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Tue 8 Nov 2016, 11:29
Whatever happens at this junction (and something must happen), it should take into account pedestrians crossing the junction. It's a dangerous and off-putting junction especially when you're with children. The solutions suggested here seem to be about making the junction safer for drivers, which is fair enough of course. I have witnessed two crashes and many near misses with cars in the last two years. As well as cars approaching from Enstone too fast, cars nosing out from the Slade and misjudging the speeds or intentions of drivers from all three other arms of the crossroads are a main cause of crashes and near misses. But as a regular driver, buggy-pusher and cyclist over this junction, I feel most threated on foot.
To make the junction safer for pedestrians and drivers, i.e. to slow cars approaching from all directions and to aid visibility, I think a raised table is needed. They are made from a different material to the black asphalt of the road, typically block paving. This goo.gl/P3z7FL is an example of a raised table on a crossroads in Holland and this goo.gl/jNbTix is a raised table on a T-junction in the UK. They aren't prohibitively expensive to build as they don't require any of the kerbs or drains to be moved and there is a precedent for them in Oxfordshire (mainly in Oxford itself). They slow traffic right down because drivers feel as if they are moving into an area where they will encounter pedestrians. This would be effective in Charlbury if the table started from Hundley Way on Enstone Rd north of the crossroads, from the narrow bend on the Slade, from past the bus stop on Enstone Rd south of the crossroads, and from 30 metres down Nine Acres La west of the cross roads. The design could incorporate pedestrian crossings on all four arms and ideally it should move the junction a few metres towards Nine Acres so that drivers exiting the Slade do not have to play Russian roulette.
Perhaps this can form a part of the discussion at the public meeting on 1st December (http://www.charlbury.info/events/4354).
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