Northbound train pulling into Bletchley railway station

28 May 2010

One way?

Which bit of "One way" is so difficult to understand? The signage and road markings are very clear - when we park at Bletchley station we should drive in on the left and come out on the right. Unfortunately some people don't seem to get this.
Imagine the scene... It's early evening and all any of us who've been in London want to do is to get home. We get off the train and jump in our cars. We follow the arrows to the car park exit, but coming onto the roundabout in front of the station we spot someone emerging from the right who has ignored the signs. He or she has maybe saved themselves 200-300 yards and a minute or two, but it's queue jumping and they risk causing an accident. I've seen the rows, the hand signs and heard the horns blow. These people though are oblivious to it all.

Today I saw perhaps an even more serious issue arising from this behaviour. I didn't go to the station until midday. The sun was shining as I drove around the corner and the lower level of the carpark was in near darkness. Fortunately, thanks to a flash of light off the windscreen, I spotted the car coming at me the wrong way and was able to stop. I waited for the car to get out of the way and figured that maybe I'd get a wave of apology. What I got was nothing. The driver gave no indication that he was aware that he'd just driven out of the entrance.

We need to ask what makes people think they know better and can ignore the signs (and common sense). Do they think that because the car park is on private property then the usual rules don't apply, or do they think that they so important and their time so precious that they can do what they want, regardless of the potential consequences?

London Midland and Meteor Parking could add more signs and road markings but I reckon these people would still take no notice. The only thing that would stop them would be a physical barrier, one of those tilting ramps which allows cars over in only one direction.The construction of the second level to the car park has been a huge bonus but the abuse of the one way system is going to lead (and for all I know may already have led) to an accident.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Please feel free to add your own views or questions. Unfortunately we have been receiving a lot of spam in recent months so have had to change the settings to disallow anonymous comments.

If you wish to submit a response to any of the postings on here and find that you are unable to do so for technical reasons then feel free to drop a line to eustoncommuter@gmail.com