Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Green Light For Boris Changes

Boris has started his Mayoral term at a canter. With sweeping changes in City Hall and initiatives to make good his election pledges of making our streets and transport safer and City Hall more accountable, he has built up quite a head of steam.

One announcement that was made today gathered little attention but will be welcomed by many. According to the Evening Standard, traffic lights are going to be rephased across the capital to ease congestion on busy roads. More cars will be allowed through on each green phase. Although this will mean a slightly longer wait for pedestrians, it will also allow them a longer crossing time which will improve safety.

Boris said, "I do want to make sure that traffic flows more smoothly in London. I think we can do that without any prejudice to the rights and needs of pedestrians or vulnerable road-users.

"I've discovered an appalling legacy of neglect of London's traffic lights and it turns out that, contrary to the so-called green credentials of the last admin, there are no fewer than 727 traffic lights that do not conform to Department for Transport guidelines.

"Poor pedestrians are now being forced to sprint across. I'm assured we can not only rectify the gross neglect of traffic lights but we can also allow cars to flow more smoothly through them."


Fortunately the picture is of a sculpture in Canary Wharf so he won't have to spend anytime untangling that pretty mess. I hope one of his first lights for consideration is at the Windsor Castle junction in Carshalton. That way, they might be able to introduce a pedestrian phase without the ridiculous proposals of banning various manoeuvres, thus sending cars rat-running up Carshalton Park Road and Salisbury Road.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I must say that Johnson appears to have hit the ground running, but I do question his capabilities of running London efficiently. Mind you, if I question that, then the answer to the previous incumbent must be "no" !

Anonymous said...

David
One thing that you will approve of that i saw today as i drovw across Tower bridge,was the flying of the Union Flag in front of City Hall.
Not done before Boris.
I gather a picture of the Queen also now resides in the reception area whereas it did not before.
A good start all round i think.

Anonymous said...

Tim, yes must agree. I had no time for Livingstone at all, in fact I have a personal hatred of all things "New Labour". At least Boris, for all his supposed faults, has his ear to the ground, so that's no bad thing. As you would agree, it's the small things in politics that count, and flying the flag is not only a start, but a statement.

Although I have now left the Tories, for personal and political reasons, I look forward to a Tory administration here and some common sense.

Decent councillors like yourself deserve to have a stab at running this borough. I must be realistic about this and hope that UKIP can at least have some influence in the years to come.

Anonymous said...

I also think it is a very good thing that the Sutton Tories forced the Council to fly the flag above the council office.

Anonymous said...

I with with Scotty, it is refreshing to see the Union Flag fly above the civic offices in st. Nicholas Way.

I would like to commend the local Conservatives for having the backbone to push aside the Liberal Democrat political correctness and fly this nation's flag with pride.

Highly commendable.

Anonymous said...

Talking of Boris Johnson starting with "a canter", how many people actually know that only weeks after being elected he's now buzzed off on a sunshine holiday to Turkey?

So much for working his socks off for Londoners.

Oh, by the way, there was another murder of a teenager in London today in case nobody noticed.