Signs for loose chippings / resurfaced road
Discussion
Not sure about the 'legal requirement' bit but the work is usually done by contractors who erect those 'ikkle' 20mph speed limit warning triangles showing LOOSE CHIPPINGS at the side of the road that is/has been resurfaced.
A road near me has just undergone this treatment and signs were placed prior to the start of the works and repeaters every 50 metres or so throughout its length in both directions.
Depending on the weather chippings can be swept up as soon as the bitumen base has set and until this time motorists should be abiding by the speed limit signs in order to minimise any damage the chippings may cause to your car by them being 'kicked up' as you drive over them or traction problems experienced on the loose surface until the road has been swept.
Of course there are always one or two numptys who don't see or bother obeying such road signs and travel at the normal speed for the untreated road. They either end up in a ditch(or worse) having lost traction and skidded or pepper other peoples' cars with chippings as they speed on through oblivious to any damage their idiocy causes.
A road near me has just undergone this treatment and signs were placed prior to the start of the works and repeaters every 50 metres or so throughout its length in both directions.
Depending on the weather chippings can be swept up as soon as the bitumen base has set and until this time motorists should be abiding by the speed limit signs in order to minimise any damage the chippings may cause to your car by them being 'kicked up' as you drive over them or traction problems experienced on the loose surface until the road has been swept.
Of course there are always one or two numptys who don't see or bother obeying such road signs and travel at the normal speed for the untreated road. They either end up in a ditch(or worse) having lost traction and skidded or pepper other peoples' cars with chippings as they speed on through oblivious to any damage their idiocy causes.
Edited by oldsoak on Saturday 7th July 09:15
Edited by oldsoak on Saturday 7th July 09:20
The other side of the coin is where long sections of road have been done in rural areas, all the loose chippings have gone, but the signs have been left up.
Are you really going to crawl along the whole section at 20 mph ? I know I don't. As always is comes down to discretion and driving at the appropriate speed for the conditions.
Are you really going to crawl along the whole section at 20 mph ? I know I don't. As always is comes down to discretion and driving at the appropriate speed for the conditions.
gshughes said:
The other side of the coin is where long sections of road have been done in rural areas, all the loose chippings have gone, but the signs have been left up.
Are you really going to crawl along the whole section at 20 mph ? I know I don't. As always is comes down to discretion and driving at the appropriate speed for the conditions.
lets turn this into a three headed coin then...have you watched these 'sweepers'?Are you really going to crawl along the whole section at 20 mph ? I know I don't. As always is comes down to discretion and driving at the appropriate speed for the conditions.
I have and they leave quite a lot of loose stuff behind especially at the un-kerbed road edges on rural roads...
Suppose you think those 20mph signs are a forgotten bit of kit from the contractor and you tram down a recently resurfaced road at the normal speed and some of the chippings you kick up smash someone's windscreen (apart from sandblasting your wheel arches and sills etc. on their way to the glass)
Who would be at fault?
1. The contractor for leaving the signs out when there was still an obvious danger of chippings being dislodged?
2. The other driver for being so ignorant as to be travelling in the opposite direction whilst you drove to what you thought was an "appropriate speed for the conditions"?
3 You for ignoring the signs?
4.The L/A for resurfacing the road in the first place?
Edit to pander to the silly formatting requirements the site wants....
Edited by oldsoak on Saturday 7th July 11:36
Thanks, the only reason I ask is that I dumped my bike last night, council had resurfaced the road on a bend the same day and left the little tiny signs up, but at 11pm at night it's dark, a bike headlight doesn't light these things up until it's too late - by then I was in the corner, on the gravel and it's probably a write off.
Sorry to hear about your mishap BR, but do the road surfacing contractors actually remove surplus chippings after they've carried out this cheap and nasty 'surface dressing' process? I don't think I've ever seen that done.
My impression has always been that they apply too many chippings in the first place, they don't roll them in properly, and they leave the traffic to complete the process.
It really is an abysmal way to refurbish a road, and even when it's settled down the result is a rough and noisy surface to drive on, with the continuing potential for people having trouble on the marbles (as Martin Brundle would say) and it doesn't seem to last long either. All things considered I wonder if it wouldn't be better to put down a decent quality surface in the first place.
