Safe Speed Forums

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/041126/140/f7dc3.html

I wonder what T2000 will make of this. Looks like somebody has been sitting down on the job.

No need for road tolls then, just get their house in order...

BTW, ramp metering is already in use in the US at peak times.

_________________
Speed camera policy Kills

they are catching up with us, then.
It's been in use on the M6 for years.

_________________
I stole this .sig

they are catching up with us, then.
It's been in use on the M6 for years.

_________________
I stole this .sig

I think there would be a few ither motorways that could use it. As it stands if there is any conjestion it rapidly breaks down into anarchy.

Maybe it will solve the problem of cars charging down the slip road then breaking at the end to a near standstill beacuse they have not looked for a gap..

London has got to be one of the worst places. They already use the hard sholder as an addtional lane when junction hopping...

I checked the T2000 web site. No mention of the report....

_________________
Speed camera policy Kills

I think it's a bit unfair to accuse the Highways Agency of lacking ideas. They have plenty of ideas, its just that the ones they do have are unrelated to reducing congestion or improving the road infrastructure.

I'm not sure of the exact wording of the mandate governing the HA, but its probably along the lines of "The Agency shall use all means at its disposal to comprehensively empty the pockets of motorists, while simultaneously working to demonise the very concept of personal transportation. The Agency must be aware at all times that its policies are required to be in line with the opinions and sentiments of Daily Mail readers, whatever those opinions may be. It is, of course, imperative that all of the monies amassed by these schemes are redirected to Her Majesty's Government's latest war/ID card scheme/architectural white elephant/pay rise. On no account should any of the funds raised be used to make even token improvements to the UK road network, except such improvements as shall add to the inconvenience and danger of motoring."

You don't have to look far to see that the HA has either implemented or influenced a large number of highly creative schemes for making motoring more interesting. Here are a few examples:

- Contraflow bus lanes (so that the biggest, most dangerous vehicles are moving in the opposite direction to everyone else).

- Concrete and steel width restrictions so narrow that even mid-sized passenger cars can't get through, but low enough so that the load-beds of juggernauts clear the top, thereby apparently negating the purpose of the restriction.

- The proliferation of road signage beyond all bounds of reason or comprehensibility. The logic seems to be, "the more hazardous the junction, the more you should give motorists to read" It is especially important that, wherever possible, signs and other "safety" related street furniture should screen major hazards from the view of drivers.

- Taking five years to complete roadworks that other countries accomplish in five weeks. This is a particularly important way of sinking enormous amounts of money into wages and equipment, while claiming to spend it on "improvements." I'm assuming it was the HA that established the requirement that every road excavation, no matter how minor, must be witnessed by five men, at least three of whom must be holding mugs of tea.

- Constantly tinker with traffic signal timings, road markings, junction layouts, speed limits and lane widths/number to cause maximum confusion. Eliminate all confusion by installing another sign saying, "We've messed with something up ahead but we're not going to tell you what it is. See if you can guess. Good luck." Then install cameras to catch as many baffled drivers as possible. Cha-ching. Count that lovely money.

- Spend millions of pounds compulsorily purchasing all the homes and businesses along the A40, then decide not to widen the road after all. Spend millions more landscaping, fencing and securing the resultant wasteland. This is also a great way to spend wads of cash while achieving precisely nothing. Someone probably got a knighthood for this one.

- Change the camber on fast bends to hurl cars off the road. Defend this policy on safety grounds: "Drivers will slow down because they know that the camber will not support high speeds." Presumably, drivers will know to do so on their SECOND visit to the bend. After being released from hospital, of course.

So let's hear no more about the Highways Agency doing nothing for the motorist. I for one, feel very done by them.

One of the best toungue in cheek posts I have ever seen.

Brilliant!

Any way to get it published? The humour alone should be enough to get someone interested.

Loved it.

And it's based on facts, who would have thought....

_________________
Ross

Yes I'm a hoon, but only on the track!!!!

The only examples of this I'm aware of are one-way streets with a contraflow bus lane on the right hand side, which strike me as being no more dangerous than a normal bidirectional single carriageway road. I can imagine it'd be more dangerous if the contraflow bus lane were on the left hand side of the road (or even inbetween the lanes), but I've yet to find any like that...




Can't quite visualise how such a restriction could block cars but not HGVs, no matter how much ground clearance there was beneath the trailer - how would the tractor unit (or even the wheels of the trailer) pass through the restriction?




On this point, I wholeheartedly agree. What's worse is that, not only does the amount of signage seem to be on the increase, but in placing new signs little or no effort appears to be made to ensure the existing signs are still visible.




Now now, let's not be politically incorrect here... I'm sure the actual HA requirements document states:

"...must be witnessed by five or more road working operatives, the majority of whom must be holding suitable containers (refer to the relevant workplace health and safety regulations for specifications and supplier details of HA approved containers) of their chosen beverage."

I take your point on the contraflow bus lanes, Twister, although I have seen some people treat them as overtaking lanes or not realise they are any different from normal ones.

Regarding the width restrictions, I was amazed to see the ones in my area (near Angel in London) had their poles chopped off within the space of a couple of days. I couldn't work out why until I saw a large delivery van go through the gap. Its wheelbase was just narrow enough to squeeze through the gap (with a little tyre squealing), while the much wider load bed cleared the top of the truncated posts. Passenger cars, whose bodywork typically extends beyond the wheelbase, run the risk of damage on the post stumps.

It doesn't happen with all cars, of course (my little Smart car whizzes through without having to slow down), but I've seen more than a few MPVs and SUVs (as our American chums like to call them) come a cropper. Not that I mind, given my conviction that such vehicles are the work of Satan himself. I was far more upset when I saw a Ferrari F360 rip its front spoiler off on a speedhump. Ouch.

Some people simply shouldn't be allowed behind the wheel of a motor vehicle... what do they think the thick solid white line along the edge of the lane, and the bright red coating within the lane itself, mean? I've not yet seen any contraflow bus lane which wasn't very clearly marked up as a bus lane, so I have very little sympathy for any numpty who is capable of mistaking it as a normal lane. I have even less sympathy (yes, that means we're getting into negative sympathy ) for a driver who, realising exactly what the lane is, still decides to use it to jump the queue ahead of them Why not just drive along the pavement if you want to save a few seconds...



...oh, hang on, some of the numpty elite do that already




Ah, OK, I was thinking about HGVs rather than vans, now the picture starts to become clearer

Sorry, my mistake. I used a bit of artistic licence referring to them as HGVs.

One of the problems with our increasingly creative use of road markings is that, particularly in London, there are a lot of foreign tourists in rental cars on the roads. Not only are these people trying to learn how to drive on the correct side of the road, they're also trying to figure out what all the crazy-paving and swirling lines mean.

The problem is particularly acute near Heathrow and, presumably, other airports around the country. I've seen cars heading the wrong way around roundabouts on numerous occasions. I've even watched a couple on the wrong carriageway of the A4 (why does it always seem to be EasyCars?). Multiply this by the hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors who rent cars, and its a significant problem.

If people can make these kinds of basic errors on supposedly clearly marked major roads, its easy to see how they can get completely baffled by bus lanes and traffic calming schemes. Sure, they shouldn't be on the road, but I don't think there's any way to keep them off short of administering a driving test to every rental customer.

I suppose this reveals my personal conviction that the best way of improving road safety is by simplyfing the experience of driving. Clear and intuitive road/junction layouts, minimal signage, high quality road surfaces, mandatory road safety testing for cyclists and other non-licenced road users, a reversal of the presumption that the motorist is always wrong until proven otherwise; these would help to reduce the variability that makes our roads hazardous, without removing the enjoyment of driving.

Telford town centre has a clockwise gyrometric system around the shopping precinct. A couple of years ago some wag decided that the buses would flow a lot more smoothly if the bus lane were switched to permit buses to travel anit-clockwise around some of it.

Result?

A load of accidents at near misses at a carpark exit where folks were looking left at cars coming around the one way system, only to collide with a ruddy great bus coming from their right.