Average speed cameras to blight the life of many Londoners

One of my early pieces on this blog was about the new cameras appearing on the A406 that I thought could become average speed cameras. They didn't but anyone travelling along some of London's main roads will have noticed new gantries and cameras appearing. These are for a new average speed camera system that will soon infest four trial sites and then no doubt spread their revenue raising way across the capital.

The first four road sections to be blighted are the A406 (North Circular Road) from the Hanger Lane Gyratory to Bounds Green Road; the A40 from the Polish War Memorial to the Paddington slip road, the A2 from Black Prince to Tunnel Avenue and the A316 from the M3 to the Hogarth roundabout.

The claim from Transport for London (TfL) is that these are to eradicate accidents at gaps between existing, but obsolete spot speed cameras. But the reality is that they are to a) raise revenue and b) victimise drivers who realise that the 40mph speed limit on most of these roads is set far too low for the quality of the roads.

A report to TfL’s finance policy committee, which approved the spending on the trial, said members had “concerns about the public acceptability” of the new cameras.I bet they have.


In France there would be riots, I'm not suggesting that we go down that route but the motorist needs to fight back somehow. Any suggestions?

I favour a drive slow when 20 motorists in each direction on each section on the same day all drive at 4mph preceded by a man with a red flag, for that is what  the anti-car zealots would like us to return to, after all it would reduce traffic accidents for as well know, 'Speed Kills'. Except it doesn't...

This is of course rubbish as I pointed out over seven years ago

"A DfT strategy paper claimed speed was "a major contributory factor in about a third of all road accidents". The "excessive and inappropriate speed" that helped "to kill about 1,200 people" each year was "far more than any other single contributor to casualties on our roads". The source given for this claim, to be repeated as a mantra by ministers and officials for years to come, was a report from the government's Transport Research Laboratory, TRL Report 323: "A new system for recording contributory factors in road accidents". Not many people would have looked at this report, since it was only available for £45. But some who did were amazed. The evidence the report had cited to support its claim that speed was "a major contributory factor in about a third of all road accidents" simply wasn't there. Many other factors were named as contributing to road accidents, from driving without due care and attention to the influence of drink; from poor overtaking to nodding off at the wheel. But the figure given for accidents in which the main causative factor was "excessive speed" was way down the list, at only 7.3 per cent."

Do read the whole of that piece but this extract might also prove interesting:

"The statistics for Durham showed that, of 1,900 collisions each year, only three per cent involved cars that were exceeding the speed limit, just 60 accidents a year. Look more closely at the causes of these 60 accidents, the "actual cause of the accident invariably is drink-driving or drug-driving". Drug-taking was now involved in 40 per cent of Durham's fatal road accidents. Many accidents, he said, were caused by fatigue, although one of the most common causes was the failure of drivers to watch out for oncoming vehicles when turning right. To none of these could speed cameras offer any remedy. "The cause of accidents," Garvin (chief constable of Durham) concluded, "is clearly something different from exceeding the speed limit"."

Also

"In September 2006, the DfT finally conceded one of the central points that Safe Speed's Paul Smith had been arguing for five years: that only five per cent of road accidents were caused by drivers who were breaking the speed limit. In The Daily Telegraph, Smith was quoted as saying "the government's case for continuing to install cameras has been destroyed"."

So the truth is that speed cameras do not make the roads safer, are not needed and are being used to raise revenue - who would have thought it?

This madness has to stop

From the BBC travel website (my emphasis)

M25 Greater London, clockwise between A127 [M25 junction 29] and A13 Lakeside [M25 junction 30]

M25 Greater London - M25 closed, queueing traffic and long delays clockwise between J29, A127 (Romford) and J30, A13 (Lakeside), because of accident investigation work. Diversion in operation - via the hollow triangle, the A127, A128 and the A13 to rejoin at J30. Congestion to J27 M11.

A406 North Circular Road West London, southbound between Abbey Road and A40 Western Avenue

A406 London - A406 North Circular Road in West London closed, severe delays and queueing traffic southbound between Park Royal and Hanger Lane Gyratory, because of a serious accident involving at least two lorries. Congestion to Henly's Corner and to Chiswick Roundabout.

The accident that closed the M25 happened at 12:30 today; nearly seven hours later, it's still closed. 

The accident that closed the A406 happened at lunchtime; some six hours or so later it's still closed.

I know accidents need investigating and that the injured and their vehicles need clearing from the scene. BUT surely the needs of the thousands of drivers unable to travel where they need to go, or at least delayed for hours, as traffic snarls up around the scene of the accident and in surrounding roads should be taken into account.

After all the A406 incident resulted in about 50m of the central barrier being damaged, three men being injured and taken to hospital - one man was taken as a priority to St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, with neck pain, the other two were treated for shoulder pain at North Middlesex Hospital. Hardly carnage was it.