Even if that costs a bit more it would be a better policy than wasting so much money on so-called traffic calming measures, rumble strips, excessive road painting schemes etc. In our area we've now got numerous places where the road has big red patches with SLOW painted on them, sometimes three times all within a 100 yard stretch. After a longish period where North Yorkshire County Council seemed to be fairly sensibly about this, they now seem to have taken leave of their senses. There's reduced speed limits, extravagent applications of high grip surface, a load more signs (for people to crash into instead of looking what they're doing) and it's getting ridiculous.
....and the less said about Scarborough Borough Council and their cycle lanes the better. Even if there was a coherent plan it would still be largely a waste of time and money. It's all bits and pieces that don't look like being of any help to anybody; for one thing there aren't that many cyclists about to benefit from it anyhow.
Best wishes all,
Dave.
My impression has always been that they apply too many chippings in the first place, they don't roll them in properly, and they leave the traffic to complete the process.
It really is an abysmal way to refurbish a road, and even when it's settled down the result is a rough and noisy surface to drive on, with the continuing potential for people having trouble on the marbles (as Martin Brundle would say) and it doesn't seem to last long either. All things considered I wonder if it wouldn't be better to put down a decent quality surface in the first place.
Even if that costs a bit more it would be a better policy than wasting so much money on so-called traffic calming measures, rumble strips, excessive road painting schemes etc. In our area we've now got numerous places where the road has big red patches with SLOW painted on them, sometimes three times all within a 100 yard stretch. After a longish period where North Yorkshire County Council seemed to be fairly sensibly about this, they now seem to have taken leave of their senses. There's reduced speed limits, extravagent applications of high grip surface, a load more signs (for people to crash into instead of looking what they're doing) and it's getting ridiculous.
....and the less said about Scarborough Borough Council and their cycle lanes the better. Even if there was a coherent plan it would still be largely a waste of time and money. It's all bits and pieces that don't look like being of any help to anybody; for one thing there aren't that many cyclists about to benefit from it anyhow.
Best wishes all,
Dave.
Busa_Rush said:
Thanks, the only reason I ask is that I dumped my bike last night, council had resurfaced the road on a bend the same day and left the little tiny signs up, but at 11pm at night it's dark, a bike headlight doesn't light these things up until it's too late - by then I was in the corner, on the gravel and it's probably a write off.
Sorry about that...but to be brutally honest, sat on a crotch rocket and feeling the road surface to be loose (as you would) before hitting the corner,it's time to get your centre of gravity central on the bike, slow down and use the crown of the tyres taking corners slow high and wide rather than canting it over as you would normally. Less likelihood of contracting gravel rash that way should you lose traction.Loose chippings and motorcycles really don't mix and it's about time L/A's used something else.
Thanks SSS, I agree, it's a crap way to treat a road, the council is really just pretending that they are doing a good job.
Oldsoak, the resurfacing was on a bend at the end of a 1/3rd mile nsl straight, the new surface started maybe 10 yards before the bend and the first sign was 2 feet inside the new surface so by the time you can see it and feel it you've pretty much chosen your corner speed and trying to slow down on loose chippings is pretty difficult.
Oldsoak, the resurfacing was on a bend at the end of a 1/3rd mile nsl straight, the new surface started maybe 10 yards before the bend and the first sign was 2 feet inside the new surface so by the time you can see it and feel it you've pretty much chosen your corner speed and trying to slow down on loose chippings is pretty difficult.
Busa_Rush said:
Oldsoak, the resurfacing was on a bend at the end of a 1/3rd mile nsl straight, the new surface started maybe 10 yards before the bend and the first sign was 2 feet inside the new surface so by the time you can see it and feel it you've pretty much chosen your corner speed and trying to slow down on loose chippings is pretty difficult.
I see, my apologies for perhaps inferring you had more time to slow down than you obviously had...If that is indeed the case, I would have taken some pics of the incriminating evidence (the sign inside the start of the resurfacing) and set off on the road to claim compo from the L/A...Forums | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff