A34 - 4 dead tonight
Discussion
Four cars and four lorries crash on the A34 tonight leaving 4 dead, 1 seriously injured and many more injured. A chap has need arrested under suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.
The junction where this happened is one south from my house. A helicopter and emergency services en mass.
The A34 is a densely populated and outdated stretch or road that needs some work to make it safer, I wouldn't mind 50 mph limits past the various junctions along the rout, some are very short, too short for a 70mph road. Every week it's closed due to collisions sadly tonight's news is horrific.
I'm also in Abingdon, there was a shunt southbound this morning at the same place and my wife and 10 week old were stuck in it for 3+ hours this evening. The A34 hasn't been fit for purpose for a long time with that volume of traffic and no hard shoulder.
Horrible accident and thoughts with all those involved, but I doubt it will be long before another incident on that stretch.
Horrible accident and thoughts with all those involved, but I doubt it will be long before another incident on that stretch.
I worked in Compton for a while and used the junctions at East Ilsley regularly. They are really dangerous, even by the standards of the A34. The northbound entry slip is dangerously short but relatively well sighted. The southbound one is longer, but you approach the A34 at an angle and can't see the road surface ahead or behind (even the end of the slip lane) at the point where you need to start checking traffic coming down the hill from behind. The end of the slip curves left, and if you didn't know that you could very easily find yourself in the outside lane whilst checking over your shoulder for traffic.
IMHO you needed to approach at 40-50mph in third and be prepared to either floor the throttle or brake as appropriate, whilst checking both ahead and over your shoulder. The window to make a decision is probably one or two seconds, then you need to negotiate the bend whilst accelerating hard and preparing to merge. I was amazed that inexperienced drivers in gutless cars weren't wiped out regularly.
IMHO you needed to approach at 40-50mph in third and be prepared to either floor the throttle or brake as appropriate, whilst checking both ahead and over your shoulder. The window to make a decision is probably one or two seconds, then you need to negotiate the bend whilst accelerating hard and preparing to merge. I was amazed that inexperienced drivers in gutless cars weren't wiped out regularly.
I used to commute ( Monday up Thursday back) j11 m4 to Solihull for 4 years. A34 was always a mess. I was once stuck mid winter for 4 hours as they had to resurface.
I also used to live in Newbury (90-96) 100m from a34 and always had stupid congestion caused by the ( pre dualing) south of Newbury.
It's always been a mare. Not sure what the answer is. There is simply too much traffic.
I also used to live in Newbury (90-96) 100m from a34 and always had stupid congestion caused by the ( pre dualing) south of Newbury.
It's always been a mare. Not sure what the answer is. There is simply too much traffic.
The answer is to add a third lane and a hard shoulder and make it into the M34. Won't happen though due to funding and a vast amount of local opposition. Look at the protests when they built it in the first place.
It's horrific bit of road, I drive it regularly from J13, both north and southbound. North bound is worse, south isn't too bad toward the M3.
It's horrific bit of road, I drive it regularly from J13, both north and southbound. North bound is worse, south isn't too bad toward the M3.
I mostly turned left at the M4 heading down the road to Newbury, but I've often used the A34 going to see rellies in Didcot.
Never struck me as overly dangerous, but the area does suffer from the disease of "loon doing 90 on a rather crowded road" very badly. I have no problem with people doing 90 (or more) but they need to be doing it when the road is clear and they have enough room to stop. Idiots playing tailgating games will come to grief on this road very quickly.
Usual example. You're joining at one of those badly sighted junctions. L1 has cars in it, L2 has loons in it doing 90. The Loons don't anticipate that a big line of traffic joining the road is likely to disturb L1 and that they're probably going to have people doing 60 pulling out because there is nowhere to go. Cue emergency stops and people driving up the embankment because it is the only place to go ( I saw that once).
It doesn't need 50 limits, it needs more enforcement focus on people driving like t
ts .. so that will never happen.
