Strange Thoughts of a Strange Man

A couple of years ago, the A21 between Bromley Common and Bromley itself was rearranged slightly to make it easier to turn right into Magpie Hall Lane. The road was widened so that there were two lanes (one for through traffic and the other for the right-hand turn) and a traffic island put in place between the on-going lane and the turn-off. It is sort-of L-shaped to prevent cars from the other direction getting in the wrong lane.

You can see what it looks like here: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?sourceid=navclient&rlz=1T4GFRC_enGB212GB212&q=map+%22bromley+common%22&um=1&ie=UTF-8&split=0&gl=uk&ei=lyxLSryMOJO8jAfHh6xm&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1

Last night, when I was driving to Bromley to see David, there was a stream of traffic ahead of me which included a Police van so everyone was keeping to the speed limit. A white van somewhere ahead of the Police van was trying to turn right into Magpie Hall Lane and was waiting for a suitable gap in the oncoming traffic.

Nothing out of the ordinary there. I’ve seen all sorts of vehicles turn right there in the past.

Shortly after the Police van passed the junction, the scene became very unusual, because it was then that I noticed a car heading towards me on the wrong side of the van turning right.

The car was between the van and the railings on the island. It should have been on the other side of the van with the regular stream of traffic.

It took me a little while to realise something wasn’t right with this scene and by that time the car ran out of room between the van and the railings and hit both before coming to a stop.

Luckily, the driver of the Police van noticed, turned on the blue flashing lights and immediately turned around.

How did the driver of the car get there? The “L” shape of the island should have prevented the traffic coming away from Bromley getting into that lane. He could have come from Magpie Hall Lane but he did seem to be driving a bit too quickly for someone turning right.

Was he from abroad and forget which side of the road we drive on in the UK? Was he drunk? Was he trying to put some distance between himself and the Police?

Unfortunately, I don’t think I shall ever find out.

Labels: Accident, Bromley, Police, Traffic

This is a bit late but I thought it was worth mentioning now because not only was it stupid but it was also bloody dangerous.

Last week, Bromley Council had some people replace the pedestrian traffic lights at the bottom of Station Approach that allow people to cross Station Road. Station Road is very busy and has to be crossed by many people going to and coming from the station. This includes school children.

The lights were out of action for three days. In all that time, do you think there were temporary traffic lights to make sure that people were able to cross the road?

That's right, there weren't.

Every one of those mornings, men, women and children had to take their lives into their own hands and dash across the road.

What were Bromley Council thinking?

Were they thinking?

Doubt it.

Labels: Bromley, Orpington, Pedestrian Crossing