TRAFFICCONTROL

TRAFFIC CONTROL

Belisha Beacons

Hore-Belisha (1893-1957)

Location: 16 Stafford Place, SW1E 6NP. Hore-Belisha's home. (red, orange)

Nineteenth-Century Congestion

By the mid-19^thC London's roads had become severely congested. In 1846 a Commons Select Committee that had been set up to take evidence on the city's railway stations heard the testimony of a man who had cause to travel regularly between London Bridge Railway Station and Trafalgar Square. He stated that he could cover the distance more quickly on foot than he could in a cab or an omnibus.

No Parkin

The television executive (and later art dealer) Michael Parkin (1931-2014) married the art teacher (and later journalist and author) Molly Parkin in 1957. Their marriage proved to be highly stormy. After five years she walked out of the marital home with a can of spray paint and signalled its end by deleting the G from a nearby NO PARKING sign

One-way Streets

London's first one-way system was created in Albemarle Street. This was prompted by the popularity of Humphrey Davy's chemistry lectures at The Royal Institution with those strata of society that felt it beholden unto them to travel by coach.

Location: Albemarle Street, W1S 4HJ (purple, yellow)

See Also: COACHES

Parking Tickets

In his memoirs Conflict of Loyalties (1994), Sir Geoffrey Howe (1926-2015) boasted that, during his period as Foreign Secretary (1983-9), he had reduced the number of parking that were not paid because of diplomatic privilege from 109,000 p.a. to 7800.

Location: The Foreign & Commonwealth Office, King Charles Street, SW1A 2AH (blue, brown)

Website: www.gov.uk/government/speeches/parking-fines-incurred-by-diplomatic-missions-and-international-organisations-in-the-uk-2

Pedestrian Crossings

In large portions of the world pedestrian crossings are following obsequiously. Many Britons are inclined to wander across them if there is no immediate physical risk to themselves.

Right-hand Driving

The British drive on the left-hand side of the road. For many years, the only place in London where it was possible to drive on the right-hand side of the road was Savoy Court.¹

Location: Savoy Court, WC2R 0EZ (red, blue)

¹. Bus drivers can now experience the same thrill at the northern entrance to Butterwick Centre upper bus station in Hammersmith.

Roundabouts

Mini-Rounabouts

The mini-roundabout was created by Frank Blackmore (1916-2008) of the government s Road Research Laboratory (Transport Research Laboratory). The first one was installed in Peterborough in 1969. The smallness meant that vehicles made less of a curve around them thus helping traffic flow. In 1970 the first painted roundabout was created at Benfleet. He went on to develop the multiple mini-roundabout. The most famous of these was created in Swindon in 1972. The following year another was built in Hemel Hempstead.

As there was no rule for giving way at a roundabout the resulting free-for-alls could create long traffic tailbacks on the approach roads.

Signage

Kensington High Street was the first road in Britain to have its signage stripped back to a minimum. The scheme was based upon the work of the Dutch traffic engineer Hans Monderman (d.2008). He believed that, by allowing motorists to use their intelligence, vehicles could be better integrated into the social fabric of communities. The late Mr Monderman had a test that enabled him to ascertain whether or not one of his implementations had created conditions that enabled drivers to respond to unusual events - he would walk out backwards into the oncoming traffic.

Location: Exhibition Road, SW7 2DD (red, yellow)

Kensington High Street, W8 4PE (orange, brown)

Traffic Islands

In 1741 John Wood was prominent in a campaign in Bath that sought to state that the myth that the city by King Bladud, a descendant of Brutus, was real. An element that Wood added was that Bladud had been the founder of the druids. This underscored Bath's British as opposed to Roman origins. Stonehenge acted as an inspiration for the Circus.¹ Druidism was claimed to have Jewish Pythagorean origins. For the fashionable the Circus was based upon Rome's Colosseum.

In 1747 John Wood the elder published a book about Stonehenge in which he argued that the structure had had an astronomical dimension to it. Contemporaries were unreceptive to this idea. By profession, the author was an architect. He and his son created much of Georgian Bath. Wood p re based the city's Circus upon the monument. It was widely copied and became the inspiration for Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus.

Wood acted as a salesman in London for the stone that Ralph Allen quarried in Bath.

The traffic island is an adaptation of the idea. The New Yorker William Phelps Eno (1858-1945) became known as the father of traffic safety . His rotary traffic plan was used in the design of Piccadilly Circus.

Location: Piccadilly Circus, W1J 7BX² (purple, brown)

¹. The architect Christopher Wren was raised in Wiltshire. He carved his name on to stones at Stonehenge twice.

². In taxi slang Piccadilly Circus is known as The Magic Circle because so much work can be found within half a mile of it.

Traffic Lights

Following the introduction of steam engines, the Admiralty grew tired of accidents. Lights were introduced: red was the most visible colour at night with green as the second. Therefore, they introduced as side colour. The railways were starting to run trains at night. Therefore, red was introduced to convey stop.

J.P. Knight was a railway engineer by profession. In 1868 he set up in Parliament Square a device that had rotating red-and-green gas lanterns. A few weeks after their installation, the lights exploded, injuring the police officer who was operating them.

(In 1920 William L. Potts built the first modern three-way traffic lights in Detroit.)

In 1932 London's first permanent traffic lights started operating.

Ken Aston invented red and yellow cards during the 1966 World Cup. He was inspired to do so while waiting at a set of traffic lights.

Location: Parliament Square, SW1P 3AD (red, blue)

The Green Wave

A green wave is when a vehicle user experiences a continuous succession of traffic lights that are showing green during their cycle. This allows the person to travel for a much greater distance than normal without having to stop at a junction. It is reputed that many people who find themselves caught in one prefer to ride it for as long as they can rather than turn off when they should. The best known one involves City Road, Pentonville Road, Euston Road, Marylebone Road, Marylebone Flyover, the Westway, and beyond.

Local Control

Local Control means that the traffic lights are still functioning but that the system s central computer has lost contact with them and does not know what they are doing.

Pelican Crossings

The pelican in pelican crossing is derived from the term pedestrian light-controlled (pelicon) crossing.

In 1969 the metropolis's first pelican crossing was installed.

There were sets of pelican crossings that enable the traffic island at Hyde Park Corner to be crossed to and from. These have buttons that are at a sufficient height so that they can be used by people who are on horseback.

Location: Duke of Wellington Place, SW1X 7LX (red, yellow)

See Also: HORSES

Traffic Wardens

In 1960 London's first traffic wardens hit the streets.

Zebra Crossings

The term zebra crossing was coined in the late 1940s by the Labour politician Jim Callaghan, who was a junior minister in the Department of Transport. He served as Prime Minister in the 1970s.

The Abbey Road Zebra Crossing

Paul McCartney wanted the Abbey Road (1968) album to be called Everest. There was a plan that a photograph of the band should be taken standing in front of the mountain. However, John Lennon could not be bothered to make the journey and suggested that they should take a shot locally to the studio.

In 2010 the Abbey Road zebra crossing was granted listed status by English Heritage with Grade II status.

Location: Abbey Road, NW8 9AY

See Also: THE BEATLES

David Backhouse 2024