ePetition details
Request for NO LEFT TURN traffic sign weekdays (7.00-10.00am) turning left into Summerfield Avenue from Kingswood Avenue due to dangerous rat-run
1) Figures released last year show that traffic on residential
streets in London has increased by 70% over the last decade, driven
by the prevalence of sat nav technology. In other words, rat runs
that used to require local knowledge are now on Google Maps and
Waze. As residents of Summerfield Avenue and Dudley Road we have
first-hand knowledge of this fact, having had to endure an
unpleasant and unhealthy increase of traffic on our streets for a
number of years.
2) Summerfield Avenue and Dudley Road are both single width streets
that drivers have now identified as a cut through to Salusbury Road
and Harvist Road. Unlike all the other parallel Avenues (Montrose,
Hopefield, Windermere and Brooksville) Summerfield Ave is
attractive to drivers as it is seen to be the best route for
overtaking slower moving traffic coming south down Salusbury Road
or as a cut through to Harvist Road.
3) Traffic counts undertaken by residents on these two streets have
revealed that on a weekday between 8-9am Summerfield Avenue has on
average 330 vehicles (one every 10 seconds). This is only slightly
less than the figure for the main Salusbury Road southbound which
was recorded at 410 in the same time period. In neighbouring,
parallel and identical avenues to Summerfield, the number of
vehicles during the rush hour is by comparison negligible.
Brent Council operates equality policies that aim to
ensure that everyone is treated fairly and equally and therefore we
ask that these policies are taken into consideration when making a
decision about this petition.
4) Summerfield Avenue and Dudley Road are narrow, residential
streets not built for this excessive volume of traffic.
Neighbouring main roads have the infrastructure in place to deal
with what could result in a slight increase of traffic. These roads
are designed for traffic use (and are the primary north-south
traffic routes), hence the 'through route' term. They have traffic
lights; zebra crossings; pelican crossings; speed cameras; speed
warning signs, none of which residential single width streets have.
We ask that the Council take this into consideration too.
5) During the rush hour cars and vans back up all the way along
Summerfield Avenue so that from the junction of Salusbury Road to
the junction of Kingswood Avenue the street is saturated with
stationary vehicles and toxic exhaust fumes. When the rush hour
eases vehicles frequently speed down the street, and there are
often altercations, especially at the corner of Dudley Road. Many
children live on these roads and it is becoming increasingly
unsafe. Local people living in the same controlled zone also use
these two roads to park their cars for ease of access to the tube
adding to congestion. We ask that the Council consider safety
issues too.
6) Research has shown that improving through flow for traffic
encourages more traffic into the area. Filtering through side
streets does not make main roads quieter, it simply encourages more
cars to enter the area. Drivers are now using side roads to shave
off a few minutes from their commute or school run. Unfortunately,
because Summerfield Avenue and Dudley Road have been identified by
drivers as a rat-run, this is encouraging more vehicles into the
Queens Park area. We ask that the Council cut off this rat-run
route during the rush hour so that drivers will be deterred and
take another more appropriate route instead.
7) The Central Office of Public Interest’s #addresspollution
campaign shows all the roads in Queens Park to be well above the
WHO air pollution limits. We, the residents of Summerfield Ave and
Dudley Road, are however in no doubt that we are exposed to a
greater level of toxic air compared to other equivalent streets in
the area which have significantly less traffic.
Started by: Sarah Rogers
This ePetition ran from 27/04/2021 to 09/06/2021 and has now finished.
135 people signed this ePetition.