Boston Road Collision Provides First Test for LTNs
Opinion divided on whether schemes made congestion worse
Static traffic after Boston Road collision. Picture: David Millican
A traffic collision on Boston Road this Wednesday (23 September) required the road to be closed for two hours and resulted in substantial congestion in the area with traffic at a standstill for hours.
Shortly before 11:37am, a motorcyclist was involved in a collision with another vehicle. A London Air Ambulance was called and the man, who is in his twenties, was taken to hospital, where his injuries were not deemed to be life threatening. His next of kin has been informed.
This was the first major incident on local roads since Ealing Council introduced Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) and was adjacent to the controversial LTN 21 scheme.
Opponents of the schemes are claiming that the incident and resulting congestion was prolonged because vehicles were trapped on Boston Road and forced to remain in the vicinity of the incident. This meant that vehicles seeking to emerge from the side roads within the LTN were unable to do so leading to a build-up of traffic in local residential streets.
It is claimed that the traffic would have cleared more quickly if vehicles had been able to cut through to Northfield Avenue.
Cllr David Millican said, "The closure of Boston Road yesterday, due to the sad accident, caused massive traffic jams on the residential side roads as vehicles were hemmed in by the road blocks. Unfortunately this is an intended foreseen consequence of the council’s policy with these barriers."
Supporters of the scheme say that an incident such of this would have always resulted in significant congestion and the existence of the LTN served to protect local residents from motorists using their roads to circumvent the congestion.
Roads within the LTN became gridlocked. Picture: Twitter @Bobby6817
Serco vehicles were in the area monitoring LTN restrictions during the incident but the Council says they were only issuing warning notices and no fines were given out.
So what happens if someone on these streets needs urgent help? These cars are stuck in the LTN with no where to go! Boston Rd closed and they can't go through the road closures. You are right sadly accidents happen on our main rds alot and if they are closed traffic chaos ensues pic.twitter.com/x9weKHXEll
— Bobby_68 (@Bobby6817) September 23, 2020
Residents can visit the low traffic neighbourhoods' page of the council’s website for further information on the schemes.
Residents can email feedback to TrafficNotices@ealing.gov.uk, or post them to the Highways Service, Perceval House, 14-16 Uxbridge Road, W5 2HL, quoting reference ORD XXX.
The cameras will be operation from week commencing Monday, 21 September.
Two further low traffic neighbourhood schemes are planed for Loveday Road, W13 (LTN 30) and West Ealing North, W13 (LTN 20).
An online petition against LTNs in Ealing has been signed by over 8,000 people. A counter petition in support of the new schemes has, at the time of writing, over 500 signatures.
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September 24, 2020