The M25 incident was more serious as three heavy goods vehicles and five cars were involved in the crash.Essex Fire Service had to cut three people free who were trapped in their vehicles. Two people were airlifted to Royal London Hospital via helicopter and are said to be in a serious condition.
Two adults and a child were taken to Basildon hospital but their injuries are not described as life threatening.

Enjoy today London drivers

London traffic since last Friday has been lovely to drive in. Late July & all of August are always quiet as London's breeders go on holiday but this year is even quieter.

However if like me you have been enjoying the light traffic, today's your last day for from tomorrow the Olympic/Zil Lanes go into 6am to midnight operation... It's not going to be nice out there.

"We don't need no traffic control"?

Back in May 2007 in one of my early bloggings I wrote about a recent failure of some traffic lights that resulted in shorter queues of traffic:

'Traffic leading onto the Chiswick roundabout on a Sunday or Bank Holiday Monday is usually terrible; long queues especially coming from Kew Bridge, from the A4 going east and off the North Circular Road going south. So I was surprised to find hardly any traffic queueing on this Bank Holiday Monday. The reason, the lights had failed and so the traffic was filtering nicely onto the roundabout in the way that people filter onto roundabouts that have no traffic lights on them. There was less traffic queueing on all roads coming onto the roundabout than would normally be the case. I have experienced this before at major crossroads as well, drivers do a better job of managing the traffic movement than does an imposed control system.

I presume that the traffic lights will be fixed early this week and so next weekend the queues will be as big as was previously the case!'

Note that I reported that 'the lights had failed and so the traffic was filtering nicely onto the roundabout'.

I was reminded of this piece by something I read at The UK Libertarian who has posted two videos; the first explains the theory and shows what happens when traffic lights fail at a junction in Central London, the second shows what happens when a local council (Portishead) turns off traffic lights as an experiment. In both case my point that people filter and the traffic runs quicker is confirmed and pedestrians seem happy as well.


The fist junction shown is one I know well being the junction of Goodge Street & Charlotte Street. This is a fairly busy junction during the day and well into the evening as Charlotte Street is a road at its southern end that is devoted to eating and drinking. Watch how the cars, vans, motorcycles and bikes all take it in turns to cross or turn with no hooting, aggression or queues. The second junction is just North of the Barbican and is also a junction I know well having crossed it from each direction many times. Note again the way the traffic flows more easily and how pedestrians are crossing seemingly without having to wait as long as they do now for the lights to change. I have never been to Sweden, let alone Knorrkopping. Will Westminster Council try out this idea or do they earn too much money from junction control cameras?


This is from the Portishead lights-off trial which began on 14 September 2009 and went permanent after journey times fell by over half with no loss of pedestrian safety. Watch the video and especially listen to the woman interviewed before and after the experiment from 1:15 to 2:14.


In the first video do ignore the narrator's comment that 'is it any wonder that polar bears are running out of ice" - someone else seems to have fallen for another piece of eco propaganda.


For more information please visit Fit Roads who have the wonderful slogan/mission statement 'Advancing the right of all road-users to use commonsense on roads free of vexatious traffic controls'. It's not often that the word vexatious appears in a such a place.

The never ending war on the motorist

I have received some flack for declaring that this Labour government have instigated a 'war' on motorists. However the news reported today that a group of government agencies including the Kent Police have commissioned the arms manufacturer BAE systems to adapt military-style planes for civilian use. These unmanned flying drones, similar to those used in Afghanistan, are to be used in Britain to spy on drivers as well as campaigners, agricultural thieves and fly-tippers.

Yes the greatest crime in Labour Britain is to exceed the speed limit by 1mph. I wonder if an upgrade will be to arm these drones so that if a driver is driving more that 10mph over the limit then a rocket is fired and no more 'criminal'. Of course that will never happen as its the fines that the Labour government and the Police want.

If the public were asked would they prefer more police on the beat catching burglars and muggers or spies in the sky? But nobody will ask us as the police need their toys and the government need the income and the control.

More State control

What a surprise, the Commission for Integrated Transport and the Motorists' Forum, which both advise the government, are calling on ministers to promote a wide introduction of a system whereby speed-limiting devices should be fitted to cars on a voluntary basis to help save lives and cut carbon emissions. The device would automatically slow a car down to within the limit for the road on which it is being driven.

Don't let yourselves be fooled, this is not about cutting road accidents, injuries in road accidents or even the Holy Grail of reducing climate change, this is about controlling the public.

Are you looking forward to chaos on the streets of Shepherds Bush, the A40, the Uxbridge Road and Holland Park?

