Would you live on a busy road?

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We are looking to move house (already have accepted an offer on our flat) and there is such a lack of decent properties on the market to buy! We have (just!) made an offer on a fantastic house (great space, nicely decorated) BUT it is on a VERY busy road (only 30mph but a constant stream of traffic including buses) which I think is the reason it hasn't been snapped up (and over-priced). The road would automatically put us off, but we decided to offer since it is more or less opposite the best primary in the borough (in top 10 nationally!) and so our place is practially guaranteed (provided we go to church). But every so often I have doubts: Is the school worth compromising on the location? Are we making do because there is NOTHING else on the market? What do people think of living on a busy road with little ones (DS is 15 months old with another on the way)?

I have done, but I wouldn't again. Especially not now with DS, who is very "busy" and runs out the door the moment it is open.

I'd be reluctant myself, but I know someone who does (and their windows are right onto road, no front garden) and they say they've got used to it. I certainly got used to it when we used to live over a train line. As far as the DCs go, we live on a relatively quiet street (but one that does have through traffic) and I worry about them being lulled into a false sense of security and not looking out for the odd idiot doing 40. No house is perfect, after all - you just have to decide what you are prepared to compromise on.

Yes, we do! We're on a busy B road, constant traffic, pretty much as you describe. Funnily enough when we were house hunting one of my main criteria was I didn't want to be on a main road BUT if the house was elsewhere we couldn't have afforded it.

I don't regret it but do find myself walking along it sometimes thinking how did I end up here? Also dd started with asthma about a year after moving so, for a time, I wondered was there a connection. But you could go on like that forever, there are no answers really.

Never underestimate the benefits of being close to school either. We're 2 mins walk away and I gain so much time by having school on my doorstep compared to many of the other parents.

Only you can decide, I'm afraid, but I've not regretted it.

I wouldn't live on a busy road. Danger to your DCs if they tried to cross, noise, traffic pollution (couldn't open windows). But, as dotty says, depends on what you are prepared to compromise on.

We live on a busy road (downside to living near the best school in the county!) and I wouldn't say it's anything like as bad as people have said. For us, the traffic isn't constant, but is there at school pick up and rush hour. The noise at its peak is annoying but not overwhelming, and there doesn't seem to be pollution or dirt coming in. We have a large front garden with a hedge, though, and a patch of grass infront of that, so we're about 8m back from the road? This also means we don't worry about DCs running into the road, as there is a garden and gate first.

Our village has just started a local speedwatch campaign to make sure people do stick to 30, and we're in hopes it will have a good effect.

I don't mind the buses at all, but then I like to use them, and love being able to check if they're running on time!

I wouldn't and I wouldn't compromise on it either. But we have 2 cats who if killed on the road I would be distraught over. Also I have a deaf ds and living on a busy road would be a nightmare because he can't hear over traffic noise and I would worry about his safety even more than I already do! I love having no traffic noise and as a result live in a smaller house. To me my location is more important than my accomodation and I compromise on accomodation over location.

We are moving soon (I hope!) and discounted a lovely big house with off-street parking on an A road. We have gone for a smaller victorian semi with no parking instead as the location is better. We are relocating from under the flight path and I don't want to exhange one irritant for another. And I wouldn't be keen on being on such a busy road with small children who can be unpredictable. Especially ds! Only you can make the decision, perhaps you need to view the house at different times of the day to see just how busy the road can get. Does traffic queue up outside the house, for instance?

I don't know. It depends on which way the house 'faces' TBH. If the focus of the house is in the back and it has a nice back garden I could live with it. In fact we did and the busy road was never an issue.

MIL lives on the A39 - i would never want to live that close to a major road.

constant traffic (which can see into gardens) and very unsafe getting dogs/children in and out of the car.

the house was half-demolished by a lorry some years ago...there is an accident every other month (she is on an S-bend) it gives me the weevils thinking of it.

my mum also lives on a busy road but her house is further back, not on a corner... there is still noise and it just isn't the same P&Q i enjoy in our little super-quiet chunk of suburbia.

We do. It's a huuuge Victorian place, which, as others have said, we'd never have been able to afford otherwise. Big garden too. I think that some of the nicest places in London are, unfortunately, on busy roads because 120 odd years ago, they weren't busy roads, they were the only roads! On the quiet side streets round us it's mostly fairly cramped terraces and semis, and 30s houses filling in the gaps.
As bamboo said, sometimes I do find myself wondering how I ended up living here (what happened to the 17th century cottage in the country I'd be living in when I was a 'grown-up'? ), but actually, I don't regret it. I don't notice the rush hour noise (well, I'm usually out already then anyway), and the dc aren't allowed to play in the streets anyway. It might be different if we didn't have a wall and 8-9 metres of grass in front of the hosue, perhaps. My neighbours on one side have lived here 30 odd years, on the other 9. I think once you're in, you wonder why you were fussed! But then, I'm under no illusions that I can create a peaceful idyll anywhere in London anyway; it's a city.

It would put me off too. Especially with young DC and/or a cat. But I can see the school is very tempting!

AwesomeWellies - I'm always moaning about how all the beautiful 17thC houses round here are on crazymad busy road, because they've remained the principal roads for centuries! Not that I can afford any of them, of course...

We live on a busy road - sounds similar to the one you describe.

We love the house so much and didn't have DS at the time so made the compromise. It is pretty safe as the front garden is set back from the road and has a gate so there is no danger of DS running out.

Six years on though and I am really tired of the noise of traffic - I feel like it compromises my sleep to an unacceptable level, especially in the summer, and it is quite noisy sitting in the garden.

Overall, I've loved living here but I am yearning to move and the traffic is one of the main reasons (running out of space is the other).

i wouldn't ever again, our house is approx 4 gardens away from the busy dual carriageway linking the m1 with the a14 (a45). We have constant noise, heavy traffic, fast traffic as the road has a 70mph limit going into a 60mph limit. we can't have the windows open at nite as too noisy and we currently have had it on the market for 5months we have had no offers and all the viewings have said that they like the house but don't like the road. I would think very carefully before you do, we also have a young child.

No. We have roads just like that in our area and there are constant residents' campaigns about traffic and the noise and traffic drives the occupants of those roads mad. Remember a busy 30mph road gets idiot speeders late at night etc when quiet as well. I did look at some houses on that road and we thought about it but now I am on a relatively quiet road I would never, ever change that!