I spoke with Newcomer yesterday and he said it was a pleasure to cycle down the Northcourt Road with the new surface and road markings.
The fresh markings could not be clearer.
The Highway Code says “Double yellow lines mean no waiting at any time, unless there are signs that specifically indicate seasonal restrictions. “ There is not mistaking these double yellow lines whether straight or curved.
There are letterings, some of them familiar like the BUS STOP sign.
But this is the first time I have seen FOOTWAY across a junction where the footpath has to pass.
Does this give priority to the pedestrian over the vehicle?
“KEEP CLEAR, KEEP CLEAR!”.
Vehicles should always give way to pedestrians when crossing a footway – the markings just make that a little clearer. Even if the footway did not continue across, vehicles should give way to pedestrians crossing at side junctions anyway.
You really have to crawl over the humps they’ve rebuilt. Low-slung vehicles beware.
Isn’t that the idea?
Of course, that’s not what I meant. They are, however, very high and steep sided and differently designed to those previously there.
I’ve never understood the reason for the large “Keep Clear” area on the approach to the traffic lights. Is it just to allow access to driveways of the houses when the lights are on red. If so it seems a bit OTT.
It used to be (and probably still is) so that cars could turn into the driveways there and not block cars coming into Northcourt Road. On one occasion a car shot past me into a driveway as I started to move into the gap when the lights for me turned green. It could have been dangerous if I had been moving faster. The person was indicating that he/she was turning right but it looked as if his/her indicator was still showing that he/she was turning into Northcourt Road from the Oxford Road. I wasn’t happy to leave a gap after that.
GRJ, I think the ‘Keep Clear’ markings in this case are to allow large, perhaps articulated, vehicles space to turn from the Oxford Road outbound into Northcourt. Such vehicles tend to ‘swing out’ when they’re turning and Northcourt is quite a narrow road for such manoeuvres were other vehicles going the other way pulled tight up to the junction.
BTW, getting a name-check in a Blog commentary is a sign you’ve arrived even though the ‘n’ in newcomer is l/c (as I’m a very ‘umble newcomer).