Monthly Archives: March 2012

Buses, Cabinet, Concessionary passes, Suffolk County Council, Transport, Uncategorized

Bus passes: why are we waiting?

Leave a comment

I  – and my  colleagues – are  increasingly concerned about SCC’s failure to keep to their promise to the elderly and disabled of Suffolk and revisit their decision about time restrictions on concessionary bus passes.

It’s eight full months (July 2011) since Suffolk county councillors unanimously passed the motion proposed by me, as Lib Dem Transport spokesman,  and pledged to look again at concessionary bus passes.  This was because SCC’s Tory leadership had decided to provide these  travel passes at little more than the ‘statutory UK minimum’  –further details here. (The ‘statutory UK minimum’ argument, by the way,  is a good excuse but a bad decision because problems of transport are notoriously more difficult and disabling for those  of us who live in rural areas like Suffolk than in the more urban areas of the UK. ) The changes to Suffolk’s concessionary passes have affected 140,000 people, 7000 of whom are disabled.

Despite the huge cross-party support for my proposal  – all county councillors agreed that these changes are causing genuine hardship to many people with few if any alternatives – eight months on, nothing has happened.  The 133,000 elderly and 7,000 disabled bus pass users of Suffolk are still waiting for the Cabinet to get around to looking into the problem.

The costs of reversing these past decisions are estimated as £202,174.00 – 0.019% of SCC’s annual budget.

SCC decisions are made these days by the 14 members of a one-party Cabinet behind closed doors –  and only they can vote on them!  Not only does this system make a nonsense of the concept of democracy but it also creates ‘bottlenecks’ whereby urgent concerns – like the ones about concessionary passes – get sidelined.  Never was there a clearer example of why this system doesn’t work, and needs to change.  It is the very stereotype of councils getting enmeshed in process and not caring about outcome.”

Reversing the concessionary pass decisions would support full, affordable participation in society to two valuable groups of Suffolk residents: those who do not want to let their disability stand in the way of their achievements and those who do not want to let their age confine them to home.  These people deserve to have their anxieties respected and allayed as soon as possible, while it seems only a democratic sine qua non that the concerns of so many of the County Councillors who represent them  should not be put to one side.

Mobility Vehicles, Pedestrians and Walkers, Roads, Transport

Mobility vehicles – dos and don’ts

Leave a comment

Mobility vehicles are good servants, but – like in Upstairs Downstairs –  they need to be certain of their position. And (again like Upstairs Downstairs), this may vary considerably depending on what they are. Here are the basics for using your Mobility Vehicle safely and effectively in Woodbridge (and around):

There are three kinds of mobility vehicle covered by the Highway Code

Class 1: Manual wheelchair (also called a Class 1 invalid carriage (!) in the Highway code)

Class 2: Powered wheelchairs and powered mobility scooters with an upper speed limit of 4 mph Vehicles in Classes 1 and 2 are designed to be used on pavements.

Class 3 mobility vehicles are those with an upper speed limit of 8 mph . Vehicles in Class 3 are equipped to be used on the road as well as the pavement.

The Highway Code reminds all mobility scooter users (eg users of Class 1, 2 and 3 vehicles) that “when you are on the road you should obey the guidance and rules for other vehicles; and when on the pavement you should follow the guidance and rules for pedestrians.”

On Pavements Class 1 and 2 vehicles are recommended to travel on the pavement at all times, if there is a pavement to travel on. They should give pedestrians priority and show consideration for all other pavement users, particularly those with a hearing or visual impairment. When travelling on pavements or in pedestrian areas, NO Class 1, 2 or 3 vehicle should ever travel faster than 4 mph. Aditionally they should further reduce speed if appropriate to adjust to other pavement users or to narrow pavements.

On Roads When on the road, Class 3 vehicles should travel in the direction of the traffic. They need to be aware that they are travelling significantly more slowly than other road traffic – and are also likely to be less visible. Mobility vehicle drivers, therefore need to think like cyclists, and take care to make themselves and their vehicle more visible when travelling in the daytime or dusk (eg. by wearing a reflective jacket and/or putting reflective strips on the back of their vehicle). They MUST follow the same rules about using lights, indicators and horns as other road vehicles. When driving at night they MUST use lights.

Class 2 users should only use the road (with caution) if there is no pavement available. In the daytime they should travel whenever possible in the direction of the traffic. At night they MUST use lights and travel in the direction of the traffic.

Parking Class 1,2 & 3 vehicles: When parking your mobility vehicle, ALL normal parking restrictions need to be be observed, and respect shown towards others. A mobility vehicle should not be left unattended anywhere where it causes an obstruction to other pedestrians and pavement/road users – especially those in wheelchairs. Parking concessions provided under the Blue Badge scheme apply only to those vehicles displaying a valid badge.

NO Mobility vehicles can be used on motorways. They should also not travel on unrestricted dual carriageways where the speed limit exceeds 50 mph. In any case where they do travel on a dual carriageway mobility vehicles MUST use a flashing amber beacon.

You can find full details of Mobility Vehicles and the Highway Code on the DirectGov site here