From a mother, resident in the Divinity Road Low Traffic Neighbourhood.
October 2023
I wasn’t a fan of the concept of LTNs before they were in place as I have a kid under 5 and a baby and was heavily reliant on using the car to get around. Also my husband drives a van for work so was worried how it would affect his commute.
However when the LTNs came in the roads were suddenly safe to cycle or walk along so I felt safe enough cycling with my children to school and nursery. My daughter has learnt to cycle because the roads are quiet enough for her to cycle on them. We cycle on the roads every day and there are hundreds of kids also cycling on the quiet LTN roads. My husband now leaves earier to get to work so traffic isn’t too bad for him either.
The additional benefits of the LTNs have been mental and physical, I’ve noticed my family and my mental health has improved significantly as we are out in the fresh air daily exercising to get to and from school and nursery and work, and we often pass people we know so can say hello which has a really positive impact on mental health. I’ve noticed the positive impact on feeling more like a community as we now recognise so many more locals as we are all walking and cycling so much more. Before we were in our cars so never stopped to chat or even notice neighbours. Also I’ve lost 5kg in weight from the additional exercise. Now I am converted and love the LTNs.
If ANPR cameras are put in place I will not feel safe letting my daughter cycle or myself with my baby, to cycle anymore, as taxis will be driving up and down the roads constantly making it dangerous for children (and adults) to cycle.
During the LTN pilot the plastic bollards were vandalised and moved multiple times a day. I have heard those that were happy to vandalise the bollards are plotting to vandalise any ANPR cameras so that anyone can drive through making the roads super dangerous, noisy and encouraging more and more people to use their cars. You can see from the stats on the number of ANPR cameras are being damaged per day in London as an example of what to expect. Therefore ANPR cameras are not the answer. It will not help to control traffic, instead it will encourage law breakers to break the law and then the roads will go back to being through roads that are danger to cycle or walk down. I hate to admit it but when that happens I will not let my family cycle and we will go back to using our car so we will be addling to the problem. Which I do not want to be doing.
I implore the council not to introduce ANPR cameras as this will undo all the good work of encouraging people who can to cycle and walk.
