[sustran] fwd: UK children's 'play' roads plan

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Date: Sun, 13 Jun 1999 19:59:03 +0100
From: Geraint Jennings <geraint at itl.net>
Subject: pednet: From today's Sunday Times - Home Zones

This message sent to pednet by Geraint Jennings <geraint at itl.net>.

June 13 1999

   Cars face ban in children's 'play' roads 

                  by Lynn Eaton 


 GO PLAY in the road, son. Fifty towns are planning to turn
 residential streets into "home zones" where cars are
 discouraged and road markings are replaced by pitches for ball
 games and benches for spectators. 

 The radical scheme is meant to make Britain's streets as safe
 as in pre-war days, when children could play in the road and
 vehicles were expected to make way for them. 

 On roads selected for the home zone schemes, cars would be
 restricted to 20mph, with one-way systems, lane restrictions
 and other features to deter through traffic. The move, to be
 announced by the transport department next month, has
 delighted road safety campaigners - and provoked anger from
 motoring organisations. Helen Liddell, the transport minister,
 said that six of the 50 towns would be given the go-ahead
 initially. 

 One of the most radical proposals is for Brixton, south London,
 where roads off busy Brixton Hill could be laid out with games
 pitches, trees and benches. Games such as basketball are
 favoured over football because there is less risk of balls
 damaging property. 

 Another project in Ealing, west London, suggests that five
 residential streets be turned into a play area marked out for
 basketball, hopscotch and other games. 

 Stirling, central Scotland, wants to strip out the "No Ball
 Games" signs that have adorned its suburban streets for years
 and replace them with notices telling youngsters that they can
 now play in the road - and others warning motorists to take
 other routes. 

 Home zones are well-established in parts of Europe. The idea
 originated in Amsterdam in 1972 with a campaign launched by
 a journalist who had seen one of her children killed and another
 injured by reckless drivers. 

 The Right of Way for Children Foundation has been so
 successful that many of Amsterdam's residential roads are
 virtually car-free. In Britain 11,000 pedestrians were killed or
 seriously injured in road accidents in 1997. Nearly 4,000 were
 aged under 16. 

 Motoring organisations say that "road calming" is the wrong
 way to cut such figures. Paul Watters, head of policy at the
 AA, said: "A lot of our members get very irritated about road
 humps. They may reduce accidents but they also damage their
 exhausts." 


 
 ===================
Distributed for purposes of study and research
in accordance with the fair dealing provisions of the 1988 UK
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act. So there.




      *****************  Geraint Jennings  *******************
     Artist, Teacher, Green, and general all-round good egg
                               geraint at itl.net
      *************  http://user.itl.net/~geraint/  *************