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Honor Oak Park traffic
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Cheeky


Posts: 215
Joined: May 2009
Post: #1
16-07-2012 03:51 PM

Thought i'd write on here as I know the Forest Hill Society seems to do a lot when it comes to writing to the council regarding planning permissions, so I thought maybe they might be able to do something with regards to congestion every evening which could possibly be alleviated by some simple parking restrictions applied.

Almost every evening there is a huge traffic build up down Honor Oak Park in the direction of the cross roads with Stondon Park/Brockley Rise. It is my estimate that about 70% of traffic approaching the traffic lights at this crossroads want to turn left onto Stondon Park, and the lights work in favour of these cars by having a left green filter light come on and staying on for quite a while until the full green light comes on for all trafic exiting Honor Oak Park. When the full green light comes on, sometimes it is on for a matter of seconds and then turns back to red stopping all traffic.

I have noticed that as the traffic builds up behind the red light for cars wanting to turn right or to go straight ahead (the middle lane in the road) there are only a limited amount of cars that can access the left hand lane of those wanting to turn left until they are blocked by doing so by parked cars where the double yellow lines stop on the left hand side of the road and the traffic wanting to go right or straight on. The green left hand filter light comes on, the cars that are able to flow through but those that may want to turn left, and can see the green left hand light and can also see empty road ahead are left frustrated by the parked cars blocking their entrance to the empty left hand lane.

Does that make sense? Do you follow?

Now what I reckon is that if the double yellow lines are painted all the way up to the zebra crossing (or at least extended by a further 30-40 meters) it will stop this blockage and help the main parade flow a lot better in the evenings

I appreciate there are houses which use those parking spaces but it would be a hell of a lot better for congestion purposes and would help many a frustrated driver sat in their cars.

What do you reckon?

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lacb


Posts: 627
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #2
16-07-2012 04:53 PM

I can imagine those who park their cars on that stretch would have something to say about that but it does seem like a sensible suggestion.

Won't change the volume of traffic, only better public transport links could do that IMO, but would probably be good for traffic flow so long as road markings and signage made the lane clear enough.

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thenutfield


Posts: 235
Joined: Nov 2007
Post: #3
17-07-2012 12:51 PM

Cheeky, your suggestion makes good sense from a motorist's point of view.
Our streets are not just for getting from A to B though, they are also places where people live and shop (or have shops). I would have thought that a local parade like HOP needs all the parking spaces it can get, otherwise doesn't it just become a throughway?

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michael


Posts: 3,255
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #4
17-07-2012 02:14 PM

I think Cheeky makes a very good point and the removal of just a couple of parking spaces would make a fair amount of difference.
I think there is another problem which is the timing of the lights for going straight on from HOP at this junction. I would be interested to know how long is allowed during the day and at peak hours, if anybody fancies timing them, or it is all controlled by a camera sensor that is not doing its job correctly?

Google street view shows a ghost bus stop across the road which takes up most of the other lane. I wonder if this has a negative impact on traffic or if it is just never used.

A related point is that it might be possible to bring forward the stopping line for cars waiting to turn out of HOP.

Does this have an impact on the P4 as well as car drivers? TfL and Lewisham more interested in minor changes such as this if it might impact buses rather than cars. If it does impact buses then it is an ideal issue for me to take to the Lewisham Public Transport Liaison Committee on behalf of the Forest Hill Society. But it would be useful to have the additional details outlined above.

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Cheeky


Posts: 215
Joined: May 2009
Post: #5
17-07-2012 02:30 PM

Agreed, 3 or 4 car spaces I think is enough to make a lot of difference. Maybe the residents could have 4 more spaces up the road? Every ones a winner.

Thenutfield, let's be honest, to 99% of motorists this stretch of road is already just a throughway, what we need is a Sainsbury's or something like that then things might change Wink ....whoops, sorry, wrong thread!!!

This post was last modified: 17-07-2012 02:37 PM by Cheeky.

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RussB


Posts: 15
Joined: Oct 2007
Post: #6
17-07-2012 10:48 PM

More agreement here. I often see backed-up traffic wanting to turn left blocked by just a few vehicles in the right-hand lane. Removing a few parking spaces seems like a very sensible way to improve traffic flow.

Also it wouldn't hurt if the signage was improved so people not familiar with the junction don't end up in the wrong lane.

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Sherwood


Posts: 1,412
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #7
18-07-2012 07:10 AM

Or could these spaces be prohibited during peak times only? This would allow some use for parking for residents and shoppers.

