26 November - Bexley Council does not have the monopoly on cretins
Until recently my driving pretty well always began with a quick dash to the A2
and the M25 or a few hundred yards into Greenwich and the Blackwall Tunnel. I
don’t think I have ever paid to park in Bexley so my knowledge of its road
problems is not as intimate as it might be; but in the last couple of months I
have had to drive to Bromley several times each week.
It’s the nearer part so exactly ten miles door to door but that assumes no road
diversions and there has not been such a journey in the past two months. Nearly
all journeys are in darkness and I count fewer than 50 minutes as a major
triumph; more often it takes about 65 minutes and most of those delays are
unnecessary. Much of it planned congestion by Bexley Council.
To be fair the Bromley section is consistently congested. The same every day in
the same places but at least it doesn’t seem to be down to malicious policy
making as Bexley’s probably is. (Bromley has blotted its copybook slightly with a
new yellow box junction at Chislehurst War Memorial, about which more later.)
Poor driving standards is a factor. A few drivers never use direction indicators
but conversely I have twice in the past two weeks been fooled by drivers indicating left at a
junction who then go straight on. There was another occasion when I saw the same from
the upstairs front seat of a bus.
Unlimited car parking on major through routes can be a problem. A car parked
legally in Penhill Road or Bexley Lane
will bring the whole area to a standstill.
Why does Bexley Council allow it? Why too do they allow traffic, especially
buses, on Pickford Lane
and Bexley Road to be held up by placing parking bays next to and opposite bus
stops? Could it be that the Head of Highways is an idiot?
Why is The Green in Sidcup width restricted in one direction only and why is it
at an acute angle to the carriageway so that even small vehicles cannot easily
pass; all while allowing HGVs to pass freely in the other direction? Surely only
a total cretin allows that?
The current diversion due to the closure of Brampton Road
(see video) has taken me to Longleigh Lane but an enormous HGV put me in a ditch literally. I felt the
underside of the car hit the ground, so now I always use Bedonwell Road and King
Harold’s Way. The latter has a succession of Keep Left pedestrian refuges
without any illumination and the footpath reaches out towards them not only
with no illumination but adorned with two black painted bollards. Not every one;
some of the bollards are missing, presumably because some unfortunate
driver couldn’t see black on black.
The LED street lighting does not help.
Not much better than a third of the light output of the old sodium lamps.
How many accidents have they caused?
People complain about LED headlights on cars blinding oncoming drivers; and I
must plead guilty on both counts. Some may be mal-adjusted but any one of them
going over one of the innumerable unnecessary speed bumps blind everyone going the other way.
Too many motorists try to emulate motorcycles by having only one working headlight.
An obvious bugbear is cyclists without lights but far worse are pedestrians
dressed in black overcoats who simply step into the road. Last Monday I had to
very nearly stop when one was crossing not 50 yards from the pedestrian crossing
in Bexley Lane. Saved only by the fact that his black dog had white lower legs.
And speaking of Bexley Lane, why does anyone choose to drive down Rectory Lane?
The queue to get into it blocks Bexley Lane and what does such idiocy save? 50 to 100 yards maybe?
Bexley Council as most drivers know installs oversized Yellow Money Box junctions
for no reason other than cash collecting. Some years ago they admitted as much
at a Council meeting. Their revenue was not coming up to expectations. Bromley
Council’s new YMBJ in Chislehurst is minimally sized, stretching only from
corner kerb to corner kerb without Bexley’s cheating extension on every exit.
Unfortunately it is not working as I would have hoped.
The traffic lights are set back from the junction by one or two car lengths, the
exits are inconsistent. It used to be the case that vehicles would traverse the
junction more or less nose to tail creating maximum throughput, but not any more.
A driver can go past
a green light but stop beyond it because his exit is not
clear. While there the lights go red so he cannot go forward but being stuck
prevents large vehicles from turning right in front of him so everything comes to a standstill.
I am not alone in keeping three car lengths clear in front of me so the
throughput is very much reduced. This regularly causes a queue which extends all
the way back to Crittall’s Corner in Sidcup and makes the Queen Mary’s Hospital
roundabout over the A20 very difficult.
Bexley Council does not have the monopoly on cretins.