After hearing evidence at the London Assembly, Jenny has withdrawn her call for the Chair of the London Ambulance Service, Mr Sigurd Reinton, to resign after he stated that, " I’m being accused of saying that lives are lost and I’m actually saying is lives may be lost… We are not saying that all traffic calming is bad… Obviously, speed cameras cause no problem for us at all."
Jenny Jones asked, "So you have never said that road humps cause 500 deaths?"Sigurd Reinton replied, "I don’t recall saying that."
The implication of 500 deaths due to road humps has been used to justify a moratorium on traffic calming measures in several Tory controlled London boroughs. Jenny will now write to all local authorities to clarify the situation and to urge them to continue using traffic calming as a way of enforcing speed limits.
Mr Mullin, an Islington team leader within the ambulance service, said, "In Islington the main strategic roads are Holloway Rd, Liverpool Rd, Caledonian Road. These are gridlocked, so we go down side roads to get round the problem…. At three o’clock in the morning we can get to emergencies a hell of a lot quicker… and sometimes without meeting any traffic calming at all."
Jenny said, “The real solution to ambulance delays is rolling out congestion charging across London and investing in other traffic reduction measures which will deal with the thousand pinch points on the London road network. We should also be looking at the alternatives to speed humps such as the greater use of cameras and the introduction of speed limiters.”
NOTES FOR EDITORS
Jenny Jones has produced a briefing refuting the previous claims of the London Ambulance Service. Her letter to Mr Reinton and the accompanying briefing on the issue have been widely circulated amongst transport professionals. Copies of the briefing are available from Ian.wingrove@london.gov.uk
ENDS