Annulment of Road Traffic (St. Helier) (Amendment No. 23) (Jersey) Order 2011.

STATES OF JERSEY

ANNULMENT OF ROAD TRAFFIC (ST. HELIER) (AMENDMENT No. 23) (JERSEY) ORDER 2011

Lodged au Greffe on 30th January 2012 by Deputy G.C.L. Baudains of St. Clement

STATES GREFFE

2012   Price code: B  P.10

PROPOSITION

THE STATES are asked to decide whether they are of opinion

to  adopt  an  Act  as  set  out  in  the  Appendix,  annulling  the  Road  Traffic ( St. Helier )  (Amendment  No. 23)  (Jersey)  Order  2011,  and  to  request  the Minister for Transport and Technical Services to make a new Order omitting the words Snow Hill car park (exit leading to the roundabout at the junction of Green Street with La Route du Fort)' and Green Street' in the amendments to Schedule 2, Part 4 of the Road Traffic (Jersey) Law 1956.

DEPUTY G.C.L. BAUDAINS OF ST. CLEMENT

REPORT

R&O.168/2011 [Road Traffic ( St. Helier ) (Amendment No. 23) (Jersey) Order 2011] is a lengthy Order of 19 pages – containing 21 Articles and one Schedule, which came into force on 30th December 2011.

It is, as the title suggests, an amendment to the 1956 Road Traffic Law, and deals mainly with a number of parking arrangements which, to my mind, merely serve to further complicate an already confusing situation.

My Proposition, however, is limited to the contents of Article 15 on page 6 of that Order, which relates to Compulsory left-hand turns from car parks', specifying which road a driver exiting from certain car parks may turn into.

Schedule 2 of the Law now has a Part 4 added (Article 4(4)) which means that –

• a driver leaving the Esplanade car park at the Castle Street exit must turn into Castle Street, and
• a driver leaving Snow Hill car park by the exit at the roundabout on Route du Fort must turn into Green Street.

Being aware of both junctions, I am convinced this new restriction will cause more problems that it will solve.

I  have  not  sought  to  rescind  the  Esplanade  restriction  because,  whilst  I  am  not convinced of its necessity, it would not cause the same inconvenience as the Snow Hill restriction. After turning left from the Esplanade car park, there are a number of options open to a driver which would get him/her to their intended destination without undue detours.

The same cannot be said for Snow Hill.

To take a few examples –

1. A driver wishes to travel to the east of the Island.

Whereas before he may well have taken the 2nd turning onto Route du Fort, by now being forced to enter Green Street his options are basically limited to three –

1. get back on course via Green Street, Grenville Street, Colomberie and Rue a Don;
2. turn around in Green Street car park and re-enter Green Street in the opposite direction to navigating the roundabout a second time;
3. get back to Route du Fort via Colomberie, Pier Road, Mount Bingham and Green Street. This will take you back to the same roundabout, where you will be able to drive past the Snow Hill car park, but now legally take whichever exit you choose. Absurd.

All 3 options take the driver into town from the ring-road, causing delay and further congestion. As the journey is both longer and stop-start motoring, vehicle emissions will be considerably higher too.

2. The driver wishes to head west.

He/she may before have simply gone around the roundabout and through the tunnel. Now, being forced to use Green Street, the only realistic option is to use Colomberie, Mulcaster Street and the Esplanade – areas that are at times severely congested.

3. The driver wishes to go to the Dicq or La Collette areas.

Here lies an anomaly. Since the Order being made, the Law now requires a driver  leaving  Snow  Hill  car  park  to  turn  left  into  Green  Street.  As  the roundabout divides Green Street, one wonders if the Law would be complied with by going around the roundabout and exiting into the southern part of Green Street (one still turning left').

If that is so, one could continue as before.

Indeed, a driver wishing to travel east could possibly use the same tactic and follow Green Road, turning left at its junction with Havre des Pas.

Failing that, and following what the Order presumably intends, a driver is now forced to travel via Green Street, Colomberie, Mulcaster Street and Pier Road.

I submit that, as most people parking in Snow Hill car park are unlikely to have come from the north of the Island and therefore wish to travel back in that direction, in the vast majority of cases this new restriction will cause inconvenience, frustration, delay, congestion and pollution. One therefore has to wonder why this part of the Order was made.

The only conclusion one can draw is that there exists a perception that exiting the roundabout into Green Street would somehow be safer than using any of the other exits.

I use the word perception because, having driven through that junction on an almost daily basis since the tunnel was first opened, I cannot recall one accident having taken place there. Furthermore, having used the Snow Hill car park frequently myself, I have to say that whilst exiting the car park is not easy, there is nothing in it whether choosing the Green Street or any of the other exits on the roundabout.

The traffic with the right of way from the right either comes from the tunnel or further back around the roundabout. If the latter, one has no idea which exit they will be taking, especially nowadays when many drivers indicate right whilst on a roundabout but fail to indicate left for their choice of exit. As a result, the only option is to wait.

Should the traffic be coming from the tunnel, it is often the case that both lanes are busy, meaning one still has to wait.

Indeed, the only safe option, as one should do in these circumstances, is to wait until the road is clear.

If Transport and Technical Services want to make exiting from Snow Hill car park easier, the remedy would be to install a traffic light working in conjunction with the (pedestrian) lights at the eastern end of the east-going lanes of the tunnel. When motorists wait to exit Snow Hill because tunnel traffic is heavy, an opportunity is often created by pedestrians using this facility.

In conclusion, there are hundreds of motorists using this exit on a daily basis without incident, whilst the restrictions created by this Order will lengthen journey times and increase congestion and pollution, whilst having negligible, if any, benefit in terms of safety.

Financial and manpower implications

There  are  no  financial  or  manpower  implications  attached  to  implementing  this Proposition.

APPENDIX

DRAFT ACT ANNULLING THE ROAD TRAFFIC (ST. HELIER) (AMENDMENT No. 23) (JERSEY) ORDER 2011

Made  [date to be inserted] Coming into force  [date to be inserted]

THE STATES, in pursuance of the Subordinate Legislation (Jersey) Law 1960, annulled the Road Traffic ( St. Helier ) (Amendment No. 23) (Jersey) Order 2011.