Redcar and Cleveland Council is inviting hundreds of Redcar residents to give their views on road safety proposals aimed at cutting the accident rate along the town's Redcar Lane.
Letters are being sent to 600 homes around Redcar Lane outlining details of a planned £60,000 Casualty Reduction Scheme, which are on display in Redcar Central Library and Laburnum Road library from Monday, February 4 until Friday, February 22.
Improvements would include vehicle-activated signs, urging motorists to slow down, safer crossing points away from junctions, a central pedestrian refuge outside Borough Park and narrowing the carriageway near the junctions of both Victoria Avenue and Queensland Avenue.
Figures show that there have been 33 injury accidents along Redcar Lane between 2002 and 2006 making it the Borough's second worst accident blackspot.
Investigations reveal that there are no common causes for the accidents along the 2.6 kilometre stretch, which have been mostly clustered around the junctions. The breakdown is 2002: six, 2003: six, 2004: seven, 2005: eight, 2006: six.
*Approval has already been given for a £70,000 Casualty Reduction Scheme for the B1380, the road with the Borough's worst accident record, which recorded a total of 67 injury accidents over the last five years.
Work on the 4.3 kilometre stretch from the Greystones roundabout to the Borough boundary is expected to start in March.
18 comments:
A proper crossing at Borough park would be welcome.
It was dangerous enough when I used to cross Redcar Lane as a kid, it is a nightmare nowadays when I take my kids there!
Traffic is already rediculous on Redcar Lane, especially when the crossing gates close. Adding chicaines will only add to the chaos. The proper answer to this problem is a further north/south route, e.g. parallel to green lane and to sort out once and for all the thrush road/redcar lane/park avenue route.
The 30 mph speed limit should be either reduced or at least enforced.
Currently most vehicles ignore it.
Additionally the parking of cars on the grass verges should be banned as they obscure the view when entering Redcar lane from side roads.
I agree with the previous letter that another north/south route should be provided and the level crossing farce (ie being closed the traffic for 15 minutes in every hour) must be apriority in any traffic management scheme
Redcar Lane is busy because of a lack of alternative routes around town. The accident rate seems steady over the last 5 years or so. It is simply a case that there are hundreds of extra houses on the Ings and Mickledales whose people require access to the town centre and the council has made no provision for the extra traffic.
Putting in pinch points and/or chicanes will simply agitate motorists into taking risks to squeeze through resulting in much higher rates of minor collisons between oncoming vehicles vying for the same piece of road. Please don't put pinch points on blind corners like you have on Broadway East and Greenstones Road. It's lunacy it really is!!!
I was on Redcar Lane at 0845 this morning (wednesday). the bin wagon was moving from Borough road junction southwards and there were approx 30 cars trapped behind it. Combine that with the level crossing being closed and the road narrowing idea will cause total gridlock. Spend your 60k on enforcement, not on mods to the road which will harm not help the flow of traffic through the town. Get real, Joice Benbow - just because you didn't get across the road doesn't mean we have to turn the traffic flow through the town upsidedown!
Just build a wall at either end of the road...that ought to stop people having accidents on it. Of course then we won't be able to get to work, guess we'll have to become councillors instead and 'work' from home on expenses. Bet you don't sanction this post for public consumption, what do you do eh.
by Disillusioned of Redcar.
Two things will fix this, one or two more pelican crossings and the police bothering to enforce the law when it comes to parking near junctions. I imagine most accidents happen either when pedestrians walk out from behind cars and people trying to turn right onto Redcar Lane blind because someone has parked too close to the junction. This has nothing to do with speed and the restriction of movement through chicanes and everything to do with a failure of traffic wardens/police to enfore parking laws.
I for one am in favour of chicanes on Redcar Lane.
If you time it right you can gain several positions in chicanes, the trick is to go in fast, and play tight to the racing line. At worst you will drop out close to the lead driver, then leading to a successful overtake at Yearby Bank.
Two of my race technicians have informed that there will be race traffic travelling the opposite way down Redcar Lane! Not only is this against FIA regulations it will most likely cause further accidents as heavy traffic battles to pass through the chicane.
There seems to be this disturbing ideology that when problems occur on the roads, there must be measures put in place (pinch points etc) to slow the motorist down and stop/hinder the flow of traffic. The council should be looking at the root cause of the problem.
I used to live on Redcar Lane and the traffic was always busy - as you'd expect because it's a main road. However over the last 10 years it has seen a massive increase in traffic levels because of the hundreds of extra houses on the Ings estate and the Mickledales. As other people have said, the council have not foreseen this and built extra capacity into the roads, instead they propose to hinder drivers more by putting obstacles in the road to stop and slow them down.
