I find it interesting that the point chosen to cross the road outside the hospital was not the pelican crossing at the traffic lights... Surely this would be the preferred/safest crossing. Not the other 2 which are shown in this video
I was not on the walk but I stand next to the lollypop lady at one primary school most mornings after my daughter has gone into school. Secondary school kids going to Tomlinscote often cut across the road 5-10m either side of the defined crossing without waiting to be crossed. Thats kids for you! They are likely to cross at the point that is nearest to them regardless of specific safety concerns. Hypothetically if every child was to go to the crossing point you mention (unlikely since some would have to walk extra to use it) then the crossing would be in almost continuous use - the effect would either be that traffic was bottlenecked or that kids would run across because they couldn't wait. Or I can see a scenario where the kids stream across the road one after another almost daring the traffic to knock them down - this is the modus operandi employed at Tomlinscote leaving time on Alphington Avenue. The "I'm not looking at you therefore you can't mow me down" approach may work on Alphington but it is going to be a lot more dangerous on Portsmouth Road. Traffic on Alphington is mainly residential and does not generally consist of buses, articulated lorries, frustrated commuters, Ambulances in a hurry etc etc. SurreyCC held Tomlinscote up as a "role model" school for its walking to school it is likely that parents will make the judgement that their children cannot walk this dangerous route and so since they will not get buses they will have to drive. The bottleneck under the M3 bridge is going to be frustrating - trying to turn into Watchets Drive against the traffic is going to cause tailbacks that will make that route almost impassible at that time of the morning. Those children whose parents do not drive them will be at the mercy of even more traffic... Catch 22!
I agree that the Watchets Drive drop off and pick up is going to be an absolute nightmare, unless the council and/or school can come up with some alternative proposal for parents having to drive children to school.
I would like to back up the comment above. We also need realise that this walk was only one way. In reality this will be a two way walk with children who live local to Kings walking to to the Tomlinscote site. Children are going to be crossing the road and meeting in the middle, passing comments, chatting. I for one do not want to be th driver every morning who needs eyes eevrywhere trying avoid children crossing roads all over the place. Children do not use traffic lights if it is quicker to just dodge traffic at an earlier point. Unfortunately that is just a fact of life.
I find it interesting that the point chosen to cross the road outside the hospital was not the pelican crossing at the traffic lights... Surely this would be the preferred/safest crossing. Not the other 2 which are shown in this video
ReplyDeleteI was not on the walk but I stand next to the lollypop lady at one primary school most mornings after my daughter has gone into school. Secondary school kids going to Tomlinscote often cut across the road 5-10m either side of the defined crossing without waiting to be crossed. Thats kids for you! They are likely to cross at the point that is nearest to them regardless of specific safety concerns.
ReplyDeleteHypothetically if every child was to go to the crossing point you mention (unlikely since some would have to walk extra to use it) then the crossing would be in almost continuous use - the effect would either be that traffic was bottlenecked or that kids would run across because they couldn't wait.
Or I can see a scenario where the kids stream across the road one after another almost daring the traffic to knock them down - this is the modus operandi employed at Tomlinscote leaving time on Alphington Avenue. The "I'm not looking at you therefore you can't mow me down" approach may work on Alphington but it is going to be a lot more dangerous on Portsmouth Road. Traffic on Alphington is mainly residential and does not generally consist of buses, articulated lorries, frustrated commuters, Ambulances in a hurry etc etc.
SurreyCC held Tomlinscote up as a "role model" school for its walking to school it is likely that parents will make the judgement that their children cannot walk this dangerous route and so since they will not get buses they will have to drive. The bottleneck under the M3 bridge is going to be frustrating - trying to turn into Watchets Drive against the traffic is going to cause tailbacks that will make that route almost impassible at that time of the morning.
Those children whose parents do not drive them will be at the mercy of even more traffic... Catch 22!
I agree that the Watchets Drive drop off and pick up is going to be an absolute nightmare, unless the council and/or school can come up with some alternative proposal for parents having to drive children to school.
ReplyDeleteI would like to back up the comment above. We also need realise that this walk was only one way. In reality this will be a two way walk with children who live local to Kings walking to to the Tomlinscote site. Children are going to be crossing the road and meeting in the middle, passing comments, chatting. I for one do not want to be th driver every morning who needs eyes eevrywhere trying avoid children crossing roads all over the place. Children do not use traffic lights if it is quicker to just dodge traffic at an earlier point. Unfortunately that is just a fact of life.
ReplyDelete