By Marina Grut, Wimbledon

During the Olympics there were police and soldiers in the streets and guns on roofs, yet here in Wimbledon, beneath our feet, lie our greatest safety hazards.

Problem one: The only thoroughfare through Wimbledon – Wimbledon Hill Road/Broadway – has during recent years been blocked in two places that hinder emergency vehicles such as ambulances, the fire brigade and police cars from getting through.

For some unknown reason, the junction of Woodside and Wimbledon Hill Road has been blocked by a traffic island that greatly reduces the street surface, and outside the station the two lanes each way have been reduced to one.

In rush hours emergency vehicles cannot pass, as any room to manoeuvre has been lost.

Problem two: When motorists leaving central Wimbledon could no longer turn right into Woodside for a short distance before they turned left and went up the hill, they naturally turned right in the next street, Belvedere Drive, and this has created traffic problems in that area, which did not exist in Woodside in the days when that road was still accessible from Wimbledon Hill Road.

Solution: Remove the traffic island and return the road to its former four lanes, which lets the traffic flow smoothly as before, leaving room for cars to move to the side to allow emergency vehicles to pass through; and again allow cars leaving central Wimbledon to turn into Woodside Road to turned right into Woodside.

Bingo – Belvedere will be freed from its traffic problem. The taxis too have asked for this simple solution.

However, the danger of only one lane in front of the station remains. Is the damage irreversible because the pavement was extended into the road?

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