Found ourselves sitting in the garden of a pub in a small village, outside Guildford the other day. The view around us was tranquil, across trees and irregular shaped rooftops. We were sitting on the incline of a hill and the car was parked in a shady car park under mature trees.I found myself considering the clean air (!) and no planes (!!!) and being able to enjoy a conversation outside without either. Instead of birdsong above the happy chatter of folk enjoying their pint, was a road the other side of the pub garden and boy oh boy was it noisy. A small country road which over the years has taken more and more traffic and now has an intrusive whine of cars and other traffic rushing around the otherwise tranquil village, hoping to get into the main town a minute or so faster. The worst drivers from a pedestrians point of view (and mine when I tried to get back onto the road in a suitable sized gap) are the ones who know the road and all its twists and turns so don't slow down to take corners in a lower gear, but continue at 45. The approach to the village has a sign requesting that people drive through the village carefully, at 30. Don't suppose many people even realise it is a village and a community. Doesn’t really matter in the great scheme of things getting to the end of the journey, fast, being the priority. Anyone in their way, including people living along the route and traffic restrictions, are only there to anger them a bit more rather than to encourage a more gentle pace. The A4 through our area is just the same. It breaks the community in two by being this ‘big barrier’, through the community. I know of people who have moved from Syon Park Gardens (Osterley Park side of the road) because they are so worried about the children trying to cross safely on the Great West road. Moving to the other side (the river side) where the schools are, allows them to live without having to negotiate it. It is horrendous for elderly folk who settled here years ago if they want a jaunt into Hounslow, Richmond or Twickenham using their pins and not a car. This is why the ‘country’ bus route through the Osterley Park side is so important to them.The cars on the Great West road appear to do their best to travel as fast as possible. I have written before about the cars taking a short cut in front of me, over the pedestrian crossing spanning the central reservation, just because they weren’t prepared to sit in the jam approaching Chiswick Roundabout, nor go around the roundabout to approach the M4 start. I suppose we should be grateful for the barriers around the roundabout or else there would be a jam across the roundabout itself!This way of driving where the driver aims the car and goes for it, is what we need to tackle, not adding cameras to make criminals of people.My sons when out riding their bikes have all had drivers drive at them, with the clear intention in their eyes of using their car to knock them off the road. Either they stay on the road and get knocked into or shocked, or they have to duck between parked cars or onto the pavement to escape.The latest ‘innovation’ from the otherwise probably respectable ‘office’ commuters is revving their engines to shoot off at traffic lights in order to cross the oncoming flow, as soon as the lights turn, in order to cross their path before they move forward. It will only take another idiot on the opposite corner to do the same at the same time and there will be a serious accident. This is particularly noticeable at Gillette corner when turning from Syon Lane Railway Station side, onto the A4 to go down by PC World. There is seemingly a greater incidence of drivers going through the red lights too, so a multiple pile up is possible from several directions? Any pedestrians crossing there normally run for it!Oh, and while we are about it, isn’t there some restriction on the use of hand held phones whilst driving? … !Can we not consider ways to allow cars to cross our community without destroying it? One of my trips past the boys from Syon trying to huddle on the central reservation and the huge crowds of Lampton children dancing in between the cars in a jam, I wondered. As there are so many sets of traffic lights, maybe there should be a way of halting the traffic in between two points for a few minutes to allow them all to cross safely without another bridge or crossing. Bit like lowering the gates beside the railway line in Wood Lane, to allow the trains to pass.I still think the speed should be reduced to 30 through a community area and 25 on some of the side roads.IMHO, of course.
Sarah Felstead ● 7176d