Open Roads
The City and County Councils are about to close the High Street during the daytime to private and commercial vehicles. They believe that this is the answer to Oxford's traffic problems.
It isn't. What is will do is this:
- Fill the High Street with unregulated buses, taxis and tourist buses.
- Cause motorists who need to cross town to make unnecessary detours; thereby increasing pollution and causing greater congestion.
- Increase traffic in residential areas such as St Clement's ward.
- Lead to charging for parking permits with no guarantee of a place to park.
Open Roads if elected will campaign to -
- Scrap the Oxford Transport Strategy, thereby allowing traffic to move freely across the city.
- Reopen roads that are presently closed by barriers, such as East Avenue and Union Street, to allow access to Cowley Road and to review the access and turning restrictions on other roads so that traffic can flow evenly through the existing road network.
- Reduce car-parking charges in town and relax the present night-time parking restrictions on the city centre.
- Insist on:
- enforced speed limits on residential streets, including 20 mph zones
- more pelican crossings, with quicker response times and more time for pedestrians to cross
- roadside tests for exhaust emissions, including those of public transport vehicles
