A traffic officer killed on duty
Discussion
oyster said:
Given the hundreds of cars I see each week who pile on recklessly through red X's on the M25 I'm surprised there aren't more such horrible tragedies.
But I guess a few deaths are ok so long as these folks all get home in time for tea eh?
There's another angle to view. Signs are frequently unnecessary and this is bound to lead to drivers ignoring them. But I guess a few deaths are ok so long as these folks all get home in time for tea eh?
Digga said:
Blakewater said:
I know I keep going on about it but this is why I don't like the idea of smart motorways and the hard shoulder being taken away. If your disabled car can make it to a refuge area it can probably make it off the motorway but there will always be people who get stuck between refuge areas and can't carry on. It only takes one idiot to disregard a red X denoting a lane closure to pile into the back of the stationary vehicle.
I know what you're saying but having been stranded on a hard shoulder twice (most meorable being a blown turbo on an Isuzu Trooper which fogged-out both carriageways on the M42) I'm not really sure it's that much safer. These euro
truckers, drifting along, watching telly/wking/on their phones/making a pot of coffee will regularly drift well onto the hard shoulder without any thought and the advice to GTF out of your vehicle is a very good one.I personally think the camera system needs diverting from the easy but ultimately unproductive task of penalising minor speed infringements to actually capturing proof of driver inattentiveness and strongly prosecuting it.
http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news...
Blakewater said:
Is that a 24 hour hard shoulderless section