On Monday I met with Transport for London (TfL) along with the local Conservative London Assembly Member, Steve O’Connell, to discuss the A217/A232 crossroads.

I am often contacted by residents who have witnessed, or even been involved in, near misses or scrapes when turning right from Cheam Road or High Street onto the A217. This is caused by confusion as to whether cars should cross on the inside or outside of each other. In contrast, when you turn right from the A217 onto the A232, the lights are phased to there is no oncoming traffic, allowing cars to turn safely without obstruction.

We discussed potential scenarios for resolving this problem, such as phasing the lights in the other direction, putting new signage on the traffic lights at Cheam Road and High Street demonstrating how to turn at this junction, or removing the white lines that guide cars turning right from the A217 onto the A232, which are arguably unnecessary as the phased lights do this job anyway, and replacing them with guiding lines to assist drivers turning right onto the A217.

TfL has agreed to go away and look at these options and feed back to myself and Steve O’Connell. We will be sure to keep residents updated.