Never struck me as overly dangerous, but the area does suffer from the disease of "loon doing 90 on a rather crowded road" very badly. I have no problem with people doing 90 (or more) but they need to be doing it when the road is clear and they have enough room to stop. Idiots playing tailgating games will come to grief on this road very quickly.
Usual example. You're joining at one of those badly sighted junctions. L1 has cars in it, L2 has loons in it doing 90. The Loons don't anticipate that a big line of traffic joining the road is likely to disturb L1 and that they're probably going to have people doing 60 pulling out because there is nowhere to go. Cue emergency stops and people driving up the embankment because it is the only place to go ( I saw that once).
It doesn't need 50 limits, it needs more enforcement focus on people driving like t
ts .. so that will never happen.South of the M4, it is okay. Commuted it for a while now, and never seen anything terrible but north of the M4 is where it gets bad. Some of the slip roads are ones that require redlining in second to even hope to match the speed of traffic. Not to mention it is the route to the north for many. Sad to hear about all the same and I would say that more police patrols are needed in the area to deter dangerous drivers.
Not a dangerous road perse, but plenty to catch you out
Some of the slip roads are bloody short with tight bends, fine for a sensible experienced driver but when I was an idiot in my younger days I almost got caught out! My father said the same as well.
Also when heading North and turning off at newbury you have to brake a fair bit before entering the slip as it goes to a sharp right straightaway, i've had cars and lorries take real exception to this and almost ram me off the road!! Its not like I had pushed into the inside lane to turn off either.
The central barrier doesnt seem strong enough either as a Corsa crashed through it and killed a driver in a 1 series on the other carriageway a few weeks back
Some of the slip roads are bloody short with tight bends, fine for a sensible experienced driver but when I was an idiot in my younger days I almost got caught out! My father said the same as well.
Also when heading North and turning off at newbury you have to brake a fair bit before entering the slip as it goes to a sharp right straightaway, i've had cars and lorries take real exception to this and almost ram me off the road!! Its not like I had pushed into the inside lane to turn off either.
The central barrier doesnt seem strong enough either as a Corsa crashed through it and killed a driver in a 1 series on the other carriageway a few weeks back
I passed the accident shortly after it had occurred heading south (there was already a tailback going Southbound by folk rubber necking). It was an odd one as I saw a lorry at the front of the accident with no damage (that I could see whilst crawling past in the traffic). As went further down it looked like some cars got sandwiched between the lorries and my OH thought she saw another off the road. All in all a pretty nasty situation to be in.
I must live close to OP, as I commute from the Chilton junction -> Newbury daily, and agree the A34 is dangerous in places. The exit from Chilton to SB is poorly sighted and they've let the grass grow too long making it worse. The Beedon junction northbound is just mental as well. Short joining lane after a blind bend. My OH is working in east ilsley, and she's already said she won't use the northbound junction there as it's an accident waiting to happen.
I must live close to OP, as I commute from the Chilton junction -> Newbury daily, and agree the A34 is dangerous in places. The exit from Chilton to SB is poorly sighted and they've let the grass grow too long making it worse. The Beedon junction northbound is just mental as well. Short joining lane after a blind bend. My OH is working in east ilsley, and she's already said she won't use the northbound junction there as it's an accident waiting to happen.
TwistingMyMelon said:
Not a dangerous road perse, but plenty to catch you out
Some of the slip roads are bloody short with tight bends, fine for a sensible experienced driver but when I was an idiot in my younger days I almost got caught out! My father said the same as well.
Also when heading North and turning off at newbury you have to brake a fair bit before entering the slip as it goes to a sharp right straightaway, i've had cars and lorries take real exception to this and almost ram me off the road!! Its not like I had pushed into the inside lane to turn off either.
The central barrier doesnt seem strong enough either as a Corsa crashed through it and killed a driver in a 1 series on the other carriageway a few weeks back
Yup! It's a bit weak! I live in Newbury and it's usually queued up in one direction or another!Some of the slip roads are bloody short with tight bends, fine for a sensible experienced driver but when I was an idiot in my younger days I almost got caught out! My father said the same as well.
