Transport for London must improve safety at the junction of Hook Road and Elm Road
Since the dreadful accident outside the Hook Centre on Wednesday, several people have contacted us about safety at the Hook Road/Elm Road junction.
The Hook Road is controlled by Transport for London on behalf of the Mayor of London. We have been asking them to improve this junction for years.
In fact, when TfL first proposed to introduce the Red Route, some of the local councillors and council officers had a meeting with Ken Livingstone. At that meeting he promised pedestrian improvements as part of the scheme, but we have never been happy with what was installed.
Since then we have been complaining regularly. In fact, I raised the problem again with TfL a few months ago, and was told that this junction was low priority because there had been no serious accidents.
Now I must make it clear that I am not sure of the exact details of the accident, and whether the layout of the junction contributed to it. Hopefully we will find out soon when the Police have finished their investigation.
But I do know that there is a lot wrong with the arrangement of traffic lights. When you cross Elm Road you can't see the lights at all, so have to guess which phase they are in. With no green man to guide, you sometimes just have to rely on guesswork.
Then people do seem to want to cross from the NatWest bank/Lucky Rover side to the Hook Centre, even though there is no pedestrian crossing on the Hook Road at that point. TfL did install safety railings on the Hook Centre side to try to deter people from crossing, but it has not been effective.
The final problem is vehicle speed. The camera further up the hill has helped to slow traffic down, but when it is pointing north cars and lorries do tend to speed up once they have driven past it. Of course, Red Routes were designed to keep traffic moving, in other words, to speed it up. That is why we put in a spirited objection to the Mayor, because we wanted traffic to slow down on what is, essentially, a residential road. The outcome was that the Red Route only operates during peak hours. Which was, of course, exactly when the accident happened.
I made sure that Council officers were in touch with TfL the following day. Perhaps they will take our concerns seriously now.
Comments: 2
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You are absolutely right, and the dreadful accident last week only highlights that more must be done about tihs stretch of the A243. There is a meeting planned next week between Kingston and TfL about how to make the area near your home safer. We will certainly raise the points you make, especially about the phasing of the lights.
TfL have promised a feasibility study into the Elm Road junction in the new financial year so we want to make sure the wider issues are looked at as well.
I'll email you directly to make sure you are kept in the loop, and that your points are heard.
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