Urban75 Home About Offline BrixtonBuzz Contact

The new barrierless island in Brixton High Street

Minnie_the_Minx said:
Not that ANY of the good people of Urban75 would do that though 'cos they know they might run over a fellow Urbanite
Click to expand...

I'm either on a bus, or walking (at a crossing point when the green man shows, of course) along that stretch... so I won't be responsible for a greasy stain on the road :D
 
Orang Utan said:
There will now be a lot of dickheads hoping to save seconds by crossing before the lights - the same kind of dickhead who doesn't look out for cyclists. So look forward to more maimed pedestrians. Yay!
Click to expand...

One option would be for drivers AND cyclists to recognise that it's Brixton High street, there are shops and bus stops on both sides of the road and a major tube terminus on one, and therefore will be busy with pedestrians using it as a high street. Then maybe the drivers and cyclists could treat it more like a high street instead of a dual carriageway (which is what they have become accustomed to in the past, and which is what the removal of the barrier is supposed to discourage) and drive with the expectation that people will want to cross the road.

Pedestrians have just as much right to be on the road as everyone else. They do of course have a responsibility not to step out without warning or where they are not visible, just as drivers and cyclists have a responsibility to look out for them and not drive through there at excessive speed.

Quite often I will start crossing the high street (away from the crossing) when the road is quite clear, then when halfway across some vehicle will emerge from the distance and speed towards me hooting its horn, as if it is my duty to leg it out of their way, instead of their duty to slow down and let me cross safely. This morning it was a motorcyclist, sometimes it's a van driver, sometimes it's a shouty cyclist. Sometimes they even do it to people who are still crossing at the lights just after the green man has gone out. Hopefully the removal of the barriers will reduce this kind of nonsense.
 
From the Tfl leaflet:

2553018803_f1e4534af1.jpg
 
epaul07 said:
Hey people, if you haven't seen it already TfL has a website about the town centre improvements at
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/a23Brixton

:)
Click to expand...
The PDF on that page explains everything nice and clearly. Lots of new pavement by the tube, and redsigned crossing at the end of Atlantic Road are the major changes for peds.

Bus lane heading South under the railway will be a welcome addition. That's a nasty bottleneck.

brixtonroad2.PNG
 
Crispy said:
The PDF on that page explains everything nice and clearly. Lots of new pavement by the tube, and redsigned crossing at the end of Atlantic Road are the major changes for peds.

Bus lane heading South under the railway will be a welcome addition. That's a nasty bottleneck.

brixtonroad2.PNG
Click to expand...


I still don't understand about the pavement. What are we getting? Maybe an extra foot on each side of the road? They didn't take away that much of the original island :confused:
 
At the moment, the road changes from 2 to 3 lanes going south as soon as you get past the crossing. What they're doing is moving that further south and giving the space to the pavement.
 
Crispy said:
AWAY FROM THE BIG RIVER :D

(PS: can't see your pics - they're from some sort of temp. cache, try and find the original source?)
Click to expand...


er, google Brixton High Street or HIgh Road and View Images maybe.

I can't get onto the website myself, only individual pictures

Yes, I see what you mean now, but I have this thing about directions :o

(going downhill means going south to me) :D
 
ajdown said:
What we have now is kinda depressing when you look at those pictures, isn't it?
Click to expand...
The road in picture 1 seems much wider than it is now - instead of sloping out to the wideness at the CH lane junction, it just steps out at the bridge, making the pavement outside the tube station much narrower than it is today.
 
Crispy said:
The road in picture 1 seems much wider than it is now - instead of sloping out to the wideness at the CH lane junction, it just steps out at the bridge, making the pavement outside the tube station much narrower than it is today.
Click to expand...

Presumably there was no tube station when that was taken. It's interesting to see M&S is about the only thing that's survived fairly unchanged.
 
ajdown said:
What we have now is kinda depressing when you look at those pictures, isn't it?
Click to expand...

I thought you might chip in to say that.

