On Sunday I chopped up my two meter tall Christmas tree and took it to Cotteridge Park for recycling. Other people seemed to need an SUV to do this, including one person who couldn't be bothered to shut off the oversized engine needed to lug his heavy 4WD vehicle around the area where he lives, consequently filling his lungs with diesel fumes. I needed only my Brompton. However, the trip was easier than last year, as I took advantage of a junction safety improvement that is a consequence of the filtered permeability used to create the Franklin Road LTN¹. This closes off to motor traffic one arm of a crossroads, substantially reducing the number of directions in which motor vehicles can turn. That means all road users negotiating the junction have far fewer potential conflicts to consider and avoid, making the junction much safer for everyone. It even makes it safer for all those car drivers who complained about the creation of this and other LTNs. The LTN in Oak Tree Lane in Bournville also creates this safety benefit, as do the proposals for an LTN in Mary Vale Road (currently postponed)². This is not some happy chance, it is by design. Road planners are well aware (or should be) that crossroads are very dangerous, which is one of the reasons why the filtered permeability is placed at crossroads. It's also the reason why I chose to cross Linden Road at this junction. I still had all the traffic on Linden Road to deal with, but I knew it was much safer than the four-way junctions on Linden Road.
By kicking LTN plans down the road, we are delaying badly needed junction safety improvements. That will in turn cause more fender-benders, injuries, and deaths on British roads, and all because a vocal minority can't be bothered to extend their journey time by a few minutes, or make a local journey on foot or on a bike. Of course should any of that vocal minority find themselves in a collision at one of these dangerous junctions, they will be considerably more inconvenienced.
¹ I also made use of two of the LTN's nobody is complaining about, making my entire journey largely car-free.
² It's worth adding that as part of the A38 cyleway, the junction with Edgbaston Road was redesigned to reduce the number of turns available to motorists, both to facilitate the cycleway and to address the number of collisions caused by turning motorists.
