Hi Londondrz, as i thought you meant. They say it was late afternoon, 4-5
Quick update from the local Sgt, when asked if there were plans to do this regularly, he replied.
@MichaelSnasdell As often as we can which is about about once a week
I have asked if they are open to suggestions on times
This post was last modified: 06-10-2015 06:41 PM by Snazy.
Further to the above, @MPSForestHill aka Sgt Phil Moore says he is happy to discuss the matter further for example suggestions on times, etc, with anyone wishing to get in touch. Anyone not using Twitter, or wanting a message passed, I am happy to do so.
Genuine question - is David's Rd actually one-way, as a couple of people have said? It's no entry from the S Circ of course, and there have been plenty of times I've waved at cars going the wrong way (I thought) up the street. But I have just realised that there are no one-way signs down that end, and the sign at the junction of Pearcefield (which is sign posted as one-way) warns that you are going into two-way traffic.
The ambulances often turn right out of their car park, and I'd always assumed that they were using special emergency vehicle privileges but i think I was wrong...
When you come out of the Sainsburys car park you can only turn left onto Pearcefield Ave and go up to Manor Mount which is two ways at that point. St Davids road only extends from Pearcefield Ave to the South Circular.
Have a good zoom in on Google maps and it shows you which is one way and which is both ways.
Indeed, there is no need for one way signs on Davids Road, as there are no joining roads along its length which should need direction as to it being a one way road.
I just drove up Manor Mount – the correct way I hasten to add. A well-known courier company’s van was indicating to turn into Manor Mount from Honor Oak Road, spotted me, put his hazards on, waved me out of the junction, and then proceeded to drive down the wrong way. Astounding.
What is even more astounding is the amount of liveried vehicles doing this illegal turn: I have spotted all sorts of builders and associated trades, services, well-known couriers, local estate agents, and of course, all the other idiots who think they own the road.
With the frequency that this is happening, surely a camera would pay for itself within days!
Having it open doesn't solve anything because it just relocates a traffic problem from a main road, to a residential street that also has an ambulance depot on it. Basically traffic backs up all the way along Manor mount and Davids Road. Mayhem for the residents and blocks off the ambulance.
Traffic should be on Honor Oak/London Rd/South Circular.
But I bet some short sighted motorists think it will save them time or fix a problem, which it doesn't.
Have a look for fragments of cars at the corner of the bottom of Manor Mount. That is from cars hairing down the hill the wrong way and then not making the corner and crashing. That is one reason.
Yeah Londondrz, I left a load of my skin and shreds of jeans & T-shirt at that very spot on a summer's evening in 1986 when I left my flat at the top of Manor Mount and, in about 8 seconds of complete madness, freewheeled going backwards on my rollerskates down the hill. I was lucky not to have caused an accident or injury involving anyone else but then I managed to do my round-trip down to Catford, along to Lewisham, New Cross and Peckham and then past the Rye up to Honor Oak Road and chucked a left Manor Mount back to my flat.
Another time, I had my old Fiat Spyder parked outside my flat and someone thought it would be funny in the middle of the night to let the handbrake off and knock it out of gear to make it roll down and into a tree just past Waldenshaw. Again, it could've been so much worse.
(i) increased use of Manor Mount & Davids Rd as a 'rat run' to cut-out the London Rd traffic lights, causing both environmental and safety problems for residents and access difficulties for ambulances and Sainsbury's lorries. (There was a big debate about traffic-calming measures such as sleeping policemen but these were opposed by London Ambulance and Sainsbury's.)
(ii) the designation of the London Rd stretch of the S Circular as a Red Route. That designation automatically affects roads 'off' and led to the yellow-lining of Waldenshaw, Manor Mount & Davids Rd and, later, after a consultation exercise, the introduction of a Controlled Parking Zone and resident's scheme.
(iii) The major re-vamp of Sainsbury's - one stated objective of which was to enable the larger lorries servicing their 'superstores' at Bell Green and Dulwich to make deliveries at Forest Hill also. (There was even a threat to pull-out of Forest Hill if they didn't get their way and I remember that people were very concerned, back then, at the impact this would have on the SE23 economy - not least because Sainsbury's then owned the leases of a number of other shops in London Road so could effectively 'close the High St'.)
I think I've got these three things in the right order but could be wrong. I have to say that the current arrangement - though far from perfect - works much better than the old 'free for all' and seems to me preferable to any of the other solutions offered over the years. And solutions aplenty have been offered! I remember our MP, Jim Dowd, coming-up with what he thought was a modest improvement on what we have now; as he said, he was 'only trying to help' but he was howled-down on all sides and beat a hasty retreat! I don't often feel sorry for politicians but this was an exception.