Controversial plantpot chicanes placed in Viaduct Road have been declared a success and will now pave the way for a permanent traffic calming scheme – which could replace them with communal bins.
The big black plant pots, rescued after they were taken away from the front of the Duke of York’s to create a mini-square, were placed in the road in February, to the consternation of many motorists.
But in just the first week, speeds in the 20mph road dropped from an average of above 40mph to 23.5mph – and now the planters have had a chance to be monitored over several months, a permanent scheme is on the way.
And at the request of residents, it could make space for communal bins by providing build-outs in the road – which would also help solve the problem of wheelie bins being left on the narrow pavements.
Chair of the London Road local action team Philip Wells said: “One of the big complaints of residents was of the wheelie bins being left on the pavement and rubbish being left on frontages. So communal bin provision could hopefully help remedy that situation.”
A council spokesperson said: “The temporary planter chicane scheme in Viaduct Road has been successful and traffic speeds have significantly reduced.
“We are now in the process of designing a permanent scheme which could also incorporate communal bins which have been requested by residents.”
The trial followed requests from the London Road LAT, which approached the council about ways to spruce up the whole road.
A request to house owners to freshen up their paintwork prompted two landlords to commission renowned Brighton graffiti artist AroeMSK to paint two murals across four houses.
The drop in speed is almost certainly due to traffic congestion, people still drive at 30mph on this road when they can and the plant pots have done nothing to stop that. As for the council trying to make the road more attractive, communal bins certainly don’t help with that!
Are figures also available for the number of small crashes as unexpecting motorists (especially lorries) swerve in to each other to avoid plant pots? If you are not local you will have no idea of the layout ahead. Using the road daily I see on average an incident per day.
Strange that you see an accident daily because I have never seen one – do you think that you might be the cause?!
People drive like there mental.
People ar speeding towards red lights .if they cant chill they need to be sedated.
How about sticking in a cycle lane to separate them from the looneys
So , if you hit a plant pot by accident you come out smelling of flowers,
If you hit a rubbish bin you come out smelling of? I think the flower pots are better!
What a load of rubbish, they make no difference they just look ugly