Recall the lovely postcard picture on the
Welcome page. When did you last see Writtle Green like that, in fact
when have you seen any part of Writtle with anything close to that amount of
free kerb side?
Ah! you think we have another anti-motor nut rambling on. In fact
quite the opposite I love my little car (albeit a Vauxhall). What I am
going to rant on about are the lazy and inconsiderate and down right
dangerous motorists/possibly cyclist (they could also be at fault) who make
traversing our fair Village difficult and dangerous if not impossible.
Where shall I start, at the beginning or the end depending from which
direction you are coming. We all know the scenario at lunch-time and
early evening, by the Village Chip shop. Bridge Street is a narrow heavily
used road, but our prospective intrepid Fish and Chip lunch/supper
purchaser has to park practically in the Chip shop and usually pointing
against the traffic. Not only is there just one, usually there are
several spaced a few feet apart, half on the kerb, and at all sorts of
angles. The result is traffic chaos, just because our Chip buyer
can't be bothered to park somewhere safe, there is a
car-park 100yds up the road. We shall return to the
car-park later.
So far its taken us 10 minutes to get past the chip shop, its
lunchtime and we need to get to the School (I will leave parking
outside the School for a later date) and our next obstacle is the bank-goer.
He/she has again parked on the kerb in his four-wheel drive totally
blocking one-side of the road. On the odd occasion you see them
unloading bullion, so even I would forgive them then, but mostly he's there
to bank his Giro. So where should he park? There are few spaces
by the bank and of course there is the car-park less than a 100 yards away.
We have finished our visit to the school and we
take the scenic route around via The Ongar road and back into the
Green. What do we see there! A veritable chicane, motor vehicles
littered on the kerb outside almost every little establishment in the
Village, resulting in the need to zig-zag down the road.
What is the need for some of us to park right outside/on the kerb? One
it's illegal and two it make passage for the elderly and small children in
push chairs difficult if not dangerous. Are we that infirm that
parking on the Green, there are usually some spaces, is too far and we'll
collapse before getting our prescription, bottle of wine or book of
stamps. In the unlikely event there are no spaces on the Green, don't
forget we have, Yes, the Car park! In fact I would say from experience
the car park is very convenient for the Post Office.
I suppose we must not dismiss the infirm, but they will have a disabled
badge so probably can park anywhere, but those without such a powerful
double-yellow eraser the extra little walk would do them good, its
good exercise.
That's parking in the main Village dealt with, what's left Speeding
and I nearly forgot, cyclists. Speeding, first. As
we all know there is a Essex wide campaign to save lives by putting up speed
cameras every where, the revenue from which the Police authority keep.
(we'll save that subject for a future issue). As local residents know
regular speed traps are placed on Writtle Road and on various parts of the
Ongar Road but not on the Green. I believe we have been lucky that to
my knowledge no-one has been hurt in the Green in the last few
years. It is a regular occurrence especially in the
evening that motor cars travel at speeds, I estimate to be 50 mph or more
through the Green.
We need to discourage speeding in built up
areas not just in Writtle. Or do we want to see the Green littered
with Gatso's (Speed cameras, see Picture) after we have had a fatal
accident in the Green. This is exactly what happened on Waterhouse lane in
Chelmsford. So even if you are a passenger in a vehicle traveling
through a built area, remind the driver of the speed limit. Most
fatalities are in built up areas at relatively low speeds not on
motorways and dual carriage ways at high speeds.
Enough of righteous preaching back to the outstanding issues at hand,
yes Cyclists.
Once upon a time in my youth (circa 1960 odd) when only the middle-classes
had motor cars the working man and his family traveled by bus and
bicycle. In those not so distant days it was a terrible crime, and
prosecutions were common, to use a bike without lights, cycle on prohibited
areas and to cycle on the pavement. These days all three are
common. How often do you see kids and adults out on bikes with no
lights during lighting up times. We need to return to the good old
days of Policing when the Bobby spent his time booking cyclists and left the
poor old motorist alone for a change!
That's all for this time, any comments are welcome
via our normal contact numbers or to:
roadtraffic@disgruntled-of-writtle.co.uk
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