Danger to women in Low Traffic Neighbourhoods

[Carosse]

I live in Sands End East in Fulham and they have just made a camera scheme permanent which prevents out of borough traffic travelling through the neighbourhood. The trouble is that also includes Uber and Minicabs. There are roundabout ways for them to get into the area but because they are confused they often drop residents away from their home. The streets are now deserted at night and this is a violent area. I have complained long and hard to the council. I think this is a real violation of womens rights to get home safely. What can I do about it ?

There is no reason why Ubers / cabs can't find their destination in a LTN. Very few streets will be pedestrianised so cut off to traffic, they just need to be accessed differently. In my experience Google Maps updates regularly enough to be a reliable source of route finding in an area where there have been changes.
I live in an LTN. There are no parts of it that are inaccessible in a car, but most of the previous rats runs have been closed off.

It’s so frustrating to hear that because it still keeps happening .

Can't licenced taxis use bus lanes? If they can administer the enforcement of that without issue then surely they can administer this.

I also live in one and have mobility issues.

I love it, it's cut out rat running completely and makes walking / cycling so much safer.

Seeing lots of disabled people on trikes (I ride one) and a LOT more women and families on bikes too, including older women which is fantastic. Previously it was only men in Lycra who dared to bike anywhere.

All addresses are still accessible by car, so if a taxi is refusing to drive you home you need to take it up with the taxi company.

Our area is also fairy crime ridden but I've never found that people passing in cars ever stop to help so having them around doesn't feel safer, whereas a few times I've witnessed people on bikes catching muggers etc (yes it happens that often!!)

It usually takes a while to see the benefits so give it a chance, and do put pressure on the taxi companies if they're leaving you stranded.

#Calendulaaaa I completely agree with you. If there’s a problem with cab drivers refusing to drive down certain roads they are allowed to drive down, that’s the fault of the cab company, not the council.

LTNs stop rat-running, reduce traffic speed and make the streets safer for women - feminists have been campaigning for them to be used more widely for decades! They used to be called “home zones”, they are also sometimes called “play streets”, they are all the same thing - practical measures to reclaim public space from (majority male) car and van drivers, and allow more space for children to play, cycle to school etc, and others to feel confident cycling and walking in a pleasant and less polluted environment.

I’m sorry, just because you had a rubbish experience with a lazy cab driver, you can’t make out that LTNs are harming women when the opposite is in fact true.

(TBH, my suspicion would be that any driver claiming he’d be fined for driving in an area where taxis are allowed to be, is not in fact correctly licenced / insured and doesn’t want to be caught by anpr.)

@Alekto

If these schemes don't work for disabled people or for women it would be interesting to see the Equality Impact Assessment the council did before implementing the scheme. Perhaps ask to see that, so you can read what consideration was given to people with either of those two protected characteristics. My betting's none whatsoever.

I tried to do this on another issue at my council. I wasn't allowed to see the Equality Impact Assessment. But I was equally sceptical that no consideration had been given to the protected characteristic I was looking at.

I live in the area and the last 3 Uber trips (after 11pm as well), the driver refused to take me to my door, although it was not through the camera, purely for dear of being fined anyway. I had to walk several minutes in the dark near midnight in an area that by police statistics, had seen 23 sexual and violent crimes in this October alone. It's only a matter of time! This will only get worse when they bring in the LTN on the west side of the area. Ubers/Bolts etc will avoid the whole area. Why should we have to put up with living in a cage enforced on us by the council. These LTNs are also bad for the environment and people, traffic going more miles around then and idling longer in car park arterial roads...

That’s absolutely terrible. I’ve heard that this scheme is going to be introduced right across Fulham and Hammersmith. You are right, it’s just like living in a cage

It’s not a one off experience it’s happening all the time. The council don’t have the technology to let these vehicles through and confusion reigns. One woman I know had the same experience with a black cab and they are allowed through.
Where does the sweeping statement about feminists loving LTNs come from? Plenty of press coverage about women really dislike walking home along deserted streets and hating LTNs

The quality impact assessment is biased and incorrect. Can it be challenged?

If these schemes don't work for disabled people or for women it would be interesting to see the Equality Impact Assessment the council did before implementing the scheme. Perhaps ask to see that, so you can read what consideration was given to people with either of those two protected characteristics. My betting's none whatsoever

Spot on.

I asked to see it when an LTN was suddenly implemented in our road with no notice or consultation during lockdown.

The council disingenuously pointed to an Equalities report on the boroughs transport plan as a whole, done years before LTN’s were even thought of, which was vague and lacked any detail.

Further digging revealed cabinet reports on the LTN where under the Equalities Report it was admitted that due to speed of implementation and lockdown there had been no consultation or study with key affected groups / protected characteristics. Women and disabled people are outraged. There is a big difference in demographics of racial background between the roads within the LTN and the roads experiencing displacement traffic.

It is awful.

Our scheme was experimental and now Cabinet have approved it being permanent. Do you know if the quality impact assessments have to be updated. Somebody earlier posted the one for this scheme and it is outrageously wrong. Just wondering if I could go to judicial review on this

@Sallycol

I live in the area and the last 3 Uber trips (after 11pm as well), the driver refused to take me to my door, although it was not through the camera, purely for dear of being fined anyway. I had to walk several minutes in the dark near midnight in an area that by police statistics, had seen 23 sexual and violent crimes in this October alone. It's only a matter of time! This will only get worse when they bring in the LTN on the west side of the area. Ubers/Bolts etc will avoid the whole area. Why should we have to put up with living in a cage enforced on us by the council. These LTNs are also bad for the environment and people, traffic going more miles around then and idling longer in car park arterial roads...

I believe what you're saying but I makes no sense. If a car goes the correct way, then they just charge more surely? This is a problem with the drivers, not the council.

