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PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2013 18:22 
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Location: Stockport, Cheshire
The 50mph limit and SPECS cameras have obviously been a resounding success:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-24717857

Quote:
A Peak District road has once again been named Britain's most dangerous, despite efforts to combat drivers' "racetrack mentality" on the route.

The A537 between Macclesfield, Cheshire, and Buxton, Derbyshire, known locally as The Cat and Fiddle, features severe bends and steep drops.

The Road Safety Foundation charity report compared accident rates with the amount of traffic using the road.

It also found many of the crashes involved motorcyclists.

The reports began in 2002 and since then the A537 has been top in eight out of 12 reports.

There were 44 serious or fatal crashes on the seven-mile (12km) stretch of road between 2007 and 2011. Between 2002 and 2006, there were 35.

I am not usually a supporter of the argument that "there are no bad roads, only bad drivers" but I think this is a case where the psychology of a subset of road users is the main cause of the high accident rate, and more intensive and high-profile police enforcement is probably the only answer.

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed


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PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2013 23:04 
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Location: Treacletown ( just north of M6 J3),A MILE OR TWO PAST BEDROCK
Peter- I'm only referring to the :50: and SPECS and Bad roads. Then locally we've got ( but not on the same scale, but using the same "road safety ideas" ) , the A5/A444 redgate junction . :40: now from NSL. Cameras set to detect HGV over limit and the one side DC marked out to look as SC. Still dangerous. Then there's the revamped A45 /A445 junction . No limit drop or cameras made it safe before the makeover( ABD have a piece on this). Now safe enough IMHO for a learner to negotiate.
Then again another idea- is there any data on when this road started to get into the most dangerous category. I'm thinking of if it got there as other routes got auto enforcement .Sort of reverse rat run route. COULD it be possible that AUTO enforcement pushed the thrill seekers onto this already dangerous road to avoid the other heavily camera'd routes?

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PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2013 23:06 
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Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2005 18:54
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Location: Cumbria
I thought the Cat & Fiddle was largely covered by SPECS cameras now?


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PostPosted: Fri Nov 01, 2013 12:01 
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But now they have specs all over it it makes me want to get a ticket on purpose as that would be a real achievement...:twisted:

That road will NEVER be a safe road. You have a highly twisty and demanding route which has mixed traffic of HGVs, mimsing sight seers, motorcyclists and commuters. The road itself is full of hair pin bends and straights and for anyone that has always stuck with sweepy A roads or pootled along in town traffic they're going to have a rude awakening. You actually have to be a reasonable driver to actually get from one end to the other without either holding everyone up by doing 20mph on the bendy bits or falling off by going to quickly and being caught out by the same bendy bits. It is the kind of road that does demand driving experience to drive safely and reasonably.

The other moderately tricky road is the A534 out of Nantwich. That is another with lots of twisty bits. It's nowhere near the Cat and Fiddle as it doesn't have the hills as well.


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