Road safety and calming measures

All casualty reduction schemes go through a consultation process and support for the schemes must be gained from the Portfolio Holder and Ward Councillors, and can involve wider consultation. Any objections raised during the process may cause delays to the scheme being implemented, a change to the design or costs and may potentially cause the scheme to be rejected. Schemes are prioritised on the likely number of casualties saved per pound spent. This enables the council to ensure that the maximum number of injuries and deaths are prevented within finite budgets.

Bromley Council has a duty to manage the road network to ensure, as far as possible, the safe and expeditious movement of traffic, which includes pedestrians and other vulnerable road users. The practice of the council for many years has been to investigate all locations where there have been 5 or more injury collisions over a period of 36 months.

The locations are all investigated to look at the severity of the injuries and whether there is a pattern to the collisions. At sites where the collisions are of particular concern and appear to be treatable, the cost of making improvements is estimated and the benefit-cost ratio is calculated. The locations are then prioritised in line with the funding available. Locations with relatively few collisions will not be treated as it would not be feasible or an effective use of funds to investigate the site of every injury collision.

If there are fewer than about 5 collisions, it is very hard to establish a pattern/common cause to develop a treatment. If you wish to contact us about a traffic enquiry, please complete our traffic enquiry contact form.

The council often receive requests to reduce the speed limit on roads in the borough. Speeding and dangerous driving are offences punishable by law and enforced by the Police. However, the council will investigate whether low-cost measures such as posters, vehicle-activated signs and road markings may be beneficial in discouraging speeding. As a general rule, the council will not install any new 20mph limit or zones.

This is because the reduction in speed limit through signs and road markings alone does not seem to have much effect on drivers’ speeds. Since the council is unable to enforce these speed limits, it is an ineffective use of limited resources.

The council will install part-time 20mph limits at the beginning and end of the school day with flashing lights outside schools, decided on merit. In exceptional cases, full-time 20mph limits may be appropriate in certain locations such as High Streets. Consideration will be given to reducing the speed limit from 40mph to 30mph in villages. The Traffic Advisory Leaflet 01/04 (DfT, 2004) sets out policy on achieving lower speed limits in villages, including a broad definition of what constitutes a village.

In the past, we have introduced road humps and tables in an attempt to reduce traffic speeds and improve safety. However, the police, fire brigade, ambulance service and London Transport have objected to the proliferation of road humps and raised tables because of the increase in attendance times for emergency calls and discomfort and possible injury to their passengers.

Road humps and raised tables can also lead to complaints from local residents about increased noise and vibration from traffic. For these reasons the council has decided not to introduce any further road humps in the borough and to only use tables as a last resort at a junction with an ongoing collision problem.

There is a range of alternative measures to encourage lower vehicle speeds, such as our vehicle activated warning signs, roadside posters, safer speed campaigns/events and driver/rider training programmes, such as the young driver traffic education scheme and Driven by Consequences.

Where street lighting is present and is no more than 183 metres apart, the road is subject to a 30mph speed limit and 30mph repeater signs are not required. Further information about speed limits is available in The Highway Code.

Transport for London (TfL) is responsible for speed cameras or red-light cameras across the whole of the Greater London area. Faults or maintenance issues can be reported to TfL directly.

The council is opposed to introducing new one-way systems because they tend to increase speeding on the road. The only exception to this, and where a one-way system will be given consideration, is when the road width is too narrow and the available width for traffic access (with or without parking) is less than 2.5m over a distance of 50m, where there is no other solution to the perceived problem, and where it is unlikely to lead to increased speeds.

As the widening of any carriageway could reduce the area available on the footway or grass verge, thereby reducing the council’s green estate, the council will not invest in any scheme to widen a carriageway except where there are severe safety or congestion implications.

In urban areas there is seldom space to introduce a full-size roundabout, but mini-roundabouts can be useful to improve traffic flow or to act as a traffic calming measure. While roundabouts and mini roundabouts are sometimes implemented to make the flow of traffic safer, current research suggests that vulnerable road users don’t experience the same level of improved safety as do drivers. Therefore, as safety is a priority in Bromley and with a high number of pedestrian and cycle collisions at some roundabouts, new roundabouts will not always be suitable in the borough.

The exception to this is where there are no other suitable options and engineers have adequately assessed the location, or where complementary measures can be introduced.

The width restrictions in the borough are in place to prevent large goods vehicles from using certain routes and are not there for safety reasons. No new permanent width restrictions have been installed for over 20 years and there are currently no proposals to review or remove any that are currently in-situ.

Signs showing a route to be unsuitable for HGVs are only used where a large vehicle will genuinely be likely to get stuck if the driver proceeds, due to the narrowness or other feature of the road ahead. These signs are not used to simply discourage HGV drivers from using residential streets.