Also when heading North and turning off at newbury you have to brake a fair bit before entering the slip as it goes to a sharp right straightaway, i've had cars and lorries take real exception to this and almost ram me off the road!! Its not like I had pushed into the inside lane to turn off either.
The central barrier doesnt seem strong enough either as a Corsa crashed through it and killed a driver in a 1 series on the other carriageway a few weeks back
The biggest problem as you have said, is insufficient slip roads, combined with overly cautious/hesitant drivers. I have witnessed first hand people who are joining at East Ilsley heading Southbound, it's plenty long enough to get up to speed - People actually STOP at the end of the slip road waiting to join where they could have easily pulled out if they used more than 5% throttle.
I don't think 50mph limits would solve the problem. They would just be ignored, even with camera enforcement. The only way would be average speed cameras over certain stretches but I do not feel this would be welcomed by the general population (people don't like being monitored after all).
I think a variable speed limit depending on time would be good, between say 7:30am and 9am, and 5pm and 6:30pm. But only for certain junctions.
Ideally it needs to be 3 lane for pretty much it's entirety but that simply won't happen for much of it. There was already enough of a fuss when the A34 was originally built, it's much more than a Newbury Bypass now, it's a major trunk road linking Southampton and the Midlands.
All to frequently I see heavies pulling out on cars in dangerous ways around the hills and drivers pulling out from the uphill sliproads into the path of heavies. Almost every time I use the road I see a near miss.
I would put a bet on it involved an owner driver container lorry who appear to be the worst culprits
I would put a bet on it involved an owner driver container lorry who appear to be the worst culprits
xjay1337 said:
TwistingMyMelon said:
Not a dangerous road perse, but plenty to catch you out
Some of the slip roads are bloody short with tight bends, fine for a sensible experienced driver but when I was an idiot in my younger days I almost got caught out! My father said the same as well.
Also when heading North and turning off at newbury you have to brake a fair bit before entering the slip as it goes to a sharp right straightaway, i've had cars and lorries take real exception to this and almost ram me off the road!! Its not like I had pushed into the inside lane to turn off either.
The central barrier doesnt seem strong enough either as a Corsa crashed through it and killed a driver in a 1 series on the other carriageway a few weeks back
Yup! It's a bit weak! I live in Newbury and it's usually queued up in one direction or another!Some of the slip roads are bloody short with tight bends, fine for a sensible experienced driver but when I was an idiot in my younger days I almost got caught out! My father said the same as well.
Also when heading North and turning off at newbury you have to brake a fair bit before entering the slip as it goes to a sharp right straightaway, i've had cars and lorries take real exception to this and almost ram me off the road!! Its not like I had pushed into the inside lane to turn off either.
The central barrier doesnt seem strong enough either as a Corsa crashed through it and killed a driver in a 1 series on the other carriageway a few weeks back
The biggest problem as you have said, is insufficient slip roads, combined with overly cautious/hesitant drivers. I have witnessed first hand people who are joining at East Ilsley heading Southbound, it's plenty long enough to get up to speed - People actually STOP at the end of the slip road waiting to join where they could have easily pulled out if they used more than 5% throttle.
I don't think 50mph limits would solve the problem. They would just be ignored, even with camera enforcement. The only way would be average speed cameras over certain stretches but I do not feel this would be welcomed by the general population (people don't like being monitored after all).
I think a variable speed limit depending on time would be good, between say 7:30am and 9am, and 5pm and 6:30pm. But only for certain junctions.
Ideally it needs to be 3 lane for pretty much it's entirety but that simply won't happen for much of it. There was already enough of a fuss when the A34 was originally built, it's much more than a Newbury Bypass now, it's a major trunk road linking Southampton and the Midlands.
Also around this time of year I often see tractors on there which creates issues as well (im not saying they shouldnt use it)
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