Why don't the council spend the £70,000 on a study into a long term solution for looking into how the flow of traffic can be better improved not only on Redcar Lane, but Redcar Road, Plantation Road, Greenstones Road, Thrush Road and Park Avenue.
A councillor friend of mine told me that they also plan to build new houses on the Pybus' farm opposite the Mickledales. What is this going to do for traffic levels?
Let's plan for the long term and not shoot from the hip for the short term! Agitating road users and controlling them more is not the answer - we have to look at serious investment in our roads coupled with better planning, enforcement and common sense.
Cars are here to stay - there isn't a viable alternative in Redcar or the surrounding area like a Metro system or reliable trains or buses. Stop turning Redcar's roads into a nightmare to drive on, instead work with the motorist with better enforcement and plan for the long term to avoid such problems in the future.
Ward Councillors have made numerous requests to look at the crossing issue and safety along Redcar Lane for all residents.
Numerous surveys have been done and now we have a chance to look at a proposed plan to improve the road,I hope residents will take this opportunity to, look at the plans and make constructive criticism.
Councillor Mary Ovens
West Dyke Ward
Yet another one of our roads about to be vandalized by the anti-car minority. The counillor's never mention how many head on crashes there have been in Dormanstown since the pinch points were installed on Broadway, a once very safe road now dangerous.
It would have been interesting to include a breakdown in the statistics of the nature of the accidents.
Perhaps a pelican crossing or similar will be useful near to Borough Park. Also appropriate parking for vehicles that park on the verges of the park area / Borough Rd may ease potential and real hazards.
In my experience as a driver, chicanes add to difficulties rather than diminish congestion, dangers etc - leading to an increase in vehicular accidents! This is a main arterial route through Redcar - I am not convinced that it is the flow / speed of traffic that is a problem rather than stationary vehicles 'blocking' pedestrian and driver vision, thus leading to collisions. Congestion caused variously by stationary vehicles, traffic in and out of adjoining roads and especially caused by the level crossing will not be eased by chicanes, speed humps etc. Common sense (from everyone) should prevail!
As the last writer has said - Redcar Lane is an arterial route into the heart of the town.
And we all know the danger of blockages in ateries, especially linked to the heart - IT DIES!
A while ago when the rumble strips were on the sea front the council said that the preferred routes for traffic through Redcar were Kirkleatham Lane, Corporation Road and Redcar Lane. Is Redcar Lane to be removed from that list?
Roads are like the veins of the economy, constrict them and it will die. There are enough cheap and nasty shops in Redcar town centre as it is and it will only get worse if people from the Mickeldales, Marske, New Marske, Saltburn feel it's easier to go to Teesside Park to spend their money rather than Redcar town centre because of the congestion this scheme will surely bring.
A couple of pedestrian crossings and a more rigourous approach to stop people parking near corners would be cheaper and more effective that ruining what is a perfectly good road. Also, is there any chance of a 10, 15, 20 car parking area within Borough Park for people to park? I think we need to accept that no everyone walks to the park and cars are here to stay.
Unfortunately the long and short of it is that Redcar simply does not have the infrastructure to support its growing population. Pinch points/chicanes/speed humps will merely paper over the cracks and will not facilitate a long term strategy to make the Borough's roads safer.
As a former resident of nearly 20 years on Redcar Lane, I would certainly not welcome 'pinch points' or chicanes. Road users of Redcar will tell you that while they do cut the speed along various routes i.e. Greenstones Rd, Plantation/Larkswood Rd, at rush hour (and most of the day) when there is a large volume of traffic in both directions on Redcar Lane, waiting for cars to have right of way would only lead to frustration and the inevitable dangerous driving to try to get through the pinch points quickly. I would suggest speed humps, which slow traffic rather than pinch points which actually cause it to queue up. This is of course only a remedy rather than a cure to the huge volume of traffic which tries to navigate along only 3 routes that run North-South through the town. Redcar Lane, Kirkleatham Lane and West Dyke Rd are not sufficient and a road that runs parallel to Green Lane on the Marske side of the town is something that should maybe be considered. If there were an alternative route rather than Thrush Road to go from the East to the West side of the town, from the Turners mill roundabout across the racecourse then people from the Mickledales/Ings Estate/Marske would not feel the need to go all the way down Redcar Lane to use Thrush Road.
The Local Council should condider spending the town's hard earned Council Tax with a much longer term view in mind.
Andy Hassack
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