The Westfield Shopping Centre opens on Thursday 30 October and any one living near it or travelling past it on the A40, the Uxbridge Road or around Holland Park can expect jams, jams and more jams.

Westfield's site glibly promises

"Tube, bus, train, bike or car - however you prefer to travel, it really couldn't be easier to get to Westfield London. Two new stations (tube and rail) have been built, plus a new bus station right next door. You won't even have to carry your gorgeous new purchases home. Use our Home Delivery service and your bags will be delivered right to your doorstep."

Somehow I think the reality will be thousands of cars jamming up the Green and the Holland Park Roundabout and blocking my access to Notting Hill.


Interestingly I found an article from The telegraph Property Section from October 2006 that reports:

"A new shopping mall will transform the area. But will it raise standards enough to have an effect on house prices? ... A three-bedroom terrace house just to the south-east in sought-after Brook Green, W14, fetches around £800,000, easily £300,000 more than an equivalent property north of Goldhawk Road in Shepherd's Bush, W12. Only a few hundred yards separate the two postcodes, but it is an economic Grand Canyon.

But now there is a buzz in the petrol-fumed air, a sense that the long-promised property boom could finally be about to happen. And it is all because of a new shopping centre at White City, in the eastern corner of Shepherd's Bush, close to one of London's toughest housing estates.

The giant £1.6bn steel-and-glass Westfield London will be twice the size of Brent Cross, the massive centre off the capital's North Circular ring road. When it opens in 2008, it will hold more than 350 shops (including a "luxury" mall), 40 restaurants, a cinema and a gym. The Australian developers are also overhauling Shepherd's Bush Green and expect the scheme to trigger £1 billion of local regeneration, including new social and private housing....

Canny investors moved in as soon as the project began in earnest around 2000. A three-bedroom house north of the Goldhawk Road (once bandit country in property terms because of its transient, poor population) has gone up from £300,000 to £500,000 in that time.

American-born Chris Conklin has a knack of buying into areas just before a boom - first Notting Hill, then Queen's Park and now Shepherd's Bush. "The area really feels different to when we moved here three years ago," he says. "It was pretty scruffy and there were lots of 'For Sale' boards. Now there are virtually none and everyone wants to live here."

Even 18 months ago when properties in other areas struggled to make their asking price, he says that wasn't the case in W12. "Now prices are really moving again," he adds. Conklin has heavily invested in refurbishing his three-bedroom home in Stowe Road. It is for sale for £615,000, up from a typical £330,000 for an unmodernised house three years ago, through Faron Sutaria (020 8740 7766).

The Westfield London effect has accelerated in the past few weeks, since the coverage of the star-studded launch party. "There has been huge excitement, from locals and people outside the area," says Kerr. "That includes many who wouldn't have looked at Shepherd's Bush before. It will no longer be just a 'suburb' but a smart part of central London."

He claims properties sell in 48 hours - to investors, families and professionals. But how much of that is really due to the mall rather than the shortage of decent properties affecting buyers all over London?"

I wonder how happy the "canny investors" are now as house prices dive across London and they are stuck with a property in Shepherds Bush?

A logical flaw?

The Metro (free London newspaper) had a small piece about Harrow council using number plate recognition technology to identify fly-tippers. The logical flaw came in this sentence:

"Cameras will log the registrations of vehicles that make more than two visits a day to the site..."

I doubt the above is true. First the cameras log nothing, the logging will be done by the equipment that the cameras are attached to. Second, to track what vehicles have visited the site more than twice in a day, surely they will have to log all of the vehicles that visit the site.

Compare and contrast

The government might charge immigrants an extra £20 each to enter the UK, meanwhile Londoners will be charged £25 to enter London if they drive a mid range car. Odd isn't it?

What a surprise, bendy buses are more dangerous than the buses they replaced

Kn introduced bendy buses as a way of allowing his client voters; the poor, the "youf" and the benefit claimants to travel for free by ignoring the Oyster card machines. Now it seems that "Bendy buses have been involved in more accidents on central London routes than the double-deckers they replaced. Figures for two city centre routes show collisions have increased dramatically since the introduction of bendy vehicles. There was a 45 per cent rise in accidents involving the No38 Victoria to Clapton between April 2006 and the same month in 2007, the first full year of bendy buses, compared to the previous 12 months when double-deckers were the main vehicle on the route. Accidents rose by 70 from 154 in 2005/06 to 224 in 2006/07. Another route, the No29 from Wood Green to Trafalgar Square, recorded 58 more accidents when bendy buses were used for their first full year."

No doubt Ken Livingstone and his team of TfL fools will claim otherwise, but then does anyone in London believe a word they say anymore?



