More "Safe Street" proposals in Marple centre

[andy+kirsty]

it also seems a widely shared opinion amongst residents of Marple that speed humps are not the solution.

Care to provide any evidence for this statement?

[amazon]

Where have I intimated that they haven't done anything Amazon?

you havent

[jimblob]

Watch are commitee meetings before you comment on cllrs .not doing anything .

Where have I intimated that they haven't done anything Amazon?

[amazon]

... yes, ref below to Cllr's Gribbon and McCallister
Steve/Colin.
I see now the invasion of speed humps on our roads has extended to Marple centre. Whilst there is a general acceptance that speeding itself is a potential issue, it also seems a widely shared opinion amongst residents of Marple that speed humps are not the solution. I know you share this opinion Colin and indeed, one of your election pledges was to address the unnecessary overuse of them on Windlehurst and Hibbert Lane. I note this argument seems to have gone quiet of late.To see them now appear in Marple itself, temporary or otherwise and seemingly without any consultation to the wider populus, I regard as unacceptable. Can I therefore ask that you firstly canvas that wider populus (rather than a minority of supporters) and measure the level of support for these measures but also that you revisit any formal decision taken to install these additional speed measures and demonstrate that it was taken democratically and with an adequate degree of consultation.

Watch are commitee meetings before you comment on cllrs .not doing anything .

[admin]

... yes, ref below to Cllr's Gribbon and McCallister
Steve/Colin.
I see now the invasion of speed humps on our roads has extended to Marple centre. Whilst there is a general acceptance that speeding itself is a potential issue, it also seems a widely shared opinion amongst residents of Marple that speed humps are not the solution. I know you share this opinion Colin and indeed, one of your election pledges was to address the unnecessary overuse of them on Windlehurst and Hibbert Lane. I note this argument seems to have gone quiet of late.To see them now appear in Marple itself, temporary or otherwise and seemingly without any consultation to the wider populus, I regard as unacceptable. Can I therefore ask that you firstly canvas that wider populus (rather than a minority of supporters) and measure the level of support for these measures but also that you revisit any formal decision taken to install these additional speed measures and demonstrate that it was taken democratically and with an adequate degree of consultation.

It was discussed at the recent Marple Area Committee and Councillors complained about the lack of consultation that took place.

I seem to recall some reasons were offered around the money not being available for long enough to do that. You can watch back here:

http://democracy.stockport.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?MId=27219&EVT=105

I can't remember exactly where it was mentioned (may have been Chair's announcements / Public Questions and possibly later on too) but don't have time to trawl through looking.

[jimblob]

Have you contacted your local councillors directly rather than complaining about it on an Internet forum?

... yes, ref below to Cllr's Gribbon and McCallister
Steve/Colin.
I see now the invasion of speed humps on our roads has extended to Marple centre. Whilst there is a general acceptance that speeding itself is a potential issue, it also seems a widely shared opinion amongst residents of Marple that speed humps are not the solution. I know you share this opinion Colin and indeed, one of your election pledges was to address the unnecessary overuse of them on Windlehurst and Hibbert Lane. I note this argument seems to have gone quiet of late.To see them now appear in Marple itself, temporary or otherwise and seemingly without any consultation to the wider populus, I regard as unacceptable. Can I therefore ask that you firstly canvas that wider populus (rather than a minority of supporters) and measure the level of support for these measures but also that you revisit any formal decision taken to install these additional speed measures and demonstrate that it was taken democratically and with an adequate degree of consultation.

[Condate]

Have you contacted your local councillors directly rather than complaining about it on an Internet forum?

That is what we should all be doing. At least these things look like they can be easily removed (I mean the humps, but the councillors too if they don't oppose this bizarre scheme).

[admin]

 Been over these new humps today. Wish they had used these on Windlhurst as they are so much better than the ones on route to High Lane. Going to High Lane in our smallish Bmax is horrendous but these were no problem in the same vehicle.

[Howard]

Stockport's highways team have proven themselves to be wholly unfit for purpose and incompetent yet again.... Bravo.

Can our local councillors please not step in and have these speed humps removed.

Have you contacted your local councillors directly rather than complaining about it on an Internet forum?

[jimblob]

Once again Stockport's Transport Department has shown its total lack understanding how more enlightened countries are catering for their pedestrians and for their shopping areas where the shoppers should take priotity.

Stockport's highways team have proven themselves to be wholly unfit for purpose and incompetent yet again.... Bravo.

Can our local councillors please not step in and have these speed humps removed.

[CTCREP]

Try driving through Romiley now. Although the road humps do not look very high, unless you place your car in exactly the right position,  the violent sideways tipping motion is not just uncomfortable but for anyone feeling frail it can be really unpleasant, enough to consider not going to Romiley at all.  Even if you do decide to drive through the added concentration needed to get the car precisely the right means you are not concentrating on the possibility of a predestrian stepping into the road without looking.  The road humps have made Romilley far more dangerous now.  Furthermore the 20mph signs that have been put up, although they may be to Government guidelines,  are too small and one is even partly hidden by leaves.

Once again Stockport's Transport Department has shown its total lack understanding how more enlightened countries are catering for their pedestrians and for their shopping areas where the shoppers should take priotity.

[GM]

The "Traffic Calming" humps have arrived in both Marple & Romiley, what a pointless waste of council resources.
They do slow down traffic, but they haven't solved the grid lock traffic on Dan Bank or anywhere else.

If anything the traffic has got worse, standing traffic up to the petrol station wasting fuel vs putting up with the speed humps and going via Romiley!.

Or the Otterspool Road footpath, which due to a lack of kerb drainage, turned the road into the closest thing we have to a swimming pool yesterday.

[Melancholyflower]

Sadly I think most of the next decade's transport issues will be centred around Covid, or to be more precise, the fall-out from it.
The recent Rose Hill affair will be just one of many.

The government has made a startling success of dissuading people from using public transport, particularly the railways. 

I expect roads to be just as busy as they were before, maybe busier, despite more people working from home.

[andrewbowden]

One final point is this and it relates to Covid. In Marple the only bottlenecks I have seen are when lots of people gather for the Pedestrian Crossings. Surely we should be prioritising the flow of people to minimise these groupings than prioritising those who are in a safe metal bubble. I'd suggest that having to stand in the rain waiting to cross a road to reach the shops is a greater barrier to shopping locally than driving a few miles and hour slower to reach them in the first place.

Interestingly I read last week that Transport for London are re-programming a small number of their pedestrian crossings to default to red for traffic, green for pedestrians, rather than the other way round.  If a car comes near, then it changes. 

I presume it was just standalone crossings, rather than junctions - and most of Marple's crossings are junctions.  But interesting to see how they're trying to rebalance away from the car.

Another thing they've done in London is get rid of the metal fences at crossings (like the ones at the Co-op/petrol station junction) on account as they're more dangerous than actually not having them.  Most people think they're crash barriers, but they're not.  Indeed they crumple very quickly in a crash scenario, and there have been cases of cyclists getting crushed between the fence and a vehicle.  Those barriers exist purely to keep pedestrians "in their place".  I mention that as one of the more difficult places I've found for distancing is the island in the middle of that junction, purely because you're being hemmed in and whilst there is more space that could be used, you're prevented from using it by the barriers.

[andy+kirsty]

Surely it is up to everyone who drives to enforce the speed limit by not breaking the law. To date I've managed not to mug anyone, assault someone or shoplift. Why is speeding any different?

I'm not convinced by speed bumps, lots of LAs are abandoning them in favour of other methods such as planters, width restrictions or chicanes. These all require drivers to maintain better concentration to reduce speed and increase awareness - how many times have you been caught out by a speed bump. It didn't achieve its aim if you have.

I think the 20mph limit will make a difference. If (when actually, there is one child fatality and 37 serious injuries each week), a child is struck by a car they are much more likely to survive at 20 mph than 30. Condate, if it means you drive slowly through the 20mph limit and then slightly quicker to another destination to shop then, as a parent, I'm happy. As a cycling lowering the differential between car and bike is also great for safety and perception of safety, many E-Bikes can get someone to 15 MPH easily.

Interestingly there has been loads in the press recently about Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and the positive impact they are having in places. There are a number of reasons we need to re think our approach to roads, traffic and speed. One that I found interesting is the dominance of SatNav and Google Maps routing people through residential streets where prior to this people planned their own route and stuck to the main roads. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/25/rat-running-residential-uk-streets-satnav-apps another interesting fact from the DfT is that in 1990 there were 20 million registered vehicles on our roads. This year that figure stands at 38.5 Million, nearly double. It is no wonder streets are choked. Doubling the space dedicated to cars isn't an option so we have to move people out of them and onto other means of transport.

One final point is this and it relates to Covid. In Marple the only bottlenecks I have seen are when lots of people gather for the Pedestrian Crossings. Surely we should be prioritising the flow of people to minimise these groupings than prioritising those who are in a safe metal bubble. I'd suggest that having to stand in the rain waiting to cross a road to reach the shops is a greater barrier to shopping locally than driving a few miles and hour slower to reach them in the first place.