TC notes with interest that stalwart bus fan Jenny Jones has been “shocked” by Mayor Johnson’s plan to replace Bendy-buses with more double-deckers – and so much so that she has admitted that a bus every 2-3 minutes may be “too much of a good thing”. Jones goes on to explain that the plan to have even more busses trundling along London’s streets will “guarantee that we have more bus jams, more pollution and more frustrated drivers and passengers.” The remarks were made in connection with routes 521 and 507. There is however another reason for jams caused by buses, as TC found yesterday… The ubiquitous practice of sharpening the corners of road junctions to slow the speed of turning traffic does indeed succeed in doing just that. But when taken to extremes, which it frequently is in many UK towns and cities, it makes the task of driving a bus round a left hand bend such a difficult and slow manoeuvre that it can exceed the competence and patience of its driver. TC found a case to illustrate the problem yesterday in the capital. The cause of a huge jam on all roads leading to a major junction by Stockwell Tube station was a bus which had crashed into one such corner that has just been sharpened as part of an extensive and costly road junction ‘improvement’ scheme – sanctioned by the previous Mayor. TfL have denied that the configuration of the pavement has been changed or the corner sharpened. But evidence in the form of drawings of the junction prior to a series of ‘improvements’ have not yet been released. It is however clear that the corner in its current form after the ‘improvements’ were made was too sharp for one driver to negotiate without hitting the railings – and that making the corner less acute would have helped reduce the difficulty of manoeuvring buses round it. Fortunately the crash was at a nice ‘safe’ 2 mph and nobody was hurt despite the bus being impaled by its passenger doors on the lovely new and railings just put in place to make the junction work ‘better’.
There is however something else about this mess that is perhaps worth noting. The major junction ‘improvement’ not only disrupted traffic for months while under construction and has caused more traffic jams ever since, but the scheme was doubtless thoroughly approved of by the former Mayor’s Road Safety Ambassador and Green GLA Member Jenny Jones – as in theory it helped ‘prioritise‘ bus, bicycle and pedestrian use. TC now wonders whether the railings will be re-instated or the profile of the corner made less acute as it clearly could be (i.e. back behind the bin in the picture) and in a form where buses do not get jammed on it… Go here for extra pics of crash scene. Read More »
9th October 2008
by Leon Mannings
TC asks whether cutting the examination of such basic skills as reversing round corners and three point turns from the UK Driving test is really the best way to help improve driving standards – or is making cars easier to park the best way to go…?
The need for learner drivers to show they can reverse round corners and do three point turns should be cut from the UK driving test says Tory Roads spokesman Robert Goodwill MP. Competence in these basic manoeuvres should be ‘signed-off’ by driving instructors before test day to allow more time for examining other skills. Rob Gifford, chief of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) lobby group thinks this idea is “fine” as it would enable examiners to focus the test on other key skills such as “hazard awareness, journey planning an so on”. Go here for more on the basic story so far. TC is however concerned that some driving instructors may sign some learners off for reasons that have little to do with achieving a nationally moderated standard of driving skills. After all, there may be good business in being especially patient with ‘nervous learners’ and being very understanding in testing jolly good customers, and that’s just for a start… But there may be better ways to help overcome difficulties with driving backwards than taking assessments of such skills out of driving tests.
TC learns that meanwhile, the state backed car maker Iran Khodro offer a different approach to tackling the challenges of reversing and parking – and thereby perhaps the need to test competence in doing so. They have designed a ‘women’s car’ with electronic parking aids. Go here for more details. Apparently, this follows consultation with female car owners and will be launched on national womens’ day next June. Khodro’s orders MD, Vahid Najafi, helpfully explains that “Women’s necessities are different from men’s, …a woman goes shopping, takes children to school” adding – “so this car is going to have some visual distinctions that will separate it from other cars. It will be more beautiful. Cheerful and attractive colours will be used – for example red”. So, maybe theses moves open a new round in debate on whether it is better to ease off on testing basic skills in manoeuvring cars – or make the manoeuvres easier with higher tech cars…
7th October 2008
by Leon Mannings
Consultations end soon on plans for a huge C–Charge/Road Pricing scheme in Manchester – and on whether London should keep the Western Extension of its Congestion Charging zone. But daggers are being drawn by doubters about the truth of claims by charging scheme supporters – and opponent’s concerns include a claim by Andrew Gilligan that ‘lies’ could skew voting. Go here to see more of Gilligan’s view in the London Evening Standard that “much of the key information given to those taking part [in consultations] is misleading or wrong”. And go here for Sean Corker’s view on how Manchunians are “being deceived” about the extent of rising traffic levels. However, earlier this month, Martin Cassini said in the Guardian that TfL had “come clean about the failure of the congestion charge to reduce congestion”, from which he concludes that it is perhaps time to scrap it altogether… Anyway, in accord with an election promise by new London Mayor Boris Johnson, Transport for London (TfL) are now completing consultations on whether to keep the Western extension of the charging zone that they introduced in February 2007 under management by previous Mayor Ken Livingstone – despite a massive vote against it at the time. The TfL summary of the impacts of withdrawing the extension can be found here. Go here for details of the Manchester plans and consultation according to its proposers. TC suggests that we will have to wait and see who’s right or wrong about these consultations but perhaps the Spoof News here is as good a place to place to look for answers in the mean time…
