Sunday Driving In London

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30121, 3 May 1963, Page 9

Sunday Driving In London

By

BRUCE McLAREN

TN New Zealand we are * rather fortunate, we still have roads where it is possible to motor comfortably without constant traffic crowding—someone dawdling six feet in front, someone bustling at your back bumper, cars two lanes deep, and scooters zipping in between.

The other week-end my wife and I went for a Sunday morning drive across London to visit friends. Our drive took us about 50 miles across London from Surbiton in the pretty country of Surrey, up through Putney, across the Thames, through colourful Chelsea, along the Embankment, and into Westminster Mid-morning week-ead traffic conditions are not too bad and the heart of the banking area—Victoria and

Threadneedle streets, was almost deserted. On a weekday the streets around there are packed. However, when you get into the East End of London around Bow Bells, Whitechapel and Petticoat Lane, it is a very different matter. Sunday morning in London is market morning and it is

one of the places to go if you happen to be a sightseer or a bargain hunter with a free morning. Consequently there always seems to be thousands of people around. The Great Eastern Highway took us east through miles of built-up areas and 30 m.p.h. restrictions, with traffic lights every half-mile or so, and the odd stretch of dual carriage-way. After this quiet morning run, the trip back at night

was a shocker. At 11 m.p.h. there was bumper-to-bumper traffic for 50 miles. Different It was simply terrible. On the stretches of dual carriage-way—in New Zealand they would be motorways—people in the fast lanes were pottering along at 40 m.p.h., while the inside lanes where choked down to 30 m.p.h. Our journey home took a frustrating two hours and a half.

Tve got to the stage where I use a Morris Cooper, and keep my E Type Jaguar almost solely for use on the Continent, where long distances can be fitted into a reasonably short amount of time, and comfortable, reliable, high-speed transport is essential.

An average of much over 50 m.p.h. in England is possible only in the early hours of the morning. There are always those who press on regardless, and would make my traffic averages look slow, but these "Sunday racers” nearly always wind up in trouble.

I gather that in London the average speed since the war has dropped from about 14 m.p.h. to 11 m.p.h. and I'm not surprised. It certainly seems that the big car is on the way out in London. Outside restricted areas there

are no speed limits, but there do not seem to be many opportunities to allow a big car to stretch its legs. Frustrating Only on the motorway do you find the bigger cars doing much over 70 m.p.h. and even on the Ml you find that speeds are on the slow side. In the slow lane heavy trucks and older cars are motoring along at 35-40, while the average driver in the middle lane is cruising around 60 m.p.h. In the “Jaguar lane” you get the odd 90 m.p.h. merchant, but these are few, and I have found that I can cruise the Morris Cooper at 80 m.p.h. and only be passed once or twice on the length of the motorway.