East Hill / St Anne’s Hill

This junction is one of TfL’s cash cows. Since mid 2005 it has contributed almost £1M towards Ken’s coffers. According to recent press coverage that is £1M of our money to be wasted by Ken’s cronies on pointless projects or trips abroad.

Following a couple of recent cases at PATAS, this junction has been ruled as unenforceable, so that should put a serious dent in their finances.

To cut a long story short, the road markings do not conform to Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002. That being the case, they have the legal status of graffiti. This yellow box serves absolutely no purpose other than to raise revenue.

Do Bus Drivers get Traffic Tickets?

You would be surprised at the number of people who have asked me that question.

I finally got the answer – yes they do. And it gets deducted from their wages.

Yellow Boxes at T Junctions

The last couple of months have seen a number of successful appeals against yellow boxes situated at ‘T’ junctions that span the full width of the road like this:

The correct configuration, as prescribed in diagram 1044 of the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002 is a half box, like so:

The Voices of Reason

“It is hard to believe that prosecuting more and more people every year is the best way of securing a good-tempered community that accepts codes of conduct designed for everyone’s safety and convenience” (Professor Jackson)

The above quotation comes from a book I have been reading over the Christmas break entitled “Road Accidents; Prevent or Punish” by the late J J Leeming. It was originally published in 1969 and reprinted in 2007 thanks to the efforts of the Association of British Drivers.

The sad thing is that this book hardly required any revision. It is as relevant today as it was way back then, around the time when I passed my driving test.