3rd October 2008
by Leon Mannings
Ardent rail fan Christian Wolmar is perhaps an unlikely critic of the Tory plan to build a High-Speed rail link, HS2, between London and Leeds – instead of a third runway between London Heathrow Airport and the rest of the world. But Christian says “the environmental case for high speed lines is far from proven”, in his Guardian article here. Theresa Villiers, the shadow transport secretary, gave the Heathrow expansion melting pot a good stir at the party conference yesterday by saying a Conservative government would scrap the plan for a 3rd runway that Labour said was a “done deal” according to a Times article last week. The Tory move is seen by some as David Cameron’s “boldest move on the environment”, and Villiers is reported to have said: “This is a seriously green decision.” TC notes however that Wolmar is not alone in airing doubts over the economic and practical sense of choosing this way to go. Interestingly for Theresa and the Tories, the CBI chief David Lambert says, HS2 may have “a lot going for it, but don’t think for a minute that it will solve the capacity problems at Heathrow [where] we need to have a third runway… as long as all the environmental conditions are met.” Go here for the latest Times article, and watch this space for sparks in the next round…
1st October 2008
by Leon Mannings
Sales of luxury and ‘gas guzzling’ cars are plummeting – and not because rich would-be buyers have finally succumbed to a ubiquitous strain of the E coli bug, known as ecologitus – which until now was far more prevalent among the cautiously-off readers of the Guardian than What Car Playboy. It is because the credit crunch has made them; run out of ready cash for big car buying moments, too scared to splash out in case their city incomes dry up, or they can’t get a loan because their bankers can’t get a loan. But TC offers a cautionary note for those who might be overjoyed by market forces that cause car sales to crash. Even the most organic of carrots that enter retail outlets spend some time in a motor vehicle to get there… A collapse at the top end of the automotive world may seem like good news but history tells us that collapses at the top usually hurt the people at the bottom most. So, perhaps the credit crunch will bring an end to life as we know it faster than the melting ice caps. But there is some hope. TC notes that humans have survived various global catastrophes including the last two ice ages – and all before we had the internet and radiators to warm our cockles. Despite other harbingers of doomsday from Aids to Bird Flu, as a species we have mostly prospered. And, for the last two hundred years since Richard Trevithick started the Modern Transport age (by building and running his first steam car in 1801, which was the world’s first working self-propelled motorised vehicle) we have also managed to move ourselves and goods we need by ever more effective modes. Go here for a similar though better scribed reflection on this by Jeremy Clarkson – and yes even if you don’t think you or your mother would like it, the view from the other side of the politically correct tracks isn’t as dark as you may guess – and may even bring a smile before the end.
27th September 2008
by Leon Mannings
TC notes with interest that stalwart bus fan Jenny Jones has been “shocked” by Mayor Johnson’s plan to replace Bendy-buses with more double-deckers – and so much so that she has admitted that a bus every 2-3 minutes may be “too much of a good thing”. Jones goes on to explain that the plan to have even more busses trundling along London’s streets will “guarantee that we have more bus jams, more pollution and more frustrated drivers and passengers.” The remarks were made in connection with routes 521 and 507. There is however another reason for jams caused by buses, as TC found yesterday… The ubiquitous practice of sharpening the corners of road junctions to slow the speed of turning traffic does indeed succeed in doing just that. But when taken to extremes, which it frequently is in many UK towns and cities, it makes the task of driving a bus round a left hand bend such a difficult and slow manoeuvre that it can exceed the competence and patience of its driver. TC found a case to illustrate the problem yesterday in the capital. The cause of a huge jam on all roads leading to a major junction by Stockwell Tube station was a bus which had crashed into one such corner that has just been sharpened as part of an extensive and costly road junction ‘improvement’ scheme – sanctioned by the previous Mayor. TfL have denied that the configuration of the pavement has been changed or the corner sharpened. But evidence in the form of drawings of the junction prior to a series of ‘improvements’ have not yet been released. It is however clear that the corner in its current form after the ‘improvements’ were made was too sharp for one driver to negotiate without hitting the railings – and that making the corner less acute would have helped reduce the difficulty of manoeuvring buses round it. Fortunately the crash was at a nice ‘safe’ 2 mph and nobody was hurt despite the bus being impaled by its passenger doors on the lovely new and railings just put in place to make the junction work ‘better’.
There is however something else about this mess that is perhaps worth noting. The major junction ‘improvement’ not only disrupted traffic for months while under construction and has caused more traffic jams ever since, but the scheme was doubtless thoroughly approved of by the former Mayor’s Road Safety Ambassador and Green GLA Member Jenny Jones – as in theory it helped ‘prioritise‘ bus, bicycle and pedestrian use. TC now wonders whether the railings will be re-instated or the profile of the corner made less acute as it clearly could be (i.e. back behind the bin in the picture) and in a form where buses do not get jammed on it… Go here for extra pics of crash scene. Read More 