I asked this question in a council meeting.
To: The Leader of the Council
“Did the Council complete an Equality Impact Assessment for the Traffic Reduction Scheme prior to implementation and if so, did this include the indirect discrimination against residents of Wandsworth Bridge Road with disabilities such as chronic or progressive health conditions that put them at greater risk of the harmful effects of air pollution e.g. Cardiovascular, Respiratory and Neurological conditions?”
Response:
Air pollution on Wandsworth Bridge Road has been a long-standing issue. Reducing traffic, congestion and pollution are the key objectives of the South Fulham TCPR. The , council will continue to work with residents and businesses across the area, including the Wandsworth Bridge Road working party, to introduce measures to reduce or mitigate air pollution as part of the TCPR scheme. Measures under consideration include new air pollution screening, planting of additional trees where possible, piloting additional street cleaning to reduce pollution and the high impact reassignment of road space along WBR to support public transport, pedestrians and cyclists, while reducing car volumes.
Under the Experimental Traffic Order for the South Fulham TCPR scheme, an Equality Impact Assessment was not required to introduce the trial scheme. Independent research from Imperial College has determined that reducing traffic in residential streets has a positive equalities impact. It is also a government and London Mayoral priority to introduce more of these schemes across London.

“Alekto

If these schemes don't work for disabled people or for women it would be interesting to see the Equality Impact Assessment the council did before implementing the scheme. Perhaps ask to see that, so you can read what consideration was given to people with either of those two protected characteristics. My betting's none whatsoever“

Good point, @Alekto

Yes they charge more and the council made the decision at the very outset not to allow them through. With the outcry, the council have apparently been working with Uber to try to allow them in only when they are on a job, but after probably more than a year, they still can't work out out between them, so I can't understand why the council won't just give them permits like black cabs...

I’m not a Londoner and realise people rely more on public transport and cabs in the capital. In many towns and cities women rely on lifts home from friends or family, who would not be exempt and able to enter these zones. If these low traffic areas are more widely adopted around the UK, we have a huge problem. Could the rules not be relaxed after nightfall, adjusted for seasonal variations?

@BettyFilous

I’m not a Londoner and realise people rely more on public transport and cabs in the capital. In many towns and cities women rely on lifts home from friends or family, who would not be exempt and able to enter these zones. If these low traffic areas are more widely adopted around the UK, we have a huge problem. Could the rules not be relaxed after nightfall, adjusted for seasonal variations?

You can drive into an LTN. But they usually block through routes, so that they can’t be used as short cuts or rat runs.

So say one runs alongside a major trunk road, you can enter the residential road at one end, but then instead of finding the quickest short route back to the main road you have to retrace your route back, possibly via a series of one way streets. And then possibly turn back the way you came to proceed along the main road.

I live 100m from a main road, but the access to that road is blocked. I have to drive 3 sides of a triangle and go through 8 sets of lights to get to the point in the main road nearest my house.

This thread prompted a very ill-tempered discussion with my husband over breakfast (“if 3 children are spared from being knock down and killed by traffic, perhaps a woman being attacked is OK…” 🤬). We agreed a truce and said we needed to read up on these traffic proposals to understand them better. Is there a good site which explains the intent and weighs up pros and cons?

So say one runs alongside a major trunk road, you can enter the residential road at one end, but then instead of finding the quickest short route back to the main road you have to retrace your route back, possibly via a series of one way streets. And then possibly turn back the way you came to proceed along the main road.

So what's going on with the minivans and ubers, they don't want to get stuck so won't go down there?

It’s a camera based rather than barrier based system which has confused a huge number of people. Residents from other parts of the borough don’t understand if they can use it, let alone minicab and Uber drivers. The council don’t let them through because they don’t have the technology to let them through. The system isn’t green, it’s just a way to raise money by people accidently going through the cameras. They haven’t even released numbers on the fines they received despite a FOI to do so.

Interesting comment but please tell your husband that 14 year old children are being knifed in the quiet streets which now have ‘county’ lines. In addition there is a large industrial road which was closed off and now all the HGVs have to go along one main road which children have to cross to get to their schools. A pedestrian was run over the other day by an HGV on the zebra crossing.
These traffic systems are complex and just closing off a few roads displaces traffic elsewhere. As a women I am infuriated that my rights to get an Uber to my door are compromised. Children grow up and plenty of young teenagers get Addison Lee or Uber home and their safety is compromised.

Since LTNs should not make any addresses inaccessible to cars, I had assumed that cab drivers who refused to drop passenger off inside an LTN were confused by the restrictions and unable to navigate around them, but I'm now wondering whether some of these refusals are actually a form of protest. Cabbies who have a strong object to LTNs (as some clearly do) may be deliberately inconveniencing their customers (and possibly endangering them in some cases) in order to foment public opposition to the schemes.

I'm also wondering how many passengers refuse to payment in such cases, and whether refusal to pay fo an incomplete journey causes drivers to reconsider.

@Carosse

Interesting comment but please tell your husband that 14 year old children are being knifed in the quiet streets which now have ‘county’ lines. In addition there is a large industrial road which was closed off and now all the HGVs have to go along one main road which children have to cross to get to their schools. A pedestrian was run over the other day by an HGV on the zebra crossing. These traffic systems are complex and just closing off a few roads displaces traffic elsewhere. As a women I am infuriated that my rights to get an Uber to my door are compromised. Children grow up and plenty of young teenagers get Addison Lee or Uber home and their safety is compromised.

Thanks for this - it is interesting to hear the ripple effects. I assume children also get dropped off at the edges of the zone rather than ferried to their front doors by parents pooling lifts to parties and extra-curricular events, or households are having to each take their own kids, creating more traffic.