Stop the Parbury Rise - Bolton Road - Ellingham Road Rat Run

Up until this juncture RBK Highways Department have not been able to come up with a solution to  the Parbury Rise - Bolton Road - Ellingham Road - Rat Run that satifies all the objections by various parties..

The soluions suggested in the past e.g. placing a barrier at the junction of Bolton Road and Ellingham Road was strongly objected to by resindets living in the cul - de - sac sections of Parbury Rise - Bolton Close - Salmons Road - Carlton Close and Ellingham Road especially as they were not affected by the speeding traffic in Bolton Road.

However Technology has moved on and there is now a solution that could be used to resolve the problem and overcome the past objections especially those raised by the resiudnets living in the cul-de-sacs.

There is now a  ANPR( Automatic Number Plate Recognition) Rat Run System ANPR Rat Run System. Cameras would be installed at the junction of Bridge Road - Parbury Rise and Leatherhead Road -Ellingham Road.

If a vehicle was captuired on both cameras under a certain time limit they would be considered as Rat Running and face a fine.

This would allow Residents, Recycling Vehicles, Couriers and Parents  dropping children off etc  to still use Bolton Road normally..

We would also ask the Highways Department to revisit the priority at the Parbury Rise - Bolton Road junction. For some reasonm they change it to give priorty to Parbury Rise when it had been always Bolton Road traffic had priroty.

The reasoning behind this is that traffic coming out of Bolton Road and truning left into Parbury Rise has to concentrate of traffic coming up the hill from Bridge Road sometines in the middle of the road .

With the change of giving priortiy to traffic coming from the cul-de-sac section of Parbury Rise the drivers of the Bolton Road vehicles have to look both ways and the junction  is such it is very hard to look down the cul-de- sac section of Parbury Rise as the view is not straight and you end up taking a chance.

There was not an issue with the old arrangement and the change was never really expalined by the RBK Highways Department at the time; restoring it back means the Bolton Road vehicle driver can concentrate on  vehicles coming up the hill in Parbury Rise from the Leatherhead Road .

However the island and bollards they installed in Bolton Road at this junction did work as it prevents vehicles coming up Parbury Rise and turning right into Bolton Road cutting the corner off and  meeting vehicles coming the other way head on.

Congestion and build up of a tail back is a common occurance at Bridge Road Roundabout so vehicles regulalrly use the Parbury Rise- Bolton Road - Ellingham Road Rat Run to cut the corner off.

Because the aim of the  driver who decides to leave the queue of traffic in the Leatherhead Road and use the Rat Run wants to get ahead of the vehicle that was in front of them they not only use the short cut they do it at speed.

Despite of the 20MPH road markings and the sleeping policemen we see cars , vans and lorries doing well over 20 MPH down Bolton Road to get that advantage and gain positions in the queuing traffic on Leatherhead Road.

Parbury Rise - Bolton Road - Ellingahm Road is a major walking school route for Children and Parents attending Ellingham and Chessington Schools; plus the parents are often acompanied by toddlers who are siblings of the school children.

There is also the Toad Hall Nursery in Parbury Rise where parents are seen on a regular basis  getting babies and very young children out of their vehicles and we see speeding vehicles turning  into Parbury Rise from Bridge Road and accelerating  up the hill in Parbury Rise wanting to use the Rat Run.