Kings Cross Environment

We used thousands of words to describe the problems at Kings Cross in the deadly junction complex at the bottom of York Way and the top of Grays Inn Road/Pentonville Road.  Here's a couple of pictures that tell a story taken this evening when i hung about there for 10 minutes at about 1815.

In this first picture you can see quite clearly that the street light doesn't work on the tiny over crowded pedestrian island, now unprotected by railings.  In the gloom it's very hard to see pedestrians darting about. It's always tricky to work out who is responsible for this sort of thing (it's a TfL road at the junction of Camden and Islington) but I'd guess it is Camden maintenance problem.

This second picture shows an all too common occurence – cars trying to fight their way across the box junction and not making it.  Then causing a hazard for everyone as vehicles from the other direction weave around them.  This is a nightmare for cyclists.  It's an offence too – as the highway code is pretty straightforward that you shouldn't enter a box junction unless your exit is clear.   It's another bit of poor design – it's hard to see the junction exit before you advance over the start line on the other side of the lighthouse building.  Wouldn't it be nice to have an old fashioned traffic police officer who hangs out at this junction at rush hour to sort out this sort of thing and be a deterrent.  Until TfL fix the junction.