LETTERS: Bad driving or poor planning at Huntingdon junction?

Parents have to drive into four directions of traffic with no priority being given to parents exiting the school car park.

Why was the school not granted a dedicated drop off/pick up area when this busy road junction was being planned by the council? After all, there is in excess of 1,900 children at the school, with a large number of parents having to drop off/pick up children on their way to and from work.

Additionally, the drop off lay-by along Hinchingbrooke Road only accommodates three cars with other cars having to drop off/pick up children along a grass verge with traffic sometimes backing all the way to Brampton. 

This is potentially another accident waiting to happen with inadequate lay-by space and sometimes up to 20,plus cars parked along Hinchingbrooke Road grass verge. Having to pull out into busy moving traffic along Hinchingbrooke Road can be dangerous.

I would like to suggest to the county council that providing a dedicated school drop off/pick up area would help to resolve congestion and a number of road safety issues at peak times of the day.

Brampton Parent
 

Junction mishaps are down to driver error!

I read ,with interest, about the proposed changes to the junction of Hinchingbrooke Road and Views Common Road, Huntingdon, as it is deemed "dangerous".

I felt compelled to write, as I find comments by Daniel Edgerton simply incredulous. He writes that 'the traffic light on Views Common Road may have turned green - but some drivers turning right don't realise they have to make sure the road ahead is clear before carrying out the manoeuvre'.

He goes on: 'Everyone is under the impression it's safe just to turn right there' and 'its very confusing'.

I point out - ' ...drivers turning right don't realise they have to make sure the road is clear...'. 

It is the responsibility of driver to drive with due care and attention. Driving to the Highway code is required. I find his comments incredibly ridiculous and would seriously question his ability and qualification to drive.

Similarly he says 'Everyone is under the impression it's safe just to turn right there'.

I am not one of his 'everyone'! I drive with care, with regards to the conditions and with regard to traffic signs and signals.

I wish to clarify that I use the junction regularly and without incident. Indeed, on the reverse side of Mr Edgerton's extremely disturbing arguemnt, is the fact that hundreds of vehicles use that junction, daily, again without incident.

Money to be spent "improving" this junction is a shocking waste. It won't change things - accidents and incidents will still occur, until the main and direct cause, the driver behind the wheel, improves their driving skills.

Roads are getting busier and more vehicles using them then ever before. Therefore driver improvement and education MUST be the focus in order for the roads to be safer.

Sadly, we now live in a society where a large number of people simply cannot take responsbility for their actions and need to blame someone else/something else for their inadequecies.

Pete Simpson

Traffic lights at Huntingdon junction are the issue!

Another accident this week - the latest involving a car and an ambulance - brought the total to five since the new A1307 traffic lights were opened. 

I write of the inadequacy of the new traffic lights at the end of the A1307 at the junction with Hinchingbrooke Police HQ and Hinchingbrook Hospital. 

Every morning and evening in the respective rush hours, all traffic is brought to a standstill by this ineptly designed and badly thought out junction, with its traffic light settings so unfit for purpose at these times.

We suffered the nuisance of roadworks here and at the rail station lights for over two years with no compensation other than the promise congestion would greatly decrease once the work was done. 

Now it is done - and it's worse! Do we have to go the usual route and wait for someone to be killed before something is done to improve matters?

The main problem is the traffic light settings are useless in both rush hours. They need to be lengthened to allow traffic to clear more. Motorists may wait longer for the lights to change, but are kept waiting anyway at the moment, even when the lights are green, because the junction is gridlocked. 

The second problem is traffic being 'caught' in the 'no man's land' in the middle of the junction.  A yellow painted 'zig-zag box' won't solve this as drivers can't know whether they will get through or not - traffic is too congested and slow to be sure. 

Saying 'drivers should wait if unsure' is also no answer because drivers are under pressure from often impatient drivers behind them and trapped in a 'damned if I do, damned if I don't' situation. 

You have 200 to 300 drivers, often at the end of a hard day, put in a totally unreasonable and  stressful predicament, none of which is any fault of theirs.

Whoever is responsible for the A1307 junction must be held to account, both for the time it took to complete the junction and the incompetence of the finished work. 

Highways planners knew there would be more traffic from the Alconbury Weald area, much of which would use the junction in both rush hours. 

Yet they completely failed to plan for it and wasted millions of our money in the process. Not good enough.

Nigel Sedden
Godmanchester

Well done council leader but department still letting the side down!

I write in response to the column written by HDC leader, Cllr Sarah Conboy, on council costs and inflation in The Hunts Post on February 15.

Well done Sarah Conboy on coming clean and telling us the truth on the financial situation the council faces in the coming year and managing to break even this financial year.

Some of your officers and departments are working to achieve the most effective and efficient service they can provide under the present financial restraints as has always been the situation and still providing good customer service along with all HDC front line services and staff.

Regrettably one department lets the side down with its none and delayed communication to correspondence from residents and local Member of Parliament.

A simple single planning application taking 70 weeks for any communication. The regulatory period for decisions is eight weeks.

Delays in replies to Highways correspondence and simple questions from the public.

As they require all contact to be made by digital means why does it take so long before a confirmation or reply to any corrspondence.

By taking up front money from residents and not meeting the statuary time limits is this not considered to be taking money by false representation.

Please can you look into this inefficient department and get back to the great service and communication it at one time provided.

B Jones

Eaton Socon, St Neots