More collisions today
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Discussion

deeps

Original Poster:

5,432 posts

271 months

Friday 17th November 2006
quotequote all
On the M4 between jncts 16 Swindon and 17 Chippenham, the usuall place. Long tailbacks, air ambulance attended. Did anyone see the Wilts speed camera van on one of the bridges early afternoon?

Also long tailbacks on the M5 between jncts 19 and 20, the usuall place where the fourth lane dissapears to merge back into the third.
Three vehicles collided at that point. How many more before they change this crazy design?!

DennisTheMenace

15,605 posts

298 months

Friday 17th November 2006
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God knows , its a recipe for disaster , on the A30 from wilton then onto the b3089 to dinton , some complete tt had spilt diesel all over the road and then in a huge line all the way to dinton , some girl had spun on it and ended up in the hedge , was tempted to follow the line and find the driver then punch git .

J500ANT

3,103 posts

269 months

Friday 17th November 2006
quotequote all
deeps said:
On the M4 between jncts 16 Swindon and 17 Chippenham, the usuall place. Long tailbacks, air ambulance attended. Did anyone see the Wilts speed camera van on one of the bridges early afternoon?
No, cos it was an ANPR van, however that didnt stop the planks emergency braking when they saw it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wi I saw that, the van was virtually flattened bar the cab. Not good (as was the BITS tyre van who refused to shift from the outside lane for the Lexus plodcar)

chris1roll

2,068 posts

274 months

Saturday 18th November 2006
quotequote all
deeps said:

Also long tailbacks on the M5 between jncts 19 and 20, the usuall place where the fourth lane dissapears to merge back into the third.
Three vehicles collided at that point. How many more before they change this crazy design?!


Every time I drive through there I can't cease to be amazed at the sheer stupidity of the person who designed that. Why on earth did they not make lane 1 merge with lane 2?

allaway

353 posts

252 months

Saturday 18th November 2006
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Did the accident occur because of poor road design or because drivers are not paying to signs or markings saying their lane was about to end? Or because no one is prepared to give way? If lane 1 & 2 merge there could be accidents there instead.

Dino D

1,953 posts

251 months

Saturday 18th November 2006
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allaway said:
drivers are not paying to signs or markings saying their lane was about to end?

no one is prepared to give way?


Yes to both.

Pay attention and no need to panic brake.
Leve enough room between cars and evryone can just filter nicely into one lane.

No problems.

So simple.

twister

1,592 posts

266 months

Saturday 18th November 2006
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allaway said:
If lane 1 & 2 merge there could be accidents there instead.


Could be, but in my experience having lane 1 disappear (either by merging with L2, or by forming the next off-slip) is far more common than having lane 3/4/whatever disappear, so methinks the average driver is more likely to be able to cope with the former situation than with the latter. Also, if you're going to force two lanes of traffic to merge, wouldn't it be better to do so with the two lanes which are more likely to be travelling the slowest?

chris1roll

2,068 posts

274 months

Saturday 18th November 2006
quotequote all
Absolutely, you're less likely to get accidents caused by people joining from a slip road, so they should have made lane 1 become the "slip road" and lane 2 become lane 1. 55mph lorry traffic etc can merge with the new lane 1, just as they do at motorway junctions up and down the country.

Instead what we have is 90+mph traffic having to merge into slower traffic travelling at 80 mph on their "blind side" which is asking for trouble - for example its much easier to see things with a quick shoulder check looking to the right than to the left (in a RHD car).