Safe Speed Forums

The campaign for genuine road safety
It is currently Fri Mar 29, 2024 06:14

All times are UTC [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 6 posts ] 
Author Message
 Post subject: Rural road accident
PostPosted: Sat Jul 28, 2012 22:46 
Offline
User

Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2005 20:19
Posts: 306
Location: Crewe
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


Top
 Profile Send private message  
 
 Post subject: Re: Rural road accident
PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2012 14:27 
Offline
Member
Member

Joined: Fri Oct 26, 2007 19:08
Posts: 3434
Sounds about right...no warning signs, no signs ordering you to do a set lower speed...what on earth could possibly go wrong? Why would I need to drive alert? If I read the signs and stick to the limits what else do I need to do?...Nothing surely!....as if!

_________________
My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.


Top
 Profile Send private message  
 
 Post subject: Re: Rural road accident
PostPosted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 16:31 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 02:17
Posts: 7355
Location: Highlands
Certainly I agree that the exiting car did not exit carefully enough. The range rover motorist must have had some indication of the exit, even as you say, it was as a driveway. Although he might have been 'on it' before realising, the car itself must have been much more obvious however.
If I understand you correctly the exits are near a corner, so the old adage of 'slow in fast out' would have helped here. A slow entry speed, helps the car becomes visible, a fraction earlier, and the brakes applied or off the throttle, would likely have prevented another's error from becoming an 'accident'. It sounds like it would have been avoided had the range rover been paying good attention and anticipated upon best observation, and then and of course had the exiting car done so with great care not made the mistake of pulling out 'into' the path of another.

I do think that far too much responsibility is being taken away from the motorist with all the signage commands and guides, as well as road marking expectations, but whether that contributed to this accident would need to be investigated. It might have been an a pillar SMIDSY - from one or both sides too...

_________________
Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.


Top
 Profile Send private message  
 
 Post subject: Re: Rural road accident
PostPosted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 21:46 
Offline
User

Joined: Sun Dec 07, 2008 19:11
Posts: 172
Location: Southampton
Of course there is another factor which may come in here. Because most driving tests take place in towns much of the practicing is carried out in urban areas, thus the skills needed for rural roads are often sadly missing. How many learners know of the vanishing point when approaching a bend, the correct use of dipped and main beam for headlights at night or the constant questioning of "what if"?


Last edited by whynot on Wed Aug 08, 2012 21:54, edited 1 time in total.

Top
 Profile Send private message  
 
 Post subject: Re: Rural road accident
PostPosted: Mon Aug 06, 2012 13:07 
Offline
Gold Member
Gold Member

Joined: Fri Sep 24, 2004 23:26
Posts: 9263
Location: Treacletown ( just north of M6 J3),A MILE OR TWO PAST BEDROCK
I'd suggest that if "what if" replaced cameras, we'd see a lot safer roads. I passed my test in Glasgow and then after the test was subject to my uncles tuition. Many a time I looked upwards and blessed him. On single track roads with few passing places, last thing you want to meet is a fully laden fish truck on the wrong side of the road and nowhere to go. ( not strictly true - always the ditch, or half way down a hillside ,or an early bath in the loch). Strangely I notice my daughter doing the same things, after she passed her CBT, helped by now SIL.Till I came on here, I'd not thought about COAST .It was only when I saw a post on it that I recognised the principles my old uncle taught me. Something else not thought about is that in a convoy, lifting off when head of the queue brakes can save braking. But beware , if car in front has TDI in the bootlid- ( something I'm sure others will back up) --weasels brake a tad more efficiently on the engine than those on petrol.

_________________
lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on


Top
 Profile Send private message  
 
 Post subject: Re: Rural road accident
PostPosted: Sun Aug 12, 2012 13:21 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 02:17
Posts: 7355
Location: Highlands
safedriver wrote:
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.
The highest risk of the random chance accident occurring is during rush hour when traffic volume is at its' most dense. Although per million miles travelled A roads stand a higher 'chance' of an accident occurring than motorways, it does not mean that just because it is an 'A' road you are more likely to therefore crash.
Certainly the link that you make with conurbations (higher density) with nearby A roads might present a slightly higher chance of more dense & a greater volume of traffic, at certain times. :lol:

_________________
Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.


Top
 Profile Send private message  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 6 posts ] 

All times are UTC [ DST ]


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 29 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You can post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
cron
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group
[ Time : 0.021s | 15 Queries | GZIP : Off ]