One of my first blogs was about people riding for free on bendy buses, you can read that article here, but the key part is "I took a short journey on a bendy bus today and counted the number of people who got into the bus via one of the centre doors without "touching in"; I made it about 40% ignoring the machines. Many people are getting a free ride on London buses, maybe that is what "cuddly" Ken Livingstone wants but do the rest of us really want to subsidise the travel arrangements of freeloaders?"

LEZ to be used as a tax collection device

Brian Paddick has shown he is no more a friend of London than is Mayor Ken Livingstone. It seems that he plans to charge anyone from outside of London £10 to enter the Low Emmissions Zone. He said ""A Greater London congestion charge will have a real impact on congestion and pollution. This is about getting people out of their cars and on to public transport." The man is clearly as out of touch with reality as is Mayor Ken; the tubes are full, so are the buses and people want to use their cars. He has also vowed to scrap the LEZ claiming it puts small businesses at risk - a good idea, just a shame how much money Ken has wasted on setting up the scheme, but that's what Ken is good at - wasting Londoners' money. Another of Mr Paddick's "ideas" is to bring in a "women friendly" carriage on every Tube running from 9pm to closing time seven days a week. A similar scheme would operate on the top 10 most dangerous bus routes, which would carry transport police on late-night journeys. Fantastic, will I as a mere male be allowed a discount as I will not be able to use 100% of the carriages? Why does Brian Paddick not care about men's safety on the tube, just womens? Who are more likely to be victims of violence on the tube, men or women?

Make way for the Politburo member

I referred in anarticle not too long ago about the way that the political class in this country see themselves as more important than us the electorate. I included this thought "This Labour government is so anti-democratic and full of self importance. Do you remember Tony Blair's convoy using the M4 bus lane soon after it opened, far too important to wait in traffic with the voters. When the Olympics are on it has already been decided that certain lanes on London's main roads will be for Olympic related business only, anyone want to bet that this will include all MPs? Pretty soon after that we will have lanes reserved for politicians and party workers and then Gordon Brown and his apparatchiks will be able to drive around in their nice new Zills just like he always dreamed."

Now news from today's Times confirms my worst fears "The team organising the London Olympics in 2012 is adopting the most aggressive anticar policy ever applied to a major event in an attempt to deliver a permanent shift in people’s travel habits. The eight million spectators will be banned from travelling by car and forced to take public transport, walk or cycle."
I'm not going to the Olympics, I didn't want them in London, I was right royally pissed off when we won the right to stage the 2012 Olympics because I knew it was going to go way over budget, cost every tax paying Londoner for years and be an excuse to change our commuting habits.

"The plan discloses that the Olympic Delivery Authority wants to make the Games a testing ground for a radical shift in transport planning to be extended to all major cultural and sporting events. It is even trying to deter spectators from using cars for part of their journey and has cancelled plans in the original bid for two giant park-and-ride sites on the M25 and M11. "
The ODA was not created as a "testing ground for a radical shift in transport planning", it was created to get the Olympics in on time and on budget. Since they will fail on those two measures why not try and succeed in a third area, not that they will. Will the savings from cancelling the two park and ride sites be taken into account when the ODA's next budget overrun is declared? I think not, it will just help them to keep the overruns down a little.

"Even drivers not travelling to the Olympics will be affected by the plan because, for two months around the Games, one lane on several key routes in London will be reserved for 80,000 members of the “Olympic family” – athletes, officials and media. These routes, dubbed “Zil lanes” after the routes reserved for the Soviet Politburo cavalcades in Moscow, are likely to be policed by dozens of cameras and a team of enforcement officers."
This is just the start of this sort of lane reduction policy. It was trialled with the M4 bus lane, a bigger waste of time and space I have rarely seen, was extended with 24 hour bus lanes all over London and after the Olympics will be extended still further. For two months there will be lanes dedicated to Olympic traffic! So should the rest of us just stop working for those two months? We can't all travel by bus or tube, some of us might carry heavy equipment with us, or travel between areas badly served by public transport or (heaven forbid) choose to travel by car. I am getting very, very pissed off by the way this country is lurching towards nanny totalitarianism.

Traffic control

Traffic leading onto the Chiswick roundabout on a Sunday or Bank Holiday Monday is usually terrible; long queues especially coming from Kew Bridge, from the A4 going east and off the North Circular Road going south. So I was surprised to find hardly any traffic queueing on this Bank Holiday Monday. The reason, the lights had failed and so the traffic was filtering nicely onto the roundabout in the way that people filter onto roundabouts that have no traffic lights on them. There was less traffic queueing on all roads coming onto the roundabout than would normally be the case. I have experienced this before at major crossroads as well, drivers do a better job of managing the traffic movement than does an imposed control system.

I presume that the traffic lights will be fixed early this week and so next weekend the queues will be as big as was previously the case!