Hi All,
Thought I'd start this thread after an incident last night. Driving down a dual carridge way, came up to "my turnoff". This turnoff has a the entrance and exit of a petrol station and the entrance for a town. The junction is sign posted for the town. Started indicating at the 200 yds marker and proceded to enter the slip road. A van came out of the petrol station and onto the sliproad and blocked my path. I had to brake hard, and as the road was damp, the wheels locked and I slid into the rear of the van.
A very dangerous junction as most people exiting the petrol station think people indicating to come off the carridge was are going to the petrol station and not to the town.
Any thoughts? Does anyone else know of more dangerous junctions?
Cheers,
OlafS
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You will need to word your statement to the insurance company very carefully to avoid the blame falling on you. Peter
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The highway code says....
Signals
85. Signals warn and inform other road users, including pedestrians (see Signals to other road users section), of your intended actions. You should
* give clear signals in plenty of time, having checked it is not misleading to signal at that time
* use them, if necessary, before changing course or direction, stopping or moving off
* cancel them after use
* make sure your signals will not confuse others. If, for instance you want to stop after a side road, do not signal until you are passing the road. If you signal earlier it may give the impression that you intend to turn into the road. Your brake lights will warn traffic behind you that you are slowing down
* use an arm signal to emphasise or reinforce your signal if necessary. Remember that signalling does not give you priority.
86. You should also
* watch out for signals given by other road users and proceed only when you are satisfied that it is safe
* be aware that an indicator on another vehicle may not have been cancelled.
The van driver should not assume you are turning left because you are signalling, learners are always taught not to turn from minor to major road, in front of someone just because they're signalling to turn into the same minor road before they get to them.
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From what you say this junction wants investigation. Assist others by writing to your local Highways Department, Traffic Management Section (copy to your local Superintendent of Police). Report as you have done above and that the junction needs an investigation to prevent a more serious incident in the future.
DVD
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What could be done about this, other than to re-site the petrol station? Is this on the dual carriageway or on the road you join after leaving it?
How big a gap is there between the petrol station and the other turning? If the petrol station was on the slip road, was your signal still on from leaving the main road? Should you (or could you) have waited until you'd passed the petrol station before signalling?
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The petrol station is on the slip road. I don't know how this defines its position relative to the dual carridge way.
The entrance to the petrol station is immediatly after the start of the slip road, so vehicles wishing to use the petrol station have to either slow right down before they get to the junction and risk someone tailgating them and possibly causing an accident, or brake sharply when they get to the entrance to the slip road, thus causing any following car, even with adequate stopping distance to brake hard as well and possibly causing an accident.
The petrol station exit is about 50 yards to the end of the slip road, thus waiting until you had passed the petrol station would be too late and too dangerous to others around you. So, a vehicle exiting the petrol station has to block the entrance to the town to be able to re join the carridge way.
I switched my signal off when I was on the slip road, after I had passed the entrance to the petrol station.
This petrol station has been there for years. It was built when the road in question was a single carridge way, and the road went through the town in question. Now its a dual carridge way, with a bypass around the town, with about 5 times the traffic flow. The bypas was built long before I was born, and I am 21.
The petrol station in question has recently had a well known convenience store built to replace the old shop. Somehow, I don't think the owners will want to relocate!!
IMO, close the junction and the petrol station. There's a perfectly good interchange 2 miles down the road.
What do you people think, use the junction markers for the turn off to the petrol station, or the town?
Cheers,
OlafS
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Sounds like you've been very unlucky with a careless van driver who should have checked that you were using the turn-off and not the petrol station.
You could try driving though the petrol station every time in future and looking carefully before you emerge to turn down the side-road?
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This could be an option, but it is not always possible to drive through the petrol station as it can get quite busy and I would hold up people trying to use the petrol station.
I am thinking of starting a petition in my local town, putting a few in local shops, pubs etc. I am also going to write to the local DoT as was suggested (many thanks) earlier on in this thread and include the results of the petition. A copy will be sent to the local police traffic department and my MP.
I was able to walk away from this accident. It could have been a lot worse. Something has got to be done about this junction before someone isn't as fortunate and ends up hospitalised or losing their life.
When all the details have been sorted out, I will inform other back roomers of which junction this is.
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