Gate menace
Page 49
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Renewed activity in South East London these days, I see, in putting traffic pinches across back-double routes to deny access to lorries.
Fair enough in itself, I suppose, as many of the heavies have no real business there, and they can be noisy intruders into quiet back-roads—though the whole process would be unnecessary if successive London councils had not dodged the issue of building main roads fit for the essential traffic. But what bothers me is the way in which some of these "gates " are being sited. There's one just over the brow of Telegraph Hill, by Brockley Cross, which I think is simply inviting accidents. Especially at night, drivers coming over the brow could plough into the barriers before they realise that the narrow slot through which they must pass is offset at the very left-hand side of the road.
Though not a betting man, I'll take even money that at least four vehicles hit the barrier in the first month of operation. Could their owners sue the council for creating a hazard?