station humped pelican crossing. It seems more of a nuisance than offering any safety benefit.
Are you Peter Morgan in disguise?