Forum Topic

Traffic Lights at A4

Have the temporary lights that were causing so much congestion finally gone please? I don't want to drive down there specially to find out!

Susan Kelly ● 680d23 Comments

As I said before, Clear firm signage reminding all road users to signal clearly.It seems many drivers of large modern cars are so cosseted inside that they have become too lazy to signal and expect the vehicle to do it for them.Having stood and watched on Sunday ,  It was bunged up at 9am !!  (Which has never happened before in normal circumstances)Very few now signal correctly or at all.Worst of all is just one bus out of 7 ( which on a Sunday morning over 30 mins shows how the delays are causing bunching and erratic timings. ) Bothered to signal Right then left.  Given that some buses are now diverted or terminated at this point due to late running, it's even more dangerous as too many take for granted that he bus is following it's route.The westbound A4 was also tailing back 15 to 20 vehicles.Naturally this is causing 3 point turns and rat running.  Is this the true intention I wonder?  To justify reinstatement of LTNs rather than solve the problem that has been artificially created?If this is the case we really do have a right to know if this is an exercise in manipulation.  And of course to push up pollution levelsWhich certainly seems to be aligned with reports coming from the south end of the A205 where similar has been happening.Nice to see our political masters stoop to such levels to push their agenda and meddle with people as though they were little more than an irritation in their scheming.

Raymond Havelock ● 672d

The 65 stops just before the southbound lights too.

Susan Kelly ● 674d

It's bizarre, isn't it? And made worse now by having the 65 bus stop just before the northbound lights. We live south of the railway bridge and every weekday morning there's fume-spewing, noisy traffic backed up all the way down past us, sometimes almost as far as the High Street. The thing is, as many others have noted here, there were occasionally confused drivers, but the junction *worked* before!And yes, why the heck can't people signal properly on roundabouts??

Bryan Betts ● 674d

The junction of Ealing Road with the A4 has always required care when entering from either the north or south, but the vast majority of drivers navigated this carefully and safely. One way it could be made safer under the previous traffic light cycle would be to make it explicitly clear that when  drivers enter the junction from either north or south, they must give way to the right, as you do when entering a roundabout. This would make the junction safer and the increased congestion and pollution caused by this new light cycle could be reversed.

John Bennett ● 674d

What I don't understand is that the current amended system at the A4 roundabout allows about 14 vehicles to leave Ealing Road going south but only allows 6 vehicles to leave Ealing Road travelling north.  Is someone watching these shenanigans on TV and having a laugh?  I've lived in South Ealing and Brentford for over 30 years and never had the problems that are currently being caused by this ridiculous phasing.  I agree negotiating the roundabout can be tricky but not if you pay attention and indicate.

Cathy Jones ● 678d

I recently drove through the A4 part towards Chiswick and it was queuing back to Windmill junction admittedly only 5 min holdup and the Ealing road Q was non existent.Peak times it has to be much worse.

David Cook ● 678d

Agree. They have Scoot already but where they are in using it for Ealing Road I don't know. In any case I doubt that will resolve the problem, though no doubt it will help.That's why I have been pulling every lever I can find  and this has led to the meeting with TfL on Friday, that I cannot attend.I agree it's an urgent and unacceptable position but I can only hope that our arguments to TfL are accepted.

Guy Lambert ● 678d

45 mins on the H91 from Thronbury to Lionel road at 6.55pm last night.Completely insane. Way late for my appointment. Costs everyone .

Raymond Havelock ● 678d

Very interesting article thanks ,but we need quick fixes surely?. I find traffic lights very frustrating early mornings when you pull up and get stuck on a red and there is no other traffic in sight!

David Cook ● 678d

https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2018/june/delivering-the-next-generation-of-urban-traffic-management

Guy Lambert ● 678d

A smart traffic light system would probably be ideal for a junction like this! This system adjusts the traffic light time depending on the traffic conditions! I doubt very much TFL or LBH would spend money on that though.

