Today has seen mass media exposure of the mysterious yellow lines saga first reported on the Headington and Marston Forum, I have found this a strange experience

My personal view is that although the double yellow lines across the width of Latimer, Stapleton and Bickerton Roads are decidedly odd, they cause bemusement for local people, rather than overwhelming  concern. My only issue with them would be if drivers become so distracted by the yellow lines that they don’t pay attention to what else is going on around them, or start trying to turn round thinking they’re in a cul de sac.

It’s bizarre how comments attributed to me have got swapped around too.  Instead of quoting a resident’s view that ‘an accident is waiting to happen at the top of Latimer Road as cars cut the corner’, I find that the attribution has been made somewhat differently, but I’ll put that down to experience.

The different slants of the interviewers have been curious too. The radio interviewer wanted a light, lively interview, the Oxford Mail covered the story as a ‘what will the planners do next?’ , and we have yet to see what the TV clip will be like.

And the mad thing about it all  is that it distracts attention away from the really important issues. Issues like the need for a transport strategy for the whole of Headington. Issues like the continuing expansion of the universities and the hospitals, and the impact this has on the local infrastructure.

Latimer Grange Len and I stood at the corner today and watched cars and bicycles! cutting the corner from London Road into Latimer Road. The percentage cutting the corner while we watched (including Royal Mail vans, interestingly) was around 50%. It’s clear the cyclists don’t know quite what to do when their cycle lane runs out, assume they pedal across the “yellow brick road” and set off diagonally across the road from the London Road pavement to the left hand side of Latimer Road. There are a lot of elderly people living close by, and there is a clear concern about their safety on that corner, as they may be too frail to move quickly enough to evade cyclists and other vehicles.

We saw some dreadful driving, and that was at an off-peak time.

What can we do about it? That’s the real story here. Lit bollards in the centre of Latimer Road to make motorists drive properly?

Would that story make the media sit up and pay attention?

I wonder?