A Tool Kit for Psychological Traffic Management in Villages

In our continuing campaign for avoiding the potential urbanisation of Cookham Dean, here is a great paper that can give a great idea of what is possible.

Please read this: http://hamilton-baillie.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/hamilton-baillie-traffic-in-villages.pdf

The Royal Borough's Proposal - A Web Link

To see the RBWM's proposal on-line, go to:

https://www3.rbwm.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/4654/consultation_dean_lane_cookham_local_safety_scheme.pdfv.

And PLEASE have a say on the plans at this survey:
https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/3FHGDR6

Why We Object

3rd December 2010

Dear Neighbour,

You may have seen the proposal from the council for speed humps and street lighting along Dean Lane. While we agree that we need to do something to reduce the traffic speed on Dean, we disagree with the RBWM proposal of speed humps and street lighting as there is a better way.

Please submit your objections, copy this list or add your own, by the deadline of Dec 15th 2019.  Here’s the link to the consultation and to the form to submit your objections.
Navigate to https://www3.rbwm.gov.uk/consultations and then select Highway Consultations, then Dean Lane Traffic Safety Scheme.

If you’ve already submitted comments and agreed with the proposals but did this because you didn’t know there was an alternative, please re-submit your comments and object.

This is why we object:

• Cookham Dean is the most rural part of the Cookhams and the introduction of speed humps and street lighting is not in keeping with a village.  It will make the village seem more like a town or a semi-urbanised environment. 
• RBWM has recently declared a Climate and Environmental Emergency. Speed humps and street lighting run totally contrary to this.
• Speed humps have the proven effect of drivers slowing down and then accelerating away again thereby increasing their fuel consumption and their carbon emissions. 
• Street lighting uses more energy and therefore increases carbon emissions
• Street lighting increases light pollution which is bad for wildlife and biodiversity.
• Speed humps create more noise for local residents as drivers slow down and then accelerate away
• Speed humps and street lighting are expensive to install, run, and maintain.
• There are other approaches to traffic calming that are more climate neutral, biodiversity enhancing, have less impact on residents and are cheaper.

The alternative proposed way forward is a consultation led by expert consultants in this area together (yet to be identified but there are plenty out there) with local residents to design a psychological road calming scheme along Dean Lane. We residents can do most of the groundwork on engagement, therefore, saving considerable money.  This would be a truly participative and collaborative approach rather than the current proposal which seems to have had little resident involvement. It was most likely designed by the council’s highways contractors and it is unknown if they have any expertise in psychological road calming.

Please look at this link below for the type of approach we are referring to. It’s a long report from the Government’s Transport Research Laboratory but just looking at the photographs alone give an indication of the approach and what might be possible. It’s a much more pleasant and cheaper alternative for all concerned to reduce the traffic speed.

Get the TRL Report here:   http://bit.ly/deanlane which is easier to type but points to:
http://www.20splentyforuk.org.uk/UsefulReports/TRLREports/Psychological%20traffic%20calming_TRL_2005.pdf

Please us know via email what you think and if you’d be willing to be part of a growing group of residents who might take the lead on this. The first step is to let everyone know about this well before 15th Dec and to raise enough objections to the current proposal in order to stop it getting approved. Please do that.

Kind regards

Residents of Dean Lane
mail us at CookhamDeanTraffic@gmail.com

Royal Borough Letter to Residents

The Royal Borough sent some Cookham Dean Residents. Here is a scan of that document:

Cookham Dean Traffic Site

Many of you may know that the borough wishes to put in street lights and speed bumps along Dean Lane. That means more urbanisation, more noise, a hit to biodiversity - all in all, a solution that does not lead on naturally from the Royal Borough's Climate Emergency.

There are other, more sensitive, solutions, shown to work, which we should examine before the current solution is implemented.

This site presents an alternative vision for traffic management in Cookham Dean, particularly on Dean Lane.

Please feel free to comment here or comment to our email address: CookhamDeanTraffic@Gmail.Com.