London is one of the busiest cities in the world for road traffic, over 1 million vehicles enter the city every day and the city itself contains 2.6 million vehicles* (* source TfL) .

It relies on a road system that has not changed since medieval times, but this year something has changed leading to what many describe as the “worst traffic jams in London’s history”.

The source of this gridlock is due to the London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan rolling out a new scheme in July at a cost of £250,000, where Transport for London (TfL) imposed new cycle lanes across the city, reducing many roads to a single lane each way for cars, creating massive tailbacks spewing pollution on pedestrians and cyclists.

All of this is part of a £250 million Government initiative to encourage people to travel on bicycles and minimise the use of public transport when the Covid-19 threat was at its most dangerous.

They call it the ‘Emergency Active Travel scheme’, and it was rushed through past Parliament, often without any consultation with local residents or businesses.

Many local authorities have used the funds without any foresight to rapidly increase the number of cycle lanes and impose ‘LTNs — Low Traffic Neighbourhoods — on residential areas, even if not required. This includes bollards and road closures on high traffic roads.

But now it seems that many councils will need to U turn on their active measures and even rip up the cycle lanes and bollards they’ve put down. Even Sadiq Khan has been forced to backtrack on some of London’s schemes. Next month, selected cycle lanes and bollards will be ripped up to the delight of residents and struggling local businesses.

It is a highly embarrassing reversal for the Mayor and TfL, which has admitted that the cost of returning roads to former states is unknown.

Residents fight back across UK

In other parts of Britain, we are seeing councils forced to U-turn due to rising resident pressure.

Councils are desperately trying to work out how quickly they can get rid of their schemes and appease furious residents, some of which are taking to the streets in protest.

All over the country, expensive, traffic calming schemes are being abandoned, months after being built, at a huge cost to the taxpayer.

In many cities and towns, without any consultation, council contractors moved in over the summer to block roads with bollards and planters, turning many residential areas into no-go zones.

In the months since, councils have become alarmed by the groundswell of opposition to their schemes, which in most areas crosses party lines.

In some parts of the country, local businesses are reporting customer losses of up to 80 per cent since the restrictions came into force.

It gets worse, the councils are also being slammed by clean air campaigners, horrified by the ensuing gridlock across towns and cities.

Source: Morningstaronline.com 2020

Department of Transport Defends Schemes

The Department of Transport continues to defend the schemes, but even the Transport Minister is unable to escape the pressure.

Grant Shapps, MP for Welwyn Hatfield, was informed that his local council was presented with a 1,200-signature petition complaining about the new traffic scheme killing the high street. He ended up writing to the council, challenging the policy his own department had put in place.

Shapps also wrote to other local authorities, warning that he might withdraw funding if they continued to abuse the Government scheme.

This week, when interviewed by The Daily Mail he said ‘Clearly there have been individual instances where schemes have fallen well below par. Some emergency measures have been hurried through by councils, with little to no consultation of residents, meaning they have failed to deliver for locals or offer genuine improvements.

‘I’m determined to make sure the schemes rolled out as a result of the next round of funding work from the get-go for the whole community. We’ve been consistently clear that councils must engage with local communities — and have publicly reminded all authorities that plans have to work for everyone.’

The truth is that, at the moment, they’re hardly working for anyone. In a recent survey by Transport Focus, a research agency funded by central Government, cycle use has remained static throughout the pandemic at about seven per cent of traffic.

At a time when local businesses are in dire need of support, the last thing your councils should do is prevent customers from reaching your shops and prevent local residents from coping with the challenges of the pandemic crisis.

What do you think about residents and businesses fighting back against these measures? What are these active measures going to do to towns and cities in the future? Let us know in the comments.

[“Car Crash: 12 march 2009” by jenineabarbanel is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0]

Police warned a number of ‘rubberneckers’ at a recent accident in Essex to stop filming on their mobiles as they drove past or they will be arrested and charged with using their mobile phones while driving.

Police noticed several drivers using their mobiles to capture the car wreckage, as well as passengers.

Emergency services arrived at the A13 in Thurrock, Essex, where an Audi car had been rear-ended by an HGV causing the vehicle to smash into a flat bed truck.

As a result of the accident, one person sustained injuries and was taken to Queen’s Hospital in Romford. It is not believed their condition was serious.

The crash caused large queues of traffic on the A13 and M25, leading to the road being shut for most of the day.

Essex Police have released a new photo of the incident showing the car involved wedged under a lorry in front, (see below).

The Police issued a severe warning to drivers who used their mobiles to film the incident as they drove past.

‘Thankfully the driver of this car hit from behind by an HGV on the A13 earlier wasn’t seriously hurt. To the 20 or so drivers who drove by one handed to film it with your phones not watching the road ahead, keep an eye on your (mailbox emoji) …as we’ll be in touch.’ taken from a Tweet by the South Essex Road Policing Unit.

In September this year, a 25-year-old man died in a crash on the A1089 shortly before it joins the A13. Emergency services were called to reports of a collision between a blue Volkswagen Crafter van and a stationary HGV. An air ambulance was sent, but sadly the man died at the scene.

Police need to take tougher stance on mobile use at wheel

Since 2006 there have been police powers to stop mobile phone use at the wheel under the Road Safety Act, where motorists can earn 6 points and a £200 fine, but that does not seem to deter people.

