Given the impending consultation on a proposal to introduce a low traffic neighbourhood in Alexandra Park, I thought it would be useful to raise some frequently discussed issues. Here's one of them.
There is sometimes concern that emergency services get held up when attending emergencies in low traffic neighbourhoods by sometimes having to drive a bit further round – and also a concern that they may have to contend with extra traffic on the boundary roads. A study of response times by the London Fire Brigade has been done on the 72 low traffic neighbourhoods introduced in London during 2020 (when the government offered funds to boroughs for quick implementation of such schemes). This found that
Fire crews reported more delays due to ‘traffic calming measures’ in LTNs, but this was entirely offset by a decrease in delays for other reasons, particularly ‘traffic’. This was true both in LTNs that predominately blocked motor traffic using physical barriers (e.g. planters) and in LTNs using camera enforcement.
So there was no increase in delays overall (this confirms an earlier study looking at the same issue in the Waltham Forest mini-Holland scheme). Why were there fewer delays caused by traffic? Low traffic neighbourhoods are typically created where there are currently rat-runs on narrow residential roads, and hence often snarl-ups that prevent vehicles from moving (as happens currently in Crescent Road, and used to happen in Winton Avenue). If emergency vehicles get caught up in these, that will hold them up. But if a low traffic neighbourhood is introduced, these rarely happen, so although these vehicles need to sometimes drive a bit further, there is less problem with traffic (also, by implication, on boundary roads).
The London Fire Brigade also reported that the LTNs introduced in 2020 have not affected response times.
Replies
It is noteworthy that the study referred to by Annabel Gregory was undertaken at the height of the pandemic - October 2020 to February 2021.
it is no surprise therefore that the emergency services reported there were few hold ups due to 'traffic' for the simple reason there was no traffic! Remember the empty streets!
Very different from the traffic that has now been pushed onto roads such as Durnsford Road by the Bounds Green LTN. With traffic often queuing from the traffic lights at Colney Hatch Lane to Bounds Green tube station with sometimes 8-10 buses in the queue.
It is entirely possible that the emergency services would now report delays due to having to take longer routes as a result of traffic calming measures AND delays caused by traffic on the boundary roads.
I asked the lead author of the 2021 study, Prof. Rachel Aldred, about their methodology, who has replied already. They controlled for changing traffic levels during this period, which therefore do not skew their conclusion: These findings add to evidence that LTNs do not adversely affect emergency response times.
To be more specific, when they were recording response times within an LTN and on its boundary roads (groups A and B in the article), they were doing the same, at the same time, for control groups C and D, the first not far from the LTN and the second further away. So this method controlled for changes in traffic due to varying Covid restrictions. I should have read the article more closely!!
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I've been living in the area for over 15 years. This enormous problem with traffic rat running the north part of the north circular has been a problem for over 15 years! The problem is not LTNs - it is people rat running.
This traffic has not been "pushed" onto Durnsford Road - Durnsford road is the right place for vehicles trying to get to the North circular.
The empty streets were in the spring of 2020; September of that year saw congestion surge to over 150% of the 2019 level in London, with the return of children to school, and the government urging people to return to the office. Do you remember when parents were driving teenagers to school, who would normally have caught the bus? And car-owning adults also preferred to drive to work rather than get public transport - very understandably, given the continuing prevalence of Covid.
The government feared this would happen - this was why they introduced their very hurried LTN programme, demanding that boroughs implement the LTNs (without prior consultation) before autumn 2020, or they would have to return the funds allocated to them. The idea was that the drivers who used their cars for short journeys which could easily be switched to walking and cycling, would walk and cycle instead for these journeys ...
That is simply not true....the study you referenced started in October 2020, not September. We were back in total lockdown by the beginning of November, then briefly back out in December. Schools went back for half a day in January and were then out of the picture till the end of the survey you highlighted.
Before an LTN can be implemented the plans have to be sent to the Police, Fire and Ambulance service. This is called a statutory consultation. Local MPs and Cllrs will also be part of a statutory consultation. Their consent is crucial for any changes to go ahead.
The impact of LTNs on emergency response times and patient safety
This was discussed at the London Ambulance Service Trust Annual Public Meeting on 29 September 2020.
The recording of the session (see from 1:07:33 to 1:10:19) shows the response of the London Ambulance Service Trust to recent installations of LTNs in London.
Also, look at the dates on the earlier study.
They are pre-pandemic.
Finally, the delays are caused by motor vehicles blocking the roads. LTNs are safe, liveable neighbourhoods. Not 'rat runs'. That is what they are designed to do - to make areas accessible to children, the elderly, vunerable road users and local people and not the sole preserve of through traffic.