TRANSPORT REPORT - ROADSIDE ADS

Roadside Ads. Hazard

Merton Council is reviewing the siting of illuminated roadside advertising
hoardings erected by sponsors who provided the borough with new bus shelters
after warnings from floor of the Transport Forum that they interfered with
drivers' visibility and created potential accident black spots. Speakers
said the angle at which the signs were set could obscure pedestrians from
passing drivers and create hazards for cyclists. Harvi Mudhar, Merton's new
Traffic and Parking manager and a panellist at the April meeting of the
Forum, said the council was not always able to control the siting of the
signs but promised that he would investigate the complaints. The debate
centred on the impact new council-imposed 20 m.p.h. speed limits might have
in Wimbledon. Motorists' hopes that incoming limits might put an end to
those ever-recurring humps, speed pads and chicanes were dashed.

Mr Mudhar promised lower speed limits in vulnerable areas and particularly around our schools but said enforcement remained the problem. He claimed the police rejected repeated requests to enforce traffic laws and Richard Evans of the Merton Cycling Campaign called for enforcement to be made a core police duty. John Stewart, vice chair of Transport 2000 and co-ordinator of the
Lower Speeds Initiative said technology existed which would automatically
regulate car speeds in limited areas but would take another 10 years to
introduce. The January meeting of the Transport Forum brought demands from
the floor for more reliable buses and calls for tickets to be purchased
pre-boarding. Dick Halle, head of strategy LT Buses, promised better times
by 2002 when pre purchased "smart cards" allowing walk-on access would be
introduced.