In 2018 we saw the roll out of “vulture cameras” on selected roads such the A3, with tech capable of detecting in the day or night if a driver is using a mobile phone while driving, but the deployment is still limited to a handful of locations and drivers soon learn where they are.

The concept of ‘rubbernecking’ at accidents is nothing new, with some motoring bodies suggesting that at least 30% of all traffic jams are caused by rubberneckers on the opposite side of a road slowing down to look at the gory details of the accident, or even a broken down vehicle.

But the combination of ‘rubbernecking’ and mobile phone use at the same time needs to be cracked down upon as much as possible, or we will just see continued lawlessness on Britain’s roads, recorded and posted on You Tube as and when they like.

Do you think the police should crack down hard on ‘rubberneckers’ who film accident scenes on their mobiles? What sort of penalty should they receive? Let us know in the comments below.

New data shows that motorists in Scotland run red lights the most, with drivers in Glasgow disregarding red traffic lights more than anywhere else in Britain.

Vehicle leasing broker, Select Car Leasing, uncovered the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) figures using the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and found that, since April 2016, Glasgow prosecuted 13,373 drivers for ignoring traffic lights—over 10% of the recorded offences in England, Wales and Scotland.

Showing Glasgow in a bad light

Scotland’s capital, Edinburgh, came second in the list with 8,022 prosecutions in the last four years, while Nottingham came third, recording 5,775 prosecutions up to October 2019.

Of the remaining 20 worst offending postcode areas since 2016, Bristol was next, with 5,048 prosecutions, followed by Cardiff (4,942), Sheffield (2,925), Leicester (2,781), Motherwell (2,596), and Liverpool (2,520). Next, was the London South Western SW postcode area (2,157), followed by Southend-on-Sea (2,305), Manchester (2,239), the London South Eastern SE postcode area (2,157), Greater London (2,137), Birmingham (1,851), Doncaster (1,729), Brighton (1,707), and the Essex CM postcode area (including Billericay, Braintree, Chelmsford, and Stansted) with 1,704 prosecutions. North London was next, with 1,659 offences, then Kilmarnock with 1,611.

The 10 least offending areas since 2016 were those with fewer vehicles on the road, so it’s no surprise Lerwick in the Shetlands had the fewest red light offences, with just 20 offences, followed by The Outer Hebrides in second place with only 34 prosecutions.

The Western Central WC postcode area was next, with 37 offences, followed by the London’s Eastern Central EC postcode area (46), Far North Scotland (56), Llandrindod Wells (61), Dorchester (116), Harrogate (118), Halifax (132), and Blackpool (134).

If you run a red light, you’ll receive a ‘TS10’ notice on your driving licence for ‘failing to comply with traffic light signals’. This stays on your record for four years. The number of TS10 endorsements for traffic light offences since 2016 was 127,721, but overall, these offences are declining, with 39,440 in 2016, 33,695 in 2017, and 33,147 in 2018.

The Department for Transport (DfT) reported 160,597 casualties from road traffic incidents in 2018, with around 75,095 of those taking place at junctions, many of which were traffic light-controlled.

Amber gambler

Mark Tongue, Owner and Company Director of Select Car Leasing, said:

‘Traffic lights are there for a reason and jumping them when they are on red is not only an offence, it is also highly dangerous.

‘Glasgow has around 50 speed and red-light cameras, a relatively high figure compared with other cities, which may explain why it is the red-light jumping capital.

‘But driving habits and behaviours also play a significant part and motorists can hardly blame a camera if they get caught ploughing through traffic when they should be coming to a standstill.

‘Few motorists enjoy being stuck at lights, not least at night when there is little other traffic around and you’re in a rush.

‘But the law is there to be followed and not broken.

‘By jumping a red traffic light or being a so-called ‘amber gambler’, drivers are creating a very real threat of death to other road users and pedestrians.

‘If caught, they also face being handed three penalty points, which in some instances may lead to a driving ban under the totting-up procedure, and a fine.’

Paying the penalty

Traffic light offences are most often dealt with by a Fixed Penalty of 3 points and a £100 fine, but if you don’t respond to the penalty notice or if you give incorrect details of the driver, you risk a fine of £1,000 and six penalty points. If you already have points on your driving licence, a Fixed Penalty may mean you lose your licence.

In England and Wales, if you’re caught by a traffic signal camera and activation of the camera was within less than three seconds of the light turning red, the police may offer you a place on a Traffic Signal Course as an alternative punishment, though Scotland doesn’t yet offer this option.

If you complete a safety awareness course, don’t expect reduced insurance premiums because, depending on the insurance company, your premiums could increase—if you get any penalty points, they will increase.

And, if you cross the white line at traffic lights to make way for emergency vehicles, you won’t be immune from prosecution from a traffic signal camera. And, while many of us will risk punishment to help an emergency vehicle to get to an incident, you’re still liable for any offences you commit by moving across the solid white line; something all emergency personnel know.

How well do drivers obey traffic lights where you live? Do the findings prove more red-light offences happen in Glasgow, or do their police prioritise these offences more than others? Have you been punished for running a red or amber light? Tell us in the comments.