I think that one should be more worried about their proposal to put a 20mph speed limit as well as raised tables along Hanwell and West Ealing shopping centres.The Uxbridge road is the main East-West artery of the road system in Ealing. They have already tried to do the same in West Ealing from the Lido junction to Ealing Broadway few years ago till they eventually realised what a nonsense proposal that was.Have they thought of the consequences in terms of delaying buses or emergency services journeys especially as they need to come to a crawl whilst negotiating the raised tables? What about the economic impact on delivery vans, or even on the wear and tear of vehicles? Never mind the discomfort of the poor passengers having to be bounced up and down, especially if sitting on the upper deck and they suffer back, neck or travel sickness? These stretches of road are already congested at pick time when traffic can hardly do 10mph, but for goodness sake, let traffic flow whenever it can without adding to the high level of pollution on this road. Talking of raised tables they represent another added danger, rather than a safety measure, for pedestrian. Most pedestrians wrongly assume that a raised table gives them priority so they do not stop and make sure that it is safe for them to cross – they just charge across them regardless of whether there is a vehicle turning into or out of the junction. Young children and blind people are mostly at risk as they find it difficult to recognise where the pavement ends and the road begins.By all means put roundabouts, cycle lanes, sort out the bus lanes to allow more cars at approach to junctions, but leave the speed limit alone and an even road – we already have more than enough roads where we are bounced around as it is between speed humps, raised tables, pot holes and cracks in them. Unless of course they have also in mind to build an Ealing by-pass!
Rosa Popham ● 4905d