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hopper


Posts: 65
Joined: Jan 2008
Post: #8
18-07-2012 10:13 AM

I live in one of the flats next to the very last car parking spaces before the junction. I don't have a car, nor does anyone in any of the other flats, and it's possibly people using the station rather than residents parking there. I'm in favour of anything that improves the traffic flow!

Michael - as far as I know the ghost bus lane doesn't have any impact on traffic, all cars seem to use it. I'd never even noticed it until you just pointed it out - good spot!

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Cheeky


Posts: 215
Joined: May 2009
Post: #9
18-07-2012 10:27 AM

What's a ghost bus stop/lane?

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Sherwood


Posts: 1,412
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #10
18-07-2012 11:20 AM

One thing that would help those of us who use the 171 bus going north would be if buses could use the left hand lane and go straight across to the bus stop. i don't think they would hold up the traffic, but they would get across the traffic lights faster.

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michael


Posts: 3,255
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #11
18-07-2012 01:21 PM

Ghost bus stop: http://goo.gl/maps/F3Mw

Looking at the filter lane on Stondon Park, the road beyond the junction does not seem wide enough for a bus and a car the cross over at the same time, which might prevent this being used by buses as a second lane. Which is a shame as it seems a good idea.

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Cheeky


Posts: 215
Joined: May 2009
Post: #12
18-07-2012 02:01 PM

Spooky!!!

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Cheeky


Posts: 215
Joined: May 2009
Post: #13
31-07-2012 03:12 PM

Any thoughts on this FHSoc?

The traffic often extends all the way up and over the hill to the junction of Honor Oak Road

This post was last modified: 31-07-2012 03:21 PM by Cheeky.

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Mattya


Posts: 14
Joined: Jan 2012
Post: #14
01-08-2012 07:38 PM

Agreed that this needs to be looked at. This is important because this road takes the strain of a lot of through trafic from some of the roads either side of it, which are blocked off to a certain extent. It therefore needs to be working as efficiently as possible otherwise the whole area becomes something of a transport black spot which is no good for anyone (motorists, residents, bus users, ambulances in a rush etc)!

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Cheeky


Posts: 215
Joined: May 2009
Post: #15
02-08-2012 07:39 AM

I'm not making this up, honest!!!

On my way home last night I witnessed a Police Van with its lights on in an emergency trying to turn left onto Stondon Park From Honor Oak Park, however it got stuck in the traffic that gets stuck in the middle lane blocked off by parked cars even though the left hand lane was completely free of cars.

On this occassion the traffic jam was only about 100 meters long so it got delayed by about 15 seconds, imagine the delay if the traffic was backed up all the way up the hill past the allotments!!!

Even 15 seconds is too long if it needn't have been delayed at all

Forest Hill Society?

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FHSoc


Posts: 134
Joined: Nov 2009
Post: #16
02-08-2012 09:03 AM

As Chair of the Society's Transport Committee, Michael will bring this to the next Transport committee and I'm sure we will raise it with Lewisham.

It should be easy to test by putting some temporary parking restrictions in (such as cones) to see whether it improves traffic flow or simply extends the queue waiting to go straight ahead.

If you live in the area, you can also raise it with the Crofton Park Councillors
cllr_jackie.addison@lewisham.gov.uk
cllr_john.bowen@lewisham.gov.uk
cllr_pauline.morrison@lewisham.gov.uk

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Cheeky


Posts: 215
Joined: May 2009
Post: #17
02-08-2012 11:08 AM

That's excellent FHSoc.

Will be interesting to observe what happens during the tests, and after all considerations, and of course if the tests provide encouraging results, see some sort of modification to the junction.

Many thanks

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mrm1ag1


Posts: 15
Joined: Jul 2010
Post: #18
02-08-2012 11:45 AM

could they not just change the phasing of the lights so that the right turn/ straight on is green for longer?

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michal


Posts: 6
Joined: Nov 2007
Post: #19
02-08-2012 12:41 PM

I think the solution might be quite simple. On the opposite side of the road there are a number of parking places with a 30 minute time restriction. I have hardly seen any cars parking there, presumably because they are no shops near to them. Why not get rid of the restriction and let it be used by residents instead of the left-hand side (looking towards the traffic lights). This will free up road space for the left-turners.

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michael


Posts: 3,255
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #20
12-09-2012 07:10 AM

I took this issue to Lewisham's transport liaison committee last night and both bus companies said that they would welcome anything to improve this route and this sounded reasonable to them.

The representative from Lewisham council was a little more sceptical, suggesting that it might encourage more cars to use this route, that removing a couple of spaces would have a minimal impact, and that residents may be negatively impacted by the loss of parking spaces. Nevertheless, I believe it is something that Lewisham will take a look at to make a fair assessment of the benefits of a change which would be fairly simple to implement.

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