Hastings Forum

I was having a conversation with a friend at the weekend (concerning a mutual friend of ours buying a house on Collier Road). My friend was telling me that the seller was asking 600k. However my friend felt that this was overpriced and one of several negatives that he mentioned was that Collier Road was a RAT RUN. This surprised me as whenever I have walked down there it appeared to be pretty quiet, maybe would depend on time of day I suppose. Anyway how does one measure what constitutes a rat run?

In peak periods drivers often find short-cuts to avoid congestion.
These roads then become 'rat-runs' as vehicles often shoot very quickly along them.
Traffic-calming measures may then be necessary or a speed-camera perhaps.

It would be an odd rat run as it only avoids a few hundred yards of Priory Road. It is of course a direct legitimate route from the junction of Old London Road. Even if it were used it is a reasonably wide road.

I was looking at street directory of the road last week for the late 60s, it was upmarket in relation to surrounding streets. Several houses were occupied by single spinster ladies and two or three had members of the same family (by name) in neighbouring houses

Richard wrote:In peak periods drivers often find short-cuts to avoid congestion.
These roads then become 'rat-runs' as vehicles often shoot very quickly along them.
Traffic-calming measures may then be necessary or a speed-camera perhaps.

Agree Richard, however quite often the rat run ends up becoming a slower route then the main road due to it's popularity.

Gerry Glyde wrote:It would be an odd rat run as it only avoids a few hundred yards of Priory Road. It is of course a direct legitimate route from the junction of Old London Road. Even if it were used it is a reasonably wide road.

I was looking at street directory of the road last week for the late 60s, it was upmarket in relation to surrounding streets. Several houses were occupied by single spinster ladies and two or three had members of the same family (by name) in neighbouring houses

There are certainly some nice houses on Collier Road, can imagine the views from the backs of the houses would be quite spectacular, agree that it would be a bit of a strange rat run.

I have noticed the A2101, St Helens Road, becoming a congested road at peak times for through-traffic shooting straight into Town and it seems to be busy even on Mondays now.
The only major route, to the West is the main A21 London (Sedlescombe) Road and I think the St Helens Route is in danger of becoming a 'rat-run'.

To the east the Old London (Rye) Road probably has its own short-cuts.