Tower Road – one way street?
Paul Elmes writes (Jul 2006)
I am a local taxi driver and work all over Hastings. Some of the roads around Bohemia strike me as being unnecessarily unsafe, for instance, Tower Road, or rather its junction with Bohemia Road. Tower Road is difficult to turn down from Bohemia Road due to emerging traffic. Hitting the curb is inevitable when turning left if a car is coming at you. A clean turn is difficult for most motorists.
The strange thing about Tower Road is that at the top end one meets a staggered junction where visibility is nil, until the car is actually poking out into the oncoming traffic. Very dangerous and unnecessary you might say. The people who guard our safety were clearly having an off night when they decided it would be rather jolly to put a pedestrian crossing right in the middle of that junction.
If anyone is on the crossing, then one gives way to them of course, however one may be in the midst of needing to accelerate upwards to enter Bohemia Rd on a sharp right turn and decelerating to give way to anyone on the crossing. Clearly contradiction and confusion reign supreme here. Should a child or a drunk suddenly emerge from Newgate road and then be run over on the stripes, then the poor besieged driver would get nearly all the blame ,even if they had run onto the Zebra!
Whilst sitting in the café opposite last week I witnessed a 7- seater hit a 4 x4 mid junction. Its only a matter of time until a truly tragic collision happens. A serious collision happened about one month back at the other end of Tower Road. We are all exposed to unnecessarily high risk whilst this situation is complacently accepted.
I propose that Tower Road be made one-way going downhill only, [east to west] and Lower South Road going the opposite way [west to east]. North Street could also be reversed, decreasing the potential for accidents that clearly persists as long as the status quo remains ante. This would further decrease the chance of being hit from people who pull out suddenly onto Bohemia Road from side junctions.
Paul Elmes. Badge 309
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