This section of motorway is getting a very disproportionate number of incidents. J9 is the A34 and 10 is the A43 , and you notice the density of traffic which is always more than on the stretches before and after.
A traffic policeman I know believes this is due to a lot of traffic, and especially lorries, using this route as an alternative from the MI to the M5 and south and west, compared to going down to and around the M25. It seems as though this wasn't anticipated.
I notice that if you are going London-bound after 10 and before 9 there is usually a queue for the exit lane at 9 to get to the A34 and there is frequently a problem that traffic getting on at 10 don't get over for the exit lane in time, so end up either barging in, cuttting in at the slip or sitting stationary in lane 2 waiting to be allowed in.
I don't know in which direction today's event occurred but I always feel relieved when I get past 9.
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All clear when I drove my "new" Maxi back home up th M40 this afternoon...
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>>Maxi
Really? I have very fond memories of travelling round Europe in one as a very small child. FSH? Low mileage?
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>>Maxi Really?
Yep, just under 52k, one family owner in mud (sorry, "russet") brown... nice little motorway cruiser it was as well... I learned to drive in them, so its a bit of preserving my motoring history for me... now I've got to re-learn all about petrol engines and pinking!
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Earlier this year I emailed the Highways Agency because on 2 consecutive journeys down the M40, on which I drive only a few times a year, the signs had been displaying 50mph for 10-20 miles in light traffic for no apparent reason. I tried obeying this limit for a while until I got fed up of holding everyone else up.
For the last occasion which I asked them specifically about they said there had been conflicting reports of debris on the motorway and they'd had to wait until they could be sure there was nothing there. Fair enough, but obviously the more false alarms they give the less effective they become. And if they don't show anything when there is a 'real' problem, well...
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As familiar as the ' Animals in Road " setting that has yet to produce an animal sighting .
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I drove south on Thursday and used the M1 instead of the M40 - I should have been in the area of the accident at about 1PM. I have BBC R2 on at home so was well aware of the incident.
The car's sat nav (Mercedes COMAND) did take me off the M1 and through St Albans as the M1 towards the M25 was showing stationary - and in the dip at that junction I could see standing traffic for some distance.
Drove back during this morning to be greeting by news of the M6 closure at Birmingham but used the toll road (would normally go M42/M5/M6) and it was fine - in fact I'm not sure where all the traffic was, the toll road ought to have been busy but it was as empty as usual.
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On some of the interstates where deer and other animals are a problem, they use motion sensors connected to flashing signs to automatically alert motorists to crowds of animals hanging around near the road. Seems to work pretty well!
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news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/7784565.stm
Page last updated at 19:16 GMT, Monday, 15 December 2008
M40 closed after motorway pile-up
Traffic on the northbound carriageway of the M40 through Oxfordshire is at a standstill after a crash.
The accident happened just after 1730 GMT and involved a number of vehicles, police said.
The carriageway is closed between junction 10 at Cherwell Valley Services and junction nine at Bicester. Traffic is slow but moving southbound.
Emergency services are at the scene but police advise it will be closed until the early hours of Tuesday.
Drivers are advised to avoid the area.
The same stretch of motorway was closed last week after another multi-vehicle accident.
One caller to BBC Radio Oxford who was stuck in traffic behind the incident said: "I would say there was a minimum of 10 cars involved.
"It looks really nasty - three articulated lorries are involved too.
"There are a lot of people out on the carriageway trying to help others. The road is going to be gridlocked for a long time I'm sure.
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This is fast becoming a twice weekly event. Just what is wrong with our motorways ?
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There was another crash this morning as well.
www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/news/3977097.M40_crash.../
But back to the current accident - the M40 is going to remain closed until AT LEAST 1:45am, and a lorry driver has been arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving following the multiple-vehicle collision this evening.
tinyurl.com/5mao3v (link to www.oxfordmail.co.uk - link may not work later on, if so, I'll update it if I can)
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 15/12/2008 at 20:46
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It is becoming really hard to work out just how much time you should leave for your journey these days. If having to travel around peak hours, its a complete lottery.
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I'm stuck here with my laptop on the M40 North right now. Been here since 17:43 and it's now 10pm. It must be a bad one, lots of police, ambulance and fire engines been past.
I'm less annoyed about being stuck as I am to be so thirsty! Just glad that I wasn't 1/2 mile up the road in one of those crushed cars.
Fingers crossed the road will open soon.
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Checked a lot of the news sites but nothing being reported on other than multi vehicle accident forcing closure of both sides on one travel site. Now that every road accident is treated as a crime scene, we can expect this situation to get worse with such hold ups becoming common place on our major roads and m ways.
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Mr X there are two links to the current problem in this thread. Do you not read threads before posting? What more do you need to know apart from this being a bad multi-vehicle pile-up? And the all important info of it being closed until the very early hours. Oh and a fellow backroomer is stuck in the traffic and posted too...
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Snip
Edited by Webmaster on 15/12/2008 at 22:45
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Mr x
As I sit here reading your last post, swiftly sucking large volumes of air between my teeth ;-)
But come on webmaster, we all can't be wrong. It will alienate us ?
Edited by CheapNcheerfull on 15/12/2008 at 22:39
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My point was that there were links in this thread already with info. And the thread itself. And Oilburner had not only read the post (hope you get moving soon!) but has Internet access on his laptop so has probably looked this all up already.
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That section of the M40 is very bad indeed. Traffic is often backed up to a standstill by traffic quing to get off, all caused by stupid junctions at the end of exit slip roads (southbound) or by traffic bunching by stupid people deciding to go from slip lane to lane 3 in one move (northbound)
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My usual suggestion.
according to Traffic England at tinyurl.com/63qams
Clicking on the yellow triangle gives
Latest report is expected to be open at 01:00 expect 90 minute delay
Switch on Roadside message signs for extra info.
As I type the red lining for the M40 from J4 to J10 has just switched to no delay data ( whatever that is suposed to mean).
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I've been stuck behind accidents before, its not nice. Good luck TOB - maybe they'll come along with some drinks soon, though i'd have thought they'd have turned you around by now.
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I'm stuck here with my laptop on the M40 North right now. Been here since 17:43 and it's now 10pm. It must be a bad one lots of police ambulance and fire engines been past.
Must be getting chilly by now. Hope you got enough fuel to keep the heater going.
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Hi AE, thanks for your kind words. I did get out in the end, by about 23:15! They didn't turn us around, we just had to wait until they could open one lane up.
I'm not too annoyed, the emergency services had a job to do and I'd hope that if it was me in that accident they'd be more worried about looking after the injured and working out what went wrong than how long the queue has been stranded for.
Luckily for me I had a sleeping bag in the boot (if only I was a bit smarter and had some chocolate and water too!) and so I was nice and cosy. There was a few who either broke down or ran out of fuel whilst waiting, I hope they were OK, as it was getting down to about 3-4 degrees outside by the time we got out.
As suggested above, some water and basic snacks handed out would have been great, although somebody has to pay for it all.. At the very least, they could put those PCSOs to some use and get them to thread round the cars on foot and make sure everyone is OK.
About 5-6 cars ahead an ambulance was called for someone on the queue. Not sure what was wrong, but I bet it wasn't helped by the long wait in those conditions.
I'm at least grateful that a) I got home safe and sound and b) it wasn't snowing or -10 or whatever!
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I think this has made me think of make sure there's some water and something to eat in the car just in case. I normally have a few coats etc in the boot so warmth should not have been an issue.
Glad you got out okay - and having been a car in an accident with an HGV it's good to see you realise you were inconvenienced and yet "lucky" you were not caught up in it.
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Absolutely. I saw the wreckage of one car and I'm amazed that nobody was killed. They must still have been in a bad way though, my troubles were nothing compared to theirs.
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I was on the m40 southbound when it flooded just past gaydon. Three hours to get to Warwick services from just past the Warwick turn where I stocked up with water and chocolate. Fortunately it was only another two hours before I could get through the flood three miles further down the road.
No need to go mad, just a bottle of water and a warm coat carried in the car is enough to keep you alive for 24 hours.
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I always keep a large bottle of still water in the car. You can drink it, wash with it, put it in the radiator or washer bottle and use it to dampen a cloth to give your lights/windows/plates a once over. A few cereal bars in a cubby hole too ( they keep for months if you forget about them )
As Rob says an old coat and maybe a hat/gloves are good things to have lurking as well. Not just if you get stranded but if you have to change a wheel or something it means you keep cleaner.
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All very good advice. Also don't drink too much water either, because it's very scary taking a pee on the hard shoulder when fire engines are bearing down on you at 60mph... ;)
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I'm stuck here with my laptop on the M40 North right now. Been here since 17:43 and it's now 10pm.
That's just beyong insane. OK, the proper emergency services are tied up rescuing people, investigating etc, but in 4+ hours why can't the Highways Agency HATO's either get people past the scene or else turn the traffic arround and get you off the motorway?
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>> I'm stuck here with my laptop on the M40 North right now. Been here since >> 17:43 and it's now 10pm.
He's not been on since then. I hope he was rescued.
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That's just beyong insane. OK the proper emergency services are tied up rescuing people investigating etc but in 4+ hours why can't the Highways Agency HATO's either get people past the scene or else turn the traffic arround and get you off the motorway?
At the incident on the M6 last week the HATOS did a sterling job getting a reverse flow organised to clear the backlog. We also took cutting torches to the central reservation and swung the traffic around. Despite still being in the process of cutting one driver out, we didn't ignore those stuck in tailbacks.
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"It is becoming really hard to work out just how much time you should leave for your journey these days"
Absolutely - you are either very early or late due to traffic/accidents. The M6 between junctions 15 and 17 are often troublesome.
I had to travel last week and decided to use the train. A colleague offered a lift back and I may have got back sooner if I had. But they avoided coming into Manchester (there were apparently holdups). And then the next morning was proof of why the train was better - a bad accident on the M6.
Having said that - the east coast mainline was badly disrupted with power lines down. So we cannot win.
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>>Having said that - the east coast mainline was badly disrupted with power lines down.
>>
Train ride on the west coast looks impressive from this view
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7784179.stm
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'Train ride on the west coast looks impressive from this view'
And would have been if a signal failure on the very first day hadn't delayed services by between 15 and 30 minutes. Reported on a newspaper website today.
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That was quite good, HK, not one I'd seen before... I like the bit where he's doing 110mph in the fog! Dream on, motorists! But it does show why we need new high speed lines in this country and not to try to convert existing lines... compare that run with a similar view from the front of a French TGV from Paris to the south of France (similar distance)... very few bends... and it'd do it in 3 minutes! ;)
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Gosh - so I picked a good night to stay with my friends in London rather than drive home. I'd have joined that queue at about 1830.
If you go back to this time last year, there are threads (some with my name in them) bewailing the state of the M40, but then it was the Buckinghamshire stretch that was causing all the trouble. There was a succession of accidents there in November and December, and I don't think it's been significantly worse this year.
Rather, I think it's a combination of roads at full capacity - everyone who has a job to drive to is driving to it in the weeks between October half-term and Christmas - and generally nasty, dark, driving conditions. Put those two factors together and it only takes one thing to go wrong for it all to snarl up badly.
Last week's southbound closure produced only one serious casualty, and I hope this one was no worse. But it's all another reason to look forward to the spring.
}:---)
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Hi,
Just thought i'd post here, I actually know the owner of that car and he has indeed made a full recovery from that accident.
I have seen the photos provided to him of his vehicle close up and its amazing how anyone could have survived that crash.
God Bless.
Mega Snipquote!!!!
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 27/05/2009 at 19:31
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