More dangerous, but safer

On the outskirts of Grimsby lies a large commuter belt village with a long straight dual carriage by-pass with a 70 mph speed limit. The exit from the village towards Grimsby has an acceleration lane that has been in existence for around 40 years although admittedly not the normal length associated with such a junction. Due to several incidents over the years the local authorities have now decided to close off the acceleration lane and in its place designed an abrupt 90 degree left turn, which virtually means having to stop and gauge the flow and speed of two lanes of fast flowing approaching traffic, before moving off onto the dual carriageway from a standing start. As a motorist with many years experience I consider this to be a far more dangerous manoeuvre than the one replaced. What are your views?

Asked on 14 November 2009 by

Answered by Honest John

In fairness to The Highways Agency, it has inherited a lot of abysmally badly designed sliproads onto dual carriageways and motorways where sight lines are so bad they have led to crashes. Because of this they are trying to find ways to make these junctions safer. Sometimes they experiment for years (as on the M25/M3 South junction), where new lane markings and what looks to be a permanent 50mph speed limit have been imposed for the very good reason that they have cut the number of collisions.

Tags: motorways driving slip roads highways agency

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