Twickenham road closed after 'elderly pedestrian injured' (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)

I do hope this lady is alright.

This is one of, if not the most dangerous junctions in the area for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists.

The pedestrian crossing hardly allows enough time to cross both sections.

The cycle path is confusing.

Drivers routinely ignore the red lights because they know they can. There is absolutely NO enforcement whatsoever.

I have been writing to Richmond Council for years about this junction. Former Lib Dem Councillor David Trigg (Councillor for Transport) promised me that changes would be made but here we are, some six years later and nothing has been done.

ronically I emailed the Council yet again today (before I read this) to ask them to do something about this junction, as yesterday morning, a woman in a dark blue 4 x 4 full of kids shot through the lights on red, swerving to avoid my car as I began to turn right into Cross Deep.

I should like to know what Richmond Council intends to do about this dangerous junction in its grand scheme for Twickenham Town Centre as from the responses I have received to date, it is clearly not a high priorty.

Perhaps in view of today's accident, officers may like to trot down to this junction and observe what is going on.

Julie, there's a PDF link here - https://docs.google.
com/file/d/0B8LFztRO
67voWmpDTUxVTnBXV00/
edit?pli=1 - with the council's latest plan.

I don't think it's unfair to say that the plans don't present a radical change to Cross Deep, except to slightly restrict the volume of traffic and the maximum speeds. So, in terms of addressing your concerns, I don't think the TAAP does much ...

I can understand Tim Lennon aka Lucullus leaping into this story however the unfortunate collision is reported as involving only a cyclist and an elderly pedestrian at a notoriously tricky junction. I treat it with caution whether on foot, two or four wheels.

Since Mr Lennon is our resident cyclists champion, I wonder if he has a view about other cyclist's behaviour. Judging by his relentless tweets, he would have us all on two wheels if he could!

Any thoughts about cyclists increasingly adversarial behaviour, Tim?
Alex

I am intrigued that a 20mph zone, a raised table and surface in King Street, a Countdown giving pedestrians a great view of the time left to cross to assess if they should start walking, straight through crossings, wider pavements therefore sharpened corners reduction of six lanes to four at this point in king Street from where the typical 'speadster does aim at the lights, advanced cycle stop lines, advisory cycle lanes, a separate cycle lane between Wharf Lane and Cross Deep, (ideally being separated in grade and colour from the pavement it lays around with, no stopped buses to navigate past in the outside lane, a yellow box across the whole junction, and the new powers we are utilising to enforce yellow box junctions with cameras to ensure they are kept clear, well that is a pretty long list of measures being taken, I would like to keep this corner as tight as possible in order to ensure traffic turns this corner at a very considered slow pace. So we are awaiting detailed drawings and descriptions of the new plans, I for one will be examining them in close detail against a very long tabulated list of enhancements and safety assets I am looking to be introduced which Transport Officers are briefed on. You are right Julie, this huge Town Streetscape must incorporate and ensure a massive shift towards enhanced safety measures.

I am delighted to see Mr Lennon agreeing that we have significant most important changes, namely the reduction to 20mph, we will no doubt be checking the cyclist isn't travelling at more than 20mph, now that will be interesting!

Short of banning all traffic to ensure Mr Lennon's four year olds can cycle unhindered one of what is know as an 'extended crossroads in the area second only to the A316 without a care in the world, I can confirm that there are no plans I am aware of for TFL or anyone else to either put a bi-pass or a tunnel in to connect Kingston, Hampton, Isleworth Richmond and Ham together; we have to live with the constraints of being sandwiched between a beautiful area of river and the railway, or we divert a lot of traffic via Hampton along the river, which undoubtedly would please some.

The balanced view to ensure everyone gets a major benefit of the Town Plan Streetscape structure is before us, they are a huge jump forward and sadly trivialised by some who wish to overlook the huge advantages being brought, let alone the largescale investment signals this sends out to the business community that Twickenham is ready for the next 50 years of a challenge to revive and reinvigorate our high street to build on the back of some amazing businesses already here which we need to build on and develop.

Firstly best wishes to the lady involved in this incident. I know this involved a bicycle and as i obviously don't know the details i would not like to apportion blame at present One thing i have noticed on a regular basis that makes this junction dangerous is ,that many cars turning right from Heath Road in to Cross Deep make the move after the traffic signals have turned red as this has stopped the traffic coming from King Street.Of course by then the green man is showing to pedestrians waiting to cross Cross Deep. Is this what caused the near miss that Julie Hill describes?. In my opinion the sooner the signals are re-phased to allow pedestrians more time to cross at all points of the junction the better.They leave very little time for me, an able bodied reasonably quick walker to cross. It must be a frightening experience for those not as mobile. I have on occasions walked at a slower pace to give a little reassurance to those less quick.

There are two aspects to safety in Twickenham Town centre:

1. The Short Term - Current Situation:

The Cross Deep/King Street junction is very dangerous for both pedestrians and cyclists, and this area also includes the very restricted footpath outside Cousins greengrocers.

It is far from satisfactory to be told that his will all be sorted out by the TAAP proposals which probably won't be implemented until sometime next year.

We need some quick fixes, so why doesn't the Council go ahead with the 20mph speed limit now as it appears to have universal support?


2. The Medium Term - TAAP Proposals

Councillor Naylor admits that even he hasn’t seen any detailed drawings of the proposed highways and streetscene changes. So how can he or indeed any other interested Councillors be so sure that they will actually work optimally for pedestrians and cyclists?

Surely the Council's Cabinet will not approve the still vague proposals until they, the local ward Councillors, local interest groups and local residents have seen the detailed plans and had the opportunity to debate their strengths/weaknesses
?

From what I’ve heard at Council meetings (but not seen evidence of), the plans are evolving slowly in the right direction, but there are still many unknowns, and there is still a long way to go.

To summarise, Twickenham residents and visitors need :
1. Short term fixes to improve the current situation
2. Continued input to the evolving TAAP plans.

Yes Twickenham Man, that is EXACTLY what I am describing! If you stand at this crossing and observe, you will see that cars trying to turn right from Heath Road into Cross Deep CAN ONLY DO SO WHEN THE TRAFFIC LIGHTS ARE ON RED, as there is no feeder light and the lights in both directions are phased to turn red at the same time! This situation is made worse by the fact as I described - drivers routinely IGNORE the red light and therefore cars attempting to turn right have to wait a further few seconds before attempting to make the right turn. By this time, pedestrians are expecting to cross and blame the motorists turning right, when it is motorists coming along King Street who are causing the danger!

PS Can Cllr Naylor or a Council Officer please confirm who is responsible for installing and paying for right turn feeder lights in the Borough?

There is an urgent need one at Cross Deep junction and one at the first set of traffic lights on the bridge at the junction of London Road and Station Yard - a junction which confuses many.

Exactly. I know it is difficult to turn right as, once you have proceeded past the stop line you enter the yellow box, which is perfectly legal as long as your exit road is clear, and you have to go somewhere or will sit there all day, but i have regularly seen 3, 4 or even 5 cars do this which is totally unacceptable.Which ever way you look at it ,a red light has been jumped. This is why the whole junction needs upgrading with a filter light for the right turn being a good idea

Yes, reference Julie Hill and Twickenham Man's very valid points, it is a combination of our Consultants, Our Council Traffic Engineers and Transport Planners, and TFL, who have the final sanction to ensure the flows work too in conjunction with safety.

I am sending the link to this article and stream of these two writers' helpful thoughts and comments to add to the 3list for critical and pragmatic embracing of the current problems. We will see how this progresses into the next stage of design. We will see the outcome for a Cabinet meeting in the next or subsequent meeting.