Councillor Directs Chiswick Traffic After Signal Failure
Ron Mushiso acted when he realised lights were stuck on red
Chiswick councillor Ron Mushiso says go. Picture: Ron Mushiso
Ron Mushiso, a local councillor who represents Turnham Green ward, was surprised when he encountered a long line of traffic in the centre of Chiswick this Tuesday evening (3 November). The queues ran in the westbound lane from Turnham Green Terrace to Heathfield Terrace.
Long lines of vehicles on the High Road have been a regular occurrence recently but normally these had dissipated by this time of the evening.
At first he thought that it was all part of the spill over from the various traffic schemes, closures and diversions that have been in place in Chiswick in recent months.
However, it soon became apparent that the temporary traffic lights at the junction with Heathfield Terrace were not functioning and were showing red in all directions.
He said, 'It took me almost 10 minutes to move roughly 300 yards between Linden Gardens and Heathfield Terrace."
Traffic was stretching ahead as far as they eye could see along the High Road. So he parked his car and proceeded to investigate the site.
He continues, "I tried to call the company SRL Traffic Systems and didn't get answer, then called 101 and finally I spotted the Stop/Go sign, picked it up and started to direct traffic. Remarkably drivers responded positively almost immediately and passers-by started to help by reassuring puzzled motorists and ushering cyclists to the front of the road so that could be seen. The thumbs up and cheers from passers-by and road users was very heart-warming. I was encouraged by this and carried on."
The engineer from SLR arrived at the scene around 10:25pm to fix the problem. He had been called by another member of the public earlier but it had taken him over an hour to arrive.
He allowed Cllr Mushiso to carry on directing traffic whilst he identified and fixed the fault.
Cllr Mushiso added, 'It was frustrating to sit that traffic not knowing how long the wait was going to be. This was clearly a systems fault but it adds to the chaos and the fatigue amongst all road users in Chiswick."
The issue was finally resolved at 10:40pm and the engineer from SRL thanked Cllr Mushiso for his help.
To have your say on any of Hounslow’s trial Streetspace schemes click on this link or email the transport team on traffic@hounslow.gov.uk.
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November 4, 2020
