Bromley Borough Road Safety Consultative Panel Minutes of meeting Tuesday, 14th March 2017 at the Civic Centre Present: John Harvey PE Chairman & Palace Estate RA Christine Wearn CS Chislehurst Society Beryl Grimani Harold HV Hayes Village Association John Watkins LCRA Little Chislewick Residents Association Peter Daintree PA Park Avenue Residents Association Jane Morley PF Penge Forum Mike Ricketts SR Shortlands Residents Association Ron March SU Sundridge Residents Association Derek Cookson SU Sundridge Residents Association James Rowe BR Beadon Road Residents Association Zoë Telford WB West Beckenham Residents Association Mike East WW West Wickham Residents Association Val Currie LBB Road Safety Officer Laura Squires LBB Traffic Engineer Colin Humberstone Met. Police Layne Walker-Strong Met. Police 1 Apologies: Graham Savage Biggin Hill RA; Miriam Harries Knoll RA; Victoria Willis Old Hill RA; Victoria Miller Shortlands RA; PC Cath Linney Welcome: Mike Ricketts attending the meeting on behalf of the Shortlands RA 2 Minutes of Last meeting Minutes signed as a true record. 3 Matters Arising There was a discussion on parking problems at the junction Quernmore Road/Park Avenue. It was confirmed that double yellow lines had since been added on the corners. Also discussed was the problem of turning right from Widmore Road into Tweedy Road as TfL has not yet reinstated the filter light, as they have agreed to do. 4 Police officer’s report Collisions: 20th Feb 2017, a 67 year old pedestrian crossed Beckenham Road (Clockhouse) near to the pedestrian crossing and was hit by a moped pulling away from the lights at the crossing. The pedestrian sustained serious injuries. 4th March, Gulf Petrol Station forecourt, Croydon Road, Beckenham, a male in his eighties was walking across the forecourt when he was hit by a car reversing across the forecourt. He subsequently dies five days later. 9th March, a car pulled out of Cherry Tree Walk, Beckenham in front of a motorcycle travelling in Eden Park Avenue causing the rider and pillion to fall off. The male pillion suffered serious head injuries. We have been patrolling Station Approach, Hayes where there have been reports of anti-social behaviour. One male was found to be wanted and was arrested. We have also been patrolling the car park behind Sainsburys in West Wickham where anti-social behaviour has been reported. We continue to carry out speed enforcement ad hoc in roads across the borough. Op Cubo continues and we also have an ongoing mobile phone Op now the fines and points have gone up! We need more Roadwatch volunteers. Please volunteer and encourage your friends too. Send an email to Val or me: [email protected] 5 Road Safety Officer’s Report Police stops 29th November ‘17 Bickley Park Road 1 speed (40+) 7th March ’17 Witham Road & Marlow Road 2 speed (34, 32) one in each of these 20mph roads 14th March ’17 Cray Avenue, outside Nugent shopping centre No info as yet. All drivers were invited to speak to a Road Safety Officer! Road Safety Poster Sites Next rotation April/May Heathfield Road Eden Park Avenue Sevenoaks Road Clarendon Way High Street, Green St. Green Windsor Drive Warren Avenue Farnaby Road Leesons Hill Court Road Marlow Road D by C events: Harris Academy Orpington (Priory) 17th March Hayes School 21st June Charles Darwin School 28th June Langley Boys School 11th July Ravens Wood Boys School 12th July Cycling Interschool Cycling Competition 25th May at Norman Park Cyclist of the Year Competition 15th July at Norman Park Cycle to Work Day September at the Civic Centre Free Adult and Family Cycle Training London Transport Awards The LBB Road Safety Team was shortlisted for 5 awards: Most Effective Road Safety, Traffic Management and Enforcement Project-(The Evolution of Road Safety Most Effective Road Safety, Traffic Management and Enforcement Project-(Junior Travel Ambassador) Excellence in Cycling and Walking- (Balance Bike Training) Contribution to Sustainable Transport -- (Balance Bike Training) Transport Borough of the Year And won the Most Effective Road Safety, Traffic Management and Enforcement Project for their Evolution of Road Safety report, which shows the evolution of our training delivery and the development of new projects over the last 10 to 15 years 6 Community Roadwatch Presentation by Met Police Two Metropolitan Police Officers outlined the joint TFL/Met Pol initiative, Community Road Watch. Volunteers from the community can sign up to take part in monitoring of traffic in residential roads identified as suffering from drivers exceeding the speed limit (40,30 and 20 MPH). Volunteers will always be accompanied by a police representative, and any interaction with motorists is carried out by the police. Volunteers monitor, by way of calibrated speed guns, the speed of approaching vehicles and note down, with