David Cook ● 679d

I've used this junction for since school and the thing that impressed me the most was the way Bus drivers used it. They signalled clearly for each part of the crossing.  For years on either my bike or in the car, I followed their example and always signalled clearly.But in more recent times ( and I probably mean the last 20 years !) Road etiquette at this junction has gotten slack.I know it's cheap and not probably 'approved' but I have long agreed with a former neighbour who suggested that the central pillar has a simple Black and white sign on all four sides -  ALL ROAD USERS SIGNAL CLEARLY.  It's simple and I think worth a try and if it makes it just that bit safer great.Good for all road users and pedestrians and shames those who don't use it correctly.

Raymond Havelock ● 679d

There's a meeting with TfL and LBH on Friday. I can't go - busy with bins - but no doubt the TW8 intelligentsia will have something original and thoughtful to add to the debate.

Guy Lambert ● 679d

'I have asked if there were a lot of accidents - there were not.'Having used this roundabout for about 40 years, I was always surprised that there weren't more accidents there as the priority was so unusual. Fine for locals who knew its quirks but there would be the occasional hooting from people who didn't get it.I can understand why they wanted to remedy the situation before there was a bad accident and they got blamed.It took me about five minutes to get through south to north this morning at around 10am. Trouble is it seems like a very long time when you're sitting there watching the lights go red again.

Susan Kelly ● 679d

The A4 roundabout is frustrating for everyone to be honest and it does need sorting out. Good luck with that!Wait till Sadiq Khan gets re-elected, he has already muted about bringing  in road pricing that will add enormously to everyones bills. That will make whatever we buy more expensive for sure. It be another tax raid for most of us and I doubt they will remove road tax to compensate.

David Cook ● 679d

D’oh. Don’t you think you are wasting your time with Will Norman? He’s the walking commissioner in name only, it’s all about cycling for him.What you spectacularly fail to understand is that TfL want to make driving slower and more inconvenient. How else to reduce ‘car journeys by 25 percent’? It’s part of LCC policy and eagerly adopted by Sadiq ‘chauffeur driven 4x4’ Khan. Maybe you’d nodded off at the LCC meeting where it was discussed.

Simon Hayes ● 679d

I have protested about this (it's a TfL junction) because I predicted this problem. TfL use this system called SCOOT which is supposed to optimise traffic lights and to be fair that will take some time to work fully.But the junction worked OK before, albeit the way it worked relied on people to understand its quirks and give way in ways you would not only do it.I have asked if there were a lot of accidents - there were not.About 5 years ago Tfl had a scheme to provide a cross roads inside the roundabout which would normalise how North/South traffic works, and would also allow proper pedestrian and cycle infrastructure. But the proposal was rejected by the TfL board and nothing more has emerged since.I don't think this system will work and I have written to TfL officers, LBH officers and to Will Norman the pedestrian and cycling commissioner. I have not yet back from him

Guy Lambert ● 679d

Have to agree with all the sentiments posted here,the new sequencing of the traffic lights at the A4 Ealing road has made the roundabout safer, but there is now much increased Queuing! I spent 10 mins in the jam headed north from Brentford and was stuck from the railway bridge. Heading south the same and both these journeys after the rush hour.One to avoid for the future.

David Cook ● 679d

The temporary lights have been gone since at least last Thursday, but the permanent lights phasing is just as bad. There are now 4 phases of about 30 seconds each:* Traffic from the east and west going straight or left* Traffic from the east and west going right* Traffic from the north* Traffic from the southIn other words, the A4 is only flowing about 25% of the time. As a result, the eastbound traffic is now backed up as far as Windmill Road for the entire weekday morning, which was not previously the case. I haven't been there in the afternoon yet, but I doubt it's much better.

Malcolm Smith ● 679d

Came through this morning. It does take longer to get through the lights north/south with the new phasing but the risk of an accident is greatly reduced. So swings and roundabouts!

Susan Kelly ● 679d

Chaotic on Friday well into the evening. 20 mins stuck on a 65 from New Road to Challis road and 35 mins to Ealing Broadway...on a Sunday Evening !All done but yesterday long queues in Ealing Road even at 7.30 pm and just as bad in South Ealing Road with delayed phasing  North/ South adding to longer delays.Hope this gets sorted. and soon.

Raymond Havelock ● 679d

That's why I ask, being familiar with 'supposed to'.

Susan Kelly ● 680d

Haven't checked today but they were supposed to finish on Friday

Guy Lambert ● 680d