At approximately 3pm this afternoon there was yet another
accident on the roundabout in the middle of Chislehurst Common between a car
travelling south along Loop Road and an Ocado delivery van travelling along
Ashfield Lane in the direction of the High Street. It appears that the Ocado
van failed to give way to the car, the result of which can be seen to the right. When
a Village News reporter arrived on the scene at least 20 minutes after the
accident there was no sign of an ambulance although the Ocado driver was
injured and remained in his van. Apart from the wider implications of there now
not being enough ambulances or paramedics to deal with emergencies in the
Village News area, not helped by the closure of several hospital accident and
emergency units in the area over the last few years, it must surely be time for
some radical thinking to be done, and implemented, over the traffic flows
around Chislehurst High Street.
Many of the roads around the Common are not suitable for
vans and lorries, neither should these roads be made to cope with the quantity of
traffic that uses them, such as tinkering with the roundabout as was
done fairly recently at huge expense and which has made a bad situation even
worse. Furthermore, there are a number of awkward and, given the complete lack
of signs reminding drivers of the 30mph speed limit, dangerous junctions to
negotiate. These include not only the roundabout on the Common, but also the
turning off the High Street and into Ashfield Lane opposite Cafe Rouge, the
crossroads (or more accurately “X” roads) where Prince Imperial Road meets the
High Street by HSBC, the even more of an X road and staggered junction between
Ashfield Lane and Heathfield Lane, and the junction between Heathfield Lane and
Green Lane by the pond.
The only reason why most of the through traffic uses Prince
Imperial Road and Ashfield Lane is to avoid the traffic lights at the War Memorial
and the only reason that through traffic uses the two roads that cross the Common
is as a short cut to Prince Imperial Road and Ashfield Lane. Prince Imperial
Road can probably handle the traffic, Ashfield Lane can’t. Here at Village News
we would propose:
- Blocking
Ashfield Lane off by the pond at its junction with Heathfield Lane.
- Closing
the two roads across the Common. Both proposals marked in red below.
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| Copyright Google |
These
two changes would help the flow of through traffic with less awkward junctions
and would turn the Common into one, from the four divided quarters that we have
at present.
We
have council elections coming up this May, maybe we should propose a “Close
Loop Road” candidate. That or shove traffic lights on the Common. Either way,
we should not have to put up with the number of accidents that now happen in this
part of Chislehurst.
What
do you think? Leave your comment below.