Looking at the second one though - it's an amazing difference, certainly. However, if it was still like that I doubt either of us could afford to live in Brixton. And I don't think I'd want to live there, any more than I'd want to live in High Street Kensington....
 
That sure looks like there'll be even more 'urban clutter' in the shape of road signs, street markings etc etc...
 
teuchter said:
Presumably there was no tube station when that was taken. It's interesting to see M&S is about the only thing that's survived fairly unchanged.
Click to expand...


Well I think that's a given considering the age of the transport in those pictures. Brixton Tube didn't open until erm... 1970/1971/1972ish (can't remember date) :o
 
knatchbull said:
I understand that the removal of the barriers is to make the road more pedestrian and cyclist friendly. As I understand it the thinking (backed up by research from across Europe) is that if the road is open it makes it less easy for drivers as they have to watch out for random pedestrians crossing. They therefore have to take more care in observing the road, this in turn makes them drive more safely and not speed. Roads with railings = roads safe for speeding and bad driving.

Before when the barriers were in place drivers knew that as long as they stopped at the pedestrian crossing there was little chance of anyone else being on the road so they could drive through Brixton centre with little thought for the pedestrians and cyclists.

The railings also made it more dangerous for cyclists who could be squashed between the vehicle and the railings if a lorry or other vehicle did not see them whereas now they have a bit more chance of coming off less injured as they will be able to fall onto the pavement.

As someone else mentioned this is the idea behind Kensington High Stret modifications which I read recently have been considered to be a success in making the roads more people friendly - I read recently that cyclists make up 25% of the traffic on Kensington High Street now and this article http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2006/apr/12/communities.guardiansocietysupplement cites figures that show that the number of accidents has gone down.

We can hope that once completed the modifications will calm the traffic on Brixton Road making it more people friendly.
Click to expand...



Really can't see this working. It will just encourage pedestrians (some of whom are clearly fools) to run out between buses ('I can't miss the tube - might have to wait 4 minutes for the next one') and into the road without looking where car/van drivers/motorbikes (dangerous fools) will splat them. Regularly.
 
Witnessed two people getting wiped out on the Brixton Rd, both by motorbikes filtering at low speed on the off side through near stationary traffic.
I actually wrote to TfL complaining about their failure to repair the gaps in the railings was a contributory factor, they (fairly speedily) repaired with plastic barriers zip-tied to the railings. That lasted all of a couple of weeks:rolleyes:

Perversely I think no railings is better than railings with a hole in them because you can now walk along the island as opposed to a dangerous half sidle. Its possible to cross more directly too
 
Gixxer1000 said:
Witnessed two people getting wiped out on the Brixton Rd, both by motorbikes filtering at low speed on the off side through near stationary traffic.
I actually wrote to TfL complaining about their failure to repair the gaps in the railings was a contributory factor, they (fairly speedily) repaired with plastic barriers zip-tied to the railings. That lasted all of a couple of weeks:rolleyes:

Perversely I think no railings is better than railings with a hole in them because you can now walk along the island as opposed to a dangerous half sidle. Its possible to cross more directly too
Click to expand...

Hopefully with no railing the motorcyclists will have to take more notice and greater care and so will be more prepared for pedestrians and these kind of incidents will be reduced.

The underlying problem is that the road has two roles: its the busy main street of Brixton town centre and it is also a major London arterial road for people coming out of the centre going to suburbs such as Streatham, Croydon and further to Gatwick and wider Surrey/Sussex. This scheme should hopefully shift the balance more towards its 'local' role.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

editor
Police facial recognition operation in Brixton
2 3
Replies
87
Views
11K
Gramsci
Gramsci
editor
Emergency Dental Care in Brixton
Replies
14
Views
2K
wemakeyousoundb
wemakeyousoundb
E
Clean Up Brixton
Replies
23
Views
746
Mr Joyful
M
editor
Pollen count and hayfever in Brixton
Replies
14
Views
2K
Pickman's model
Pickman's model
editor
Dry cleaning and zip repair in Brixton?
Replies
9
Views
2K
story
story
Back
Top Bottom