the help of the police, registration mark, make and colour of vehicle. The collated information leads to warning letters being sent to owners of vehicles. Repeat offenders will eventually be recorded on the Police National Computer. There are no on the spot fines, but, depending on the terms of any hire agreement, the driver may lose his/her deposit. Follow up questions included: Whether there was yet any comparison between the effectiveness of the CRW scheme and Road Safety Awareness courses. Road Safety Awareness courses are offered as an alternative to a fixed penalty to drivers picked up by calibrated traffic cameras, of which there are a limited number within the Borough. The CRW scheme is more flexible as it can respond to reports from the community within a relatively short period of time. No data is yet available on effectiveness comparisons. Why and whether it is fair for TFL to have access to information on drivers picked up on these exercises. TFL keeps a database on vehicles identified as driving over the speed limit and work to a data protection protocol. There was a clear link between the speed at which pedestrians are hit and their chance of survival. Whether volunteers were an odd sort of personality. Volunteers are not allowed to operate within their own roads, so minimising the risk of inter-neighbour strife. The CRW scheme is a way for the community to act directly to affect the speed of vehicles within residential roads. The newly-strengthened regulations on the use of mobile phones were also discussed. The best approach was to switch off and put the phone in the glove box while driving. Novice drivers who attract six penalty points have their licences suspended and have to retake their driving test, at a higher rate of fee. Depending on the nature of their offence they may have to take an extended test. 6 Engineer’s Report Did not have anything new to report at this meeting, and provided a current list of projects across the Borough, with Officer contact details, should any panel members require more information on these schemes. The updated list of schemes had been circulated and officers can be contacted direct. Improvements in Copers Cope were nearly completed. Plawsfield Road was being resurfaced as part of its adoption by the Borough. The deadline for applications to have roads closed for the Big Lunch on 17/18 June was the end of March. 7 Chairman's Report In September 2017, La Fontaine Primary school will be moving in to the previous Adult Education building on Nightingale Lane with 277 pupils and this in addition to the existing Bickley Primary school on the same site. As there is no entry to the on-site car park from Nightingale Lane, many parents dropping off or collecting children enter the car park from the very busy junction between Tylney Road and Homesdale Road, where five roads converge, with a sixth a few yards away. As La Fontaine school has a wide catchment area, the number of children arriving by car will be greatly increased. To alleviate some of the traffic at that busy junction, the Chairman has provided detailed proposals to the Education Funding Agency for the creation of an approximately 15 space short term on-site car park accessible for entry and access from Nightingale Lane. Because of proposed flats on the site of 44 Cumberland Road, the developer requested moving an existing traffic island 10½ metres, which would make it less visible to traffic approaching form the St Marys Avenue side than the present location as there is bend just before it. Because this is a busy pedestrian crossing for Highfield schools children and would be more hidden for traffic approaching from St Mary’s Avenue, the Chairman was asked to look at the situation. As he considered it presented a real added safety risk, the Head of Road Safety, Angus Culverwell, was asked to review the situation before implementation. The Chairman suggested that one solution would be a possible school-time illuminated sign on the St Mary’s Avenue approach side. It was reported that the right turn filter light from Widmore Road into Tweedy Road was still allowing queues to build up to make the right turn and therefore many vehicles were still taking the Market Square route instead. It is understood that a meeting would be scheduled between LBB and TfL personnel to consider the operation and any adjustments which may be necessary. A suggestion was made by a panel member that a TfL representative be invited to speak at a future meeting and the Chairman agreed to investigate this possibility. Following a point raised by a panel member regarding vehicle flow in Elmstead Lane adjacent to the Station entry road, the Chairman commented that even a single vehicle parked beside Elmstead Lane on the opposite side to the Station entrance causes traffic flow to be interrupted.