There are road safety and traffic issues all over the city of Bath but forgive me if l just mention the one nearest to home. In fact it’s outside our front door.
We – my husband and l – live in a road which is a well-worn rat run during the morning and evening rush hours. Having lived here now for six years l am well aware of the history of our safety problem which has festered for 20 years and more.
We have bollards edging a narrow pavement on one side only because a mother campaigned for something to be done after a car mounted the side walk and narrowly missed her and her baby in the wheel chair she was pushing.
The road is two way. B&NES deliberated over a one way system but this came to nothing apparently because the residents couldn’t agree which way that would be – up or down our hill.
They won’t put speed bumps down – not even one at either end. At the top of our road is a busy crossroads but where cars park right up to the crossing and you cannot safely pull out because you cannot see what is coming.
There is a bus stop on the corner. B&NES is supposed to be painting in white bus stop space lines – in the hope this may push vehicles away from the corner – but nothing has been done.
We had our front garden wall knocked down a couple of years ago by a vehicle reversing and not looking where he or she was going. They didn’t leave us a ‘sorry’ note.
There is a small patch of grass to one side of our drive which is gouged up by the wheels of reversing cars and lorries who have lost the ‘stand -off’ battle we often witness between one coming up and one coming down.
We put white painted rocks in place to try and deter this but they have been thrown into the road by the tyres of a vehicle which also gouged out the grass. Certainly hope they have a good scratch from the stones to take away with them.
What do you do to get this Council to stir itself. I would try lying in the road but so many rat runners go so fast l wouldn’t stand a chance.
We have a small sign saying the road is not fit for wide vehicles but l am sure no one spots it. The lane on the other side of the cross roads has had a width restriction sign for longer but its now almost covered by ivy.
It was good to see groups of people mobilising themselves to fight to save Bathampton Meadows and the Central Library at the Podium (though it’s still got to make room for the One Stop Shop).
Maybe it’s time to spread this action group wider or create a local party to fight the next local election. Unfortunately that is not until 2019.
PS. I want another bollard on the grass verge and l want it now!
Cllrs Lynn Patterson and Rob Appleyard where are they when needed? Chalks and I tried but failed. Now I hear they are making your rat run even faster for the morning and evening rush hours by big parking restrictions on Harwarden Terrace. Methinks the B&NES Council, London Road traffic pollution solution, is to push more vehicles onto the Ferndale/Harwarden/Camden route. Time to man the trenches Richard.
Fortunately I’m over here in Penally, Tenby, where the roads are spotless and pothole free, waste is collected weekly and public toilets are open and clean. It’s a different world is Planet Pembrokeshire. Oh yes, and the people actually stop and talk to each other.