left ferry at 2235. Nice easy driving. Going past Oxford did the mandatory 50 and every HGV on the road ovetook me. At silverstone and brackley area the road signs got confusing. Lots of temporary 40 signs on th left of the road interspersed with the regular derestricted. One 40 sign upside down. Exactly what is the speed limit? What force in law do these temporary ones have?
After midnight on the M1 overhead signs warned of incident and recommended 50. Did so. Every other car on the road disappeared over the horizon in front to me. After 3 of these signs next one said animals in road and 40. There were 2 of these. Many miles later no animals and no restrictions.
Do the authorities do this for fun? were there any animals? I'm a 9 pointer who obeys every speed sign I see. Am I being taken for a ride?
|
"animals in road and 40"
Was this near Nottingham? If so also rather strange that local radio was still warning this morning (about8 am) that there were "animals on the M1 but we don't know what. If anyone knows please ring us to tell us what is going on" or words to that effect!
These overhead signs seem to be pretty useless. They are always "out of date" - they fail to warn of queues or as you are sitting stationary in one they have flashing 50 limit signs. Most of the ones on the northbound carriageway last week near Leeds were warning of the A43 closure at the weekend because of the British Grand prix - fair enough in the Midlands but 150 miles north of Silverstone?
--
Phil
|
|
Sat on the M25 this afternoon, and they were warning of possible delays on the A303 at stonhenge on the 21/22 June. Like you're going to get out your diary and make a note.
|
|
If you look in your diary you will find it the summer solstice (man).
|
|
|
Sat on the M25 this afternoon....
>>
I joined the M25 from the M40 yesterday evening.
In the very light traffic 40 on the gantry followed by NSL on the next. Absolutedly no reason to be seen.
Nearer Heathrow, another reduced speed followd by NSL and again WHY?
Very few took any notice of the restricted speed signs.
It really is dangerously undermining confidance in these signs.
Perhaps there should be a complaints tel no on each gantry so that we can rant at the authorities.
|
Same on the A1(M) from Doncaster today - "Slow - 50", "40", "QUEUE". Like hell there was. Everyone use blasted on at 80mph.
Also, the new bit upsets Tom Tom.
|
A cynic would say that because cameras are activated at the time of gantries showing lower speed limits that potentilly it's just a money raising exercise.
But then I'm not a cynic!!
Probably someone went off for lunch and forgot to turn the damn thing off, which is etremely annoying and extremely dangerous.
There should be a national telephone number to report such problmes to
|
>There should be a national telephone number to report such problmes to
Even an 0870 is a revenue-raiser - so they'd leave the matrix signs on with dire warnings of plagues of frogs at the next junction, 500 people call, spend 5 minutes navigating through the menus to get a gormless git in Goa who'd give a useless answer, and Gordon B would have another £100 to spend.
|
|
These overhead gantries cost millions of pounds to install and I suppose are a good thing if operated correctly.The big BUT is that there is no budget for staff to man the control desk permanently so somebody dives in if there is a hazard often to late and nobody bothers to turn them of because nobody and somebody do not exist.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The problem is that when we have got used to these signs being of no significance that when one is really important we will ignore it and maybe cause a pile up. An effort should be made to keep these signs up to date.
|
I bet it is true that signs are left unchanged after a hazard has been removed.
But it is still true that many drivers , who have no better information, blatantly ignore the warnings anyway.
I know that in roadworks on the M6 last year workers were killed when drivers ignored the speed and narrow lanes instructions and one ploughed into the work group.
Just watch going into narrow lanes, where there is an instruction not to change lanes, how many do.
|
|
Thats true but as Barney says nobody believes them
|
I worked as a corier for some time in the past, and decided to take note of the matrix signs' accuracy (this was before the overhead gantries). In six months, I saw (IIRC) three (out of more than 100) limit signs where there was something obviously wrong before the all-clear sign.
I accept that there may be a sign because of something that is not immediately visible, but three out of a hundred is taking the mick. And people wonder why they are routinely ignored?
V
|
|
I know I've posted this before, but they really were flashing warning signs on the M60 round Manchester on 7th July last year warning of major congestion in London following the bombs.
|
60 signs now permaenently on between J10 and J12 on M25 even at 4am in the morning,
Last time I obeyed an overhead sign was both lanes closed ahead on the M40. We all dutifully crawled along in the outside lane for 5 miles until the all clear sign. Mo lanes closed wahstsover.
I just ignore them now.
|
|
On a similar note, speed camera markings that are left after roadworks have long gone or similar. I was on the A13 between Dagenham and the M25 a few nights ago and at seemingly random intervals there are markings on the carriageway that look as though they are ready for installation or were used in recent roadworks. No sign of cameras anywhere. As you can imagine, these caused panic amongst the general public and there was much heavy braking all over the shop almost causing accidents.
|
|
|
|
