Thursday 30 November 2006

Traffic Calming?

Two bus stops have recently been moved on the Newton Road near to the depot. These stops are used as timing points and for driver change others and are causing problems for passing motorist. Newton bound traffic has to move on to the chevrons in the centre of the road to pass the bus. These chevrons are there to keep fast moving traffic apart. Torquay bound traffic has to pass the bus and quickly move back into the left lane for the traffic lights ahead. Both sets of traffic have to do this knowing that at any moment the bus may put on a right turn signal and attempt to move away. I have expessed my disquiet at the positioning of these stops opposite each other an a busy main road. Frankly I feel they are unsafe on this fast stretch of road. It almost appears that here buses are being used in an attempt to slow traffic down. I have an other reason for disliking the position of these bus stops and it is nothing to do with road safety but with our image. It only takes one badly or aggressively driven bus for every car driver to believe that all buses are driven by homicidal maniacs who's only aim in life is to write off so many Chelsea tractors that there wont be enough space on the side of their bus for all those little pictures of 4 wheel drive cars being removed from the side of the road by a tow truck. (In the same way the one badly and aggressively driven car can convince all bus drivers that all cars are driven by failed boy racers who took their driving test 27 times before giving it up as a bad job.) Now we have a situation where buses are making it harder for the passing motorist and who is getting the blame? We are; not who ever decided to put the stops where they are. I know it is not a deliberate plot to make the motorists more aggressive to bus drives. Well it can't be can it? If it is, or even if it isn't; it's succeeding.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Know exactly what you mean David, Our local council have taken some nice wide roads in to and out of town and narrowed them down to a car width each side, outcrops of pavements pushing the traffic together. I know that locals, shop owners and delivery men will just use these outcrops to park their vans, and to make it worse, they don't even stick to a straigh line weaving in and out. I wonder how much this is going to cost the council tax payer, and don't start me on the growing craze in painting hatched areas for no real reason.