Woodmere Avenue width restriction questions must be answered

We don’t know how a Volvo came to be hooked onto one of the posts in Woodmere Avenue but it certainly highlighted the consequences this restriction can have for drivers.

• Read more: Three cars strike width restriction in four days - one needed a digger to free it

Ever since this restriction was introduced in 1980 to stop wide vehicles, it has caused trouble for drivers - although admittedly for most of us it doesn’t pose too much of a problem (in the sense it doesn’t write off our cars).

But for whatever reason, too many drivers are striking these bollards and whether that is down to driver error or something else, it’s not something that can be allowed to keep happening.

What is the problem it sets out to solve? What is going wrong? Is the space now too narrow for modern cars? Could the problem be solved another way?

We’ve posed a series of questions to Hertfordshire County Council but perhaps the biggest one drivers raise is why is the restriction in Woodmere Avenue the way it is?

• Read more: Watford MP 'determined to see improvements' to notorious width restriction

Why does this one have three bollards but nearby Tudor Avenue only have one that drivers must navigate? There is another one over in Park Avenue near Bushey with a bus lane running through the middle but just one set of posts either side - which does the job.

Woodmere Avenue width restriction

Nearby Tudor Avenue width restriction. Credit: Google Maps

One resident we spoke to this week described the Woodmere Avenue design as “over the top” and we are inclined to agree.

For all of the safety reports and documents that are produced by local councils, it is baffling that drivers, whether it is their fault or not, can continue to be compromised with such a lack of action from those with the ability to change things.