New road regs

[riverwayevents]

I drove down Mill Street yesterday and out onto Bridge Street.........if that set up is clear and definitive i'm a dutchman !! It leaves it open to everyone to do what they like and when pulled up plead ignorance etc.....what are "off street services" ??

 

[highguyuk]

Can I just say that there is no such word as signage?

Signage is an Americanism. It should either be the signs, or signing.

 

[wildwood]

As far as I can see, when you get to the bottom of mill street, and turn out onto greengate, the only possible "legal" option now is to turn right back up mill bank. But the signs are pretty unclear, I ended up turning left, only after doing so I realised the sign said I shouldn't!

 

[My Name is URL]

As you're now up to speed with the locale do you have any info on this subject

Unfortunately not but I am very interested to hear from those who do.....

I used to use the Mill Bank to South Walls / Tipping Street shortcut quite often to get through town avoiding all of the lights by tesco / the cinema / kwikfit (Queensway?) roundabout / asda etc. (I fricking hate traffic lights )

I also used to use it quite often to coming from work (Lamascote Island) down South Walls and then turning left into Bridge Street and Right onto Newport Road to get home. Used to cut out the carnage queuing up to the Queensway roundabout and then on the roundabout itself and right round to the cinema....

I suppose the new restrictions are designed by the council to stop people like me shortcutting through town but at what cost... just means that me and everyone like me make the other roads even worse.... ridiculous.

 

[henryscat]

I suppose the new restrictions are designed by the council to stop people like me shortcutting through town but at what cost... just means that me and everyone like me make the other roads even worse.... ridiculous.

Actually, rat running can make matters worse.... Couple of examples:

- People cut through from Wolverhampton Road to Newport Road via Friars Terrace. Lots of drivers on Newport Road stop to let people turn left out of the T-junction. This stops traffic and less people get through Newport Road / Bridge Street lights, consequently causing queues at those to be longer.

- People cutting through Fairway / Queensville Avenue to reach Lichfield Road. Loads and loads of drivers stop on Lichfield Road to let people turn left out of Queensville Avenue. Again traffic stops, flow is interrupted, and again has an effect further back - i.e. less people getting through the St Leonards lights and most likely Riverway lights also. In busy conditions, it doesn't take much to have this knock on effect. I'd close the junction of Queensville Avenue with Lichfield Road personally. Lichfield Road after the turning to Spittal Brook up to Silkmore Lane roundabout actually flows reasonably well.

In the Wolverhampton Road example, I always go via the lights, and very often see people in front turn off to cut through Friars Terrace. More often than not they're waiting to pull out onto Newport Road when I drive past, so the rat run ain't quicker. Actually just thought of another... The other Sunday, no traffic about, some knob in an X5 behind me on Lichfield Road steamed off down St Leonards, I carried on went via Hough / Riverway, then Weston Road and he was waiting to turn onto Weston Road. Even in traffic free conditions, his "short cut" wasn't quicker than me going via all the lights (and his driving was idiotic).

 

[riverwayevents]

Sometimes a short cut may not actually be a shortcut...but psychologically if you continue to move you have a better karma.......works for me !

 

[riverwayevents]

Ps...i also feel that the route through town at rush hour was far more aesthetic as there's more chance of seeing a pretty girl walking through town on their to/from work than there is on The Queensway......thinking about it...i am now very disheartened by the council preventing me from going through town !! Shame on them !

 

[UltraSBM]

I think the vast amount of money the Council has spent on the upgrading of the traffic system in Stafford is a brilliant idea.
Not a day goes by when I pray to SBC for the traffic lights at the ASDA island when I'm waiting on the lights to change to green with no traffic coming.
I praise them for spending hundreds of thousands of pounds re-routing the ghastly traffic around Mill Bank and ingeniously removing pedestrian crossings, whilst at the same time removing my totally unneeded line of sight for vehicles coming from the right.
I also praise them for the traffic calming measures all around Stafford, as without them, think of all the garages what would not have made money on everyone needing new suspension sooner, or the extra fuel used to keep the engine running whilst the traffic finally stops coming and one car can be let through.
Of course, in this amazingly run town, who can escape the excellence of the public transport, too!? The buses now don't do return fares - this helps the countless people who kept losing their tickets! What nice people they are to think of us in that way!

So before you slag off this brilliant council, and it's stone age members - remember this: fat cats need more food to sustain their image. It's hard to make these brilliant decisions without consulting groups know claim to know what they're doing.
They don't have things like Google and Yahoo at their disposal, so they have to resort to sticking pins in a map whilst blindfolded to decide where to upgrade next, and depending on what colour pin they've chosen, that depicts which upgrade they get - be it a brilliant speed bump to reduce the speeds of those darn ambulances on 999 calls, or the traffic lights which allow us to pause and reflect life at midnight, when otherwise we'd just just on like the rest of the world as there's no traffic coming.

Three cheers for Stafford Borough and Stafford County Council!

Hip Hip....

 

[riverwayevents]

Cynicism is REALISM !!! Love it !!

 

[The Stafford Beast]

It's still faster to go from one end of town to the other on a bicycle... Unless you use the cycle paths, which actually slow you down. Especially the one near the entrance of the old Tesco multi-storey.

 

[henryscat]

It's still faster to go from one end of town to the other on a bicycle... .

Yep. It is, as in most towns at rush hour. I've cycled down Wolverhampton Road on a Friday evening and overtaken everything from town to the Esso / Tesco Express.

 

[UltraSBM]

It's still faster to go from one end of town to the other on a bicycle... .

Yep. It is, as in most towns at rush hour. I've cycled down Wolverhampton Road on a Friday evening and overtaken everything from town to the Esso / Tesco Express.

I heard you have a dynamo connected to a battery, with the polarity reveresed so it acts like a motor...you cheat

 

[henryscat]

I think the vast amount of money the Council has spent on the upgrading of the traffic system in Stafford is a brilliant idea.
Not a day goes by when I pray to SBC for the traffic lights at the ASDA island when I'm waiting on the lights to change to green with no traffic coming.
I praise them for spending hundreds of thousands of pounds re-routing the ghastly traffic around Mill Bank and ingeniously removing pedestrian crossings, whilst at the same time removing my totally unneeded line of sight for vehicles coming from the right.
I also praise them for the traffic calming measures all around Stafford, as without them, think of all the garages what would not have made money on everyone needing new suspension sooner, or the extra fuel used to keep the engine running whilst the traffic finally stops coming and one car can be let through.
Of course, in this amazingly run town, who can escape the excellence of the public transport, too!? The buses now don't do return fares - this helps the countless people who kept losing their tickets! What nice people they are to think of us in that way!

So before you slag off this brilliant council, and it's stone age members - remember this: fat cats need more food to sustain their image. It's hard to make these brilliant decisions without consulting groups know claim to know what they're doing.
They don't have things like Google and Yahoo at their disposal, so they have to resort to sticking pins in a map whilst blindfolded to decide where to upgrade next, and depending on what colour pin they've chosen, that depicts which upgrade they get - be it a brilliant speed bump to reduce the speeds of those darn ambulances on 999 calls, or the traffic lights which allow us to pause and reflect life at midnight, when otherwise we'd just just on like the rest of the world as there's no traffic coming.

Three cheers for Stafford Borough and Stafford County Council!

Hip Hip....

So what are your solutions to transport in Stafford then?

Traffic calming - if your car needs suspension work, you've driven over it too fast...

Buses - are run by Arriva, not by either of the councils.....

 

[UltraSBM]

park and ride scheme.
massive mega car park by junction 14, free buses in to town with a parking ticket.
Glasgow has this and it works brilliantly.
The amount of money they would save by not having to put mountains of concrete etc to "slow the pesty cars" would be a bonus, as would the reduction in frequency in having to resurface them.
Of course you could say "What about people coming from Wildwood" etc, well there could be one near J13 also.
It's not that hard to think of better things to do with this town...it can't really get any worse! lmao.

Also, I apologise for inferring the council(s) ran the public transport system, but at the end of the day they allow them to run it like that. Remember the 10p return to town in the mid 90's with the council funded buses?
They're just too chicken to do it.

As for the suspension/too fast...I'm sure a few of us here know that it affects cars in different ways. My last car was affected by it if i went any faster than 5mph over one, but my new one cruises over as if they weren't there. It's a crude and narrow minded approach to the underlying traffic problems within Stafford.

 

[riverwayevents]

I agree with UltraSBM in this instance but the real issue is that there are too many cars now in Stafford to be supported by the infrastructure. I'm not sure whether thats anyones fault, but lets presume its not....lets say its just the way the cards have fallen.....i think most people understand that theres too many cars....what gets peoples backs up is that new measures get brought in and no-one has really explained WHY ! The traffic lights around Queensway and closing Mill Bank in my opinion are a waste of money and a nuisance !!! HOWEVER, if someone explained the whys and wherefores and the theory and categorically proved by spending X it was defo better...the doubters (including me) wouldn't have a leg to stand on. All we get is officials saying "checks and balances".....well NASA have cheques and balances and they still lose the odd fookin space shuttle !!!

 

[henryscat]

park and ride scheme.
massive mega car park by junction 14, free buses in to town with a parking ticket.
Glasgow has this and it works brilliantly.
The amount of money they would save by not having to put mountains of concrete etc to "slow the pesty cars" would be a bonus, as would the reduction in frequency in having to resurface them.
Of course you could say "What about people coming from Wildwood" etc, well there could be one near J13 also.
It's not that hard to think of better things to do with this town...it can't really get any worse! lmao.

Park and ride is fine, but it only works where you limit the amount of parking in the town centre and/or significantly increase the charges for it. It also works better in touristy places with more visitors - York, Chester, Oxford etc. As for road surfacing, if only cars were using the roads, it would last a very long time. It is HGVs that inflict the majority of damage on road surfaces. Which is presumably why the M6 Toll aren't interested in attracting them!!

Also, I apologise for inferring the council(s) ran the public transport system, but at the end of the day they allow them to run it like that. Remember the 10p return to town in the mid 90's with the council funded buses?
They're just too chicken to do it.

Nope, it would be illegal... Councils have no powers over bus operators since deregulation in 1986.

 

[age'd parent]

I have to join in about humps, my wife has crumbly bones (osteoporosis) and if I take humps at any slow speed it bounces her about, take them at 40 and theres no noticeable bump, the suspension absorbs the shock, so if shes in the car I travel at 40 in a 20 mph zone , stupid or what!

 

[Toble]

the only vehicles allowed to do this are taxis and buses.

Taxis in this case only refers to Hackneys. Private Hires aren't allowed. Blatant vehicle racism only letting the white ones use the road....

 

[Toble]

Councils have no powers over bus operators since deregulation in 1986.

Councils can still subsidise fares.

 

[UltraSBM]

... Blatant vehicle racism....

Hehe...new word alert - Vehiclism