Last night's Tonight with Trevor Macdonald looked at alternative ways of reducing road deaths. The main issue being road design. According to accidents stats the A59 between Harrogate and Skipton is the worst in Britain with a serious accident every two weeks. It featured a driver who was hit from behind whilst turning right and pushed into an oncoming car. The right turn is immediately after a left hand bend giving drivers little time to react to a stationary vehicle. The driver's daughter was killed in the accident - the inquest into the death did not look at the road design. A right turn refuge could have been provided at this point for just £10,000.
In another case in the West Midlands the Council's suggested answer to assist children crossing a major dual carriageway on their way to school was to install speed cameras, not a crossing as the accident stats suggest this is not what is needed - how does a speed camera stop traffic to allow people to cross? When the reporter asked the highways engineer to cross the road they were asked to stop filming!
No doubt there was some sensationalism in the story, but it was worrying to hear that road design is not look at as a contributing factor in road death inquests, unlike in Sweden where all factors are taken in to account.
|
Yes, it was an interesting programme, and very refreshing to hear speak of how many lives could be saved per year etc by inexpensive methods like better signage, a bit of white paint, moving a kerb etc, rather than the usual "slap a lower speed limit on it and some gatsos".
Five to ten thousand pounds they said, to improve that junction on the A59. How much does a single gatso cost? (Not that North Yorks have any.)
Regarding the West Midlands' road - anybody heard of the concept of building a pedestrian bridge? Not terribly cheap I suppose, but hey, imagine the number of such measures that could be taken, and lives saved, by spending on these sorts of things rather than hosting (or even *trying* to host) the olympics...
|
and lives saved, by spending on these sorts of things rather than hosting (or even *trying* to host) the olympics...
True TC, but the guy being given a hard time on the programme was the County Engineer, or similar, responsible only for spending his budget, not for setting it.
I thought it was a very poor programme, not worthy of being called journalism, and if he'd harrassed me in that way he'd have been wearing his microphone. To blame that one bloke for every danegerous bit of road in yorkshire is stupid, he doesn't have a magic wand and/or unlimited funds to cure every problem that he'd like to.
CF
|
Bet he finds money to paint roads red, introduce speed humps and as a London issue tear up good pavements to replace them with snazzy new ones for visiting Olympic officials.
I saw him, or rather his type as typical of the people who run our councils, roads etc.
|
Forgot......by spending the budget, in a funny way he is setting it for the next budgetary year.
|
|
|
Regarding the West Midlands' road - anybody heard of the concept of building a pedestrian bridge? Not terribly cheap I suppose, but hey, imagine the number of such measures that could be taken, and lives saved, by spending on these sorts of things
>>
Never done until it's too late, I regularly pass under two pedestrian bridges over busy dual carriageways, both have signs identifying them as in memory of a child who was killed crossing there.
|
One of which I suspect is Jades Crossing on the A249 out of Maidstone. Young girl crossing busy dual carriageway with Grannie, Grannie starts to cross, child stops her but grannie pulls sprog into road and path of car. Both died, car driver 100% not to blame according to the inquest. What do we get, a 50MPH speed limit, eventually mother of sprog campaigns and gets pedestrian bridge (around £ 100K AFAIK) and it gets installed. Do they tak the camera away and raise the speed limit back to 70MPH, not a chance......
Jim
|
One of which I suspect is Jades Crossing on the A249 out of Maidstone.
correct
agree about the speed limit as well no real need for a 50 up Detling Hill. Suspect part of the reason is the downhill side where high speed, wet road & bends have caught a number of people out.
Brings me to another thought, I can't think of a road with different permanent speed limits on either side of a dual carriageway. Do they exist?
|
I can't think of a road with different permanent speed limits on either side of a dual carriageway. Do they exist?
The M4 at London, before you get to the elevated bit. 40mph or 50mph going in, 70mph coming out.
|
|
I can't think of a road with different permanent speed limits on either side of a dual carriageway. Do they exist?
A55 Penmaenbach headland.
70 mph westbound (although 50 mph "advised").
30 mph eastbound - although before the westbound tunnel was opened, the current eastbound carriageway was single carriageway carrying both east and west going traffic - and the speed limit was the national limit i.e. 60 mph for cars giving a potential closing speed of 120 mph. Bizarrely, with two lanes both going in the same direction the speed limit is now 30 mph.
(Sorry, slightly off-topic since I am not in any way describing the A55 as Britain's worst road - apart from Britannia Bridge - the only bit of single carriageway between Milan and Dublin - or something like that - ferries excluded.)
|
|
|
|
|
>In another case in the West Midlands the Council's suggested >answer to assist children crossing a major dual carriageway on >their way to school was to install speed cameras, not a >crossing as the accident stats suggest this is not what is >needed - how does a speed camera stop traffic to allow people >to cross? When the reporter asked the highways engineer to >cross the road they were asked to stop filming!
Didn't see all of the programme but that has just got to be the Birmingham New Road! The joke is that the speed cameras don't even work, and the kids are only crossing that road to get to the chip shop on the other side (this is wolverhampton where the people only eat vegetables if they've been deep fried in lard). Well, what they do isn't really crossing the road, more like running out in front of the traffic and not even bothering to look for a gap, even though there is a crossing about 200 yards in each direction from where they were trying to get the engineer to cross.
The kids also stand there and kick cans, bottles, bricks etc at passing cars, so I'd vote for a barbed wire fence to stop them getting anywhere near the road!
|
I think kids like that need to be *encouraged* to play in fast moving traffic ;-)
teabelly
|
my daughter attends lutley primary school, (not lutley park primary school as said!) which was shown. i live around 3 roads away from where that wonderful girl was killed.
it used to be a 50mph road with a right turn exactly where she was killed.
Just wondered if they mentioned it was nearly midnight when she was hit.
And to my knowledge, no-one has been killed in daylight.
they blocked the turn, thus making it a longer "straight bit of road"
for the idiots of local petrolheads to see what their motor can do?
they made a little bit of a path, in the intersection.
I must admit, years ago, the bobbies made a few bob from standing at the end of this road with speed gun. but i have not seen them for at least 4-5 years.
it has hit the community really bad, and must admit that there are only around 20-30 houses on the opposite side. there is nothing else for miles apart from clent hills and fields.
so for 30 houses worth of people a crossing here is IMO not really a good idea. but i do feel for the family who lost their daughter.
but in everyone?s minds it is dual carriageway from j3 on M5 all the way to Kidderminster from here. With not one pelican/zebra crossing until maybe 3 miles away.
maybe a pelican crossing would be a good idea.
where they filmed on that bit of pavement is a local shop known as the toll house.
it sells everything... so for those 30 house's it must be handy.
And an excellent pub up further called the badgers set.
Missed the bit where a bobbie was driving a scoobie? What?s all that about.
Surely that?s not fair !!!
|
another dangerous one is the a61 harrogate ->ripon. bendy road, some deceptive corners, minimal chance of overtaking (or at least in normal cars)
lots of accidents.
they have put in passing places. ie on the few bits where o/taking was possible they narrow the road and put a painted layby in for sl9ower traffic to pull into. result - less chance of getting past slow cars. people start parking to eat sarnies in the passing places!
they could sort out two corners and make massive safety improvements, instead they mess about - and reduce the speed limits.
|
|
|