I recently posted a contribution regarding speeds and accidents on rural roads, and my perception that rural roads near conurbations present the most risk of random accidents.
Anyway, yesterday, (Friday), my wife and I had a little pootle in our VW New Beetle around our rural lanes in Staffordshire. Now virtually all those we went along were NSL, with the ocasional 40 mph, and 30 mph in villages. But you wouldn't want to do even 45 along almost all of their length. This was real OS 1:50000 stuff, stopping ocasionally to get our bearings and to look at the map. Anyway, getting a bit tired of map reading, I decided to return home using rural roads I was well familiar with. So it was that we were approaching Keele in Staffordshire from the south, (the University is there, and I know it very well). This unclassified NSL road comes up from the south from the A53 at Whitmore, and I have driven along it many times. This road, unlike the ones we had been on earlier, gets quite busy at peak times, and one can also work up to 50 mph in places. On getting well within a mile of Keele, but before its 30 mph boards, the road crosses over the M6, and there are two exits from the Keele services. Now as we all know, these "exits" are there only for authorised vehicles, not the general public. These particular exits (also entrances), are closed off by rising bollards. Anyway, I slowed down for the bend on approach to cross the M6 bridge, and then noted a car stopped ahead, and then saw the crashed vehicles. Y'know, I immediately thought "how can you possibly have an accident here ?". Anyway, I stopped and walked up to find a Range Rover, and, (I think) a Ford Focus had collided. From what I could see, there were no serious injuries. Anyway, I repeated my thought as a question to a passenger from the Range Rover. His friend, who I assumed was the driver, said "he just came straight out in front of me". Unfortunately, I couldn't speak to the driver of the Focus, who seemed in a bit of a dazed state, (the police and ambulance had not yet arrived). The Focus had been coming out of the exit from the southbound services.
So one does ask oneself how this accident could have happened. From what I could see, it looked like a fairly low speed accident, probably around 35 mph, certainly not high-speed. Afterwards, I asked myself what could have been done to prevent it. One clear thing was that there is nothing to warn a driver of the entrances, no junction signs, (they aren't junctions), or anything at all except a notice visible on turning in to the service warning of unauthorised entry but not visible on approach. These exits/entrances from Keele M6 Services are, in essence, just private entrance/exits, but in this case to the service area used by the public coming off the motorway. You would expect the exit users to be authorised, and thus familiar with the exits and to take care exiting them. Was this an example of Friday afternoon driving, when so many drivers seem to only see their front door through the windscreen ?
Anyway, was excessive speed the issue ? I think not, however one thing, though, did ring bells. The location is rural, but within about 2 1/2 miles of Newcastle-under-Lyme. The parties were clearly from the Potteries area. I do sometimes think that urban drivers, spending most of their time in town, have no sense of risk when on country roads. In town they are almost told how to drive by signs, traffic and other lights, road markings etc, prescribing every movement, they have lost their skill at actually driving.
_________________ Good manners maketh a good motorist
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