To think that you can’t just close a road like this!

[RoadClosed]

Came home from work a few weeks ago (2:30pm) and our road had “road closed” signs on it. Highly unusual as it’s a quiet one way street with a couple of cul-de-sacs leading off it. I parked up and walked the rest of the way home (only 2 minutes, it’s not a long road). When DH came home he said the road wasn’t closed - no signs of it ever being closed.

A few days later same thing, 2:30pm - road closed. No signs of work going on, so I moved the sign and drove to my house. A neighbour text me same day asking why the road is closed as there is no work going on. I said I had no idea so he rang council to ask - they had no idea either and said nobody had applied to close the road either. Therefore we all just moved these signs off the road whenever we saw them and drove past.

Long story short - a woman down the street then went knocking on doors asking people not to move the signs as they were put there during the day to make the street safe for kids to play on!! By kids she means her son. It was explained to her that she can’t just close the road for this reason! Her reasoning is that it’s a short street and it’s only a short walk from the signs to any of the houses on the street. She was told that this isn’t the point, people have a right to be able to drive to their driveways! She’s continuing to put the signs up between 10am and 3pm. AWBU to continue ignoring them??

I mean 20s not 00s. I was a 70s 80s child. We were taught to share roads.

So she is blocking access for fire engines and ambulances too?

You're incredibly shortsighted.

Plenty of people who are too disabled or elderly to walk don't drive but still need to be driven. My mum has terminal cancer, doesn't drive but I still need to practically drive up to her doorstep to take her to medical appointments. If her road was closed it would be game over.

You should report her to the council, she's obviously acquired that sign from somewhere and it's theft.

I wouldn't just report her to the council, I'd inform the police. Illegally placing fraudulent traffic signs can create traffic hazards.

I am guessing you live in Cambridge and are one of the Camcycle mob!

Ah, ad hominem attacks! That'll save your kids from being mown down/choked on the pollution from massive oversized SUVs and mad drivers!

Indeed!

Or what if an ambulance needed to be in and felt they couldn't enter the road in case there was a danger that wasn't immediately obvious (eg pothole in danger of collapsing?)

How old is her child? If s/he is too young to know that cars are dangerous and to stay on the path/ garden, are they even old enough to play outside unsupervised?

Anyway - random road closing is illegal or we'd all be doing it

He shouldn't be playing in the street unsupervised at this age - it's not only traffic she needs to worry about.

but it costs around £31bn - £33bn each year for car crashes,

That's ALL accidents not just cars. It will include lorries, cycle crashes, emergency vehicles, delivery vehicles, etc.

@user1477391263

can allow deliveries at certain times but not others.

Good luck trying to get Amazon, Evri, Royal Mail, DPD etc to schedule their deliveries at certain times of the day!!! What about council refuse trucks? Tradesmens vans when working on those houses?

Plenty of people who are too disabled or elderly to walk don't drive but still need to be driven. My mum has terminal cancer, doesn't drive but I still need to practically drive up to her doorstep to take her to medical appointments. If her road was closed it would be game over.

Take a look at Pontevedra, the older generation benefited greatly from the scheme and it hasn't reverted. They objected to start with but then found it was actually better and easier to get about.

Its not a case of all or nothing though in the schemes for many places, its about making it easier for those that need to travel by car as there would be less on the roads and therefore easy to have traffic flowing.

Im sorry to hear your mum has terminal cancer - its a very hard time for you. I hope you know that you can automatically get a blue badge in this circumstances in many districts

I think you're clutching at straws - how many crashes of HGV, delivery vehicles, cycles, do you think don't involve a car?

Did I miss your evidence on bus travel costings?

Your neighbour sounds like a bit of a nutter TBH. I would ignore them too and might even inform the council that she’s doing this, if it continues.

'She said that was too far away and the parks are flooded. Basically she wants him to play out where she doesn’t need to be outside with him.' What idiot is letting a 3 year old play in the street and not out with them! That's just lazy parenting!

weve had a couple of cases if this locally, one woman doesn’t venture out any longer as either can’t get out or can’t get back home in a wheelchair

That's all to do with selfish, neglectful parking and not the fact that there are cars there in the first place. The answer is to use and park the cars responsibly; not to just say that nobody should use cars at all.

I'm pretty sure that most car owners also pay lots of other taxes in their lives as well.

theyll pay the same taxes non car owners pay

Correct. Most people pay all kinds of taxes to provide public services for everybody. Many drivers will also be paying towards schools, even if they don't have any children - that's how society works. I don't get your point?

Motor vehicles don't exist in a vacuum, but they're an essential part of facilitating daily life for virtually everybody

35% don’t own cars, and obviously in cities that figure rises to 50% of households not owning a car. It’s not essential for virtually everyone

I didn't say car ownership. Don't people who don't drive ever buy goods that have been delivered by motor vehicles? Never need tradesmen with a van full of tools? If they needed to call for an ambulance, would they expect two people with a wheelbarrow to walk to their house from the hospital? Most people who don't own cars probably use buses at least from time to time - that's a motor vehicle that they're relying on, even though (virtually) no private individuals own buses.

Motorists pay a large amount of money in taxes - along with everybody else.

You seem to think that life would be much better if we only used bicycles or horse-drawn carts, like the Amish. If you gladly benefit from the existence of motor vehicles, regardless of whether you own or drive them yourself, you have to accept that they need to be left somewhere when they aren't in use.

You seem to think that life would be much better if we only used bicycles or horse-drawn carts, like the Amish.

A kid wouldn't necessarily be safe playing on the road among cyclists and horse-drawn vehicles ... and think of the shit! (good for their immune systems I suppose....)

Streets were actually very dangerous in the days of horses. Horses are timid but very strong animals which start easily - they don't really belong in cities. Horse shit (and dead horses which were hard to remove and rotted in the street) was also a huge public health issue in the past.

“Too disabled/elderly to walk half a street but somehow still safe to drive” is a very small group of people.

It absoloutly is not... how ignorant are you?

First of all millions of disabled people drive (I am one of them as was my paralyzed mother) she couldnt walk a step but could drive perfectly fine with hand controls. Adapted cars or not rare these days.

On top of that equally as many disabled people require transport and AREN'T drivers but passengers with carers driving, how the fuck do you think they get around?

There are 631,299 motobility cars in the UK and that doesn't account for millions of people like me who are disabled but with non-motobility cars.

We expected kids to adapt to cars, it should work both ways.

As for the signs as much as I’d be mad if I lived on this street, It is actually a good idea 😂

No it isn’t (a good idea).

Good points about the horses in the street - and their own 'emissions' and rotting dead bodies!

I also wouldn't want to return to the days of the 'honey wagon' visiting every street on a regular basis. I'd much rather have our modern sewer systems - even if they do sometimes require workers to come and repair them... arriving with their equipment in motor vehicles!

We expected kids to adapt to cars, it should work both ways.

It does. Cars aren't allowed to drive along pavements (except carefully for access), have to stop to allow pedestrians to use crossings and (if they are being driven legally and responsibly) always give way to pedestrians in built-up areas.

The fact that cars exist doesn't mean that they must dominate everything and everywhere.

Hmm…can see the intention was good but you can’t just stop people going to their homes! Would have been better to get a couple of ‘children playing’ signs instead and then putting them up as a friendly reminder for residents when they drive in so they know to be extra vigilant.
What she’s done is just bonkers 🤷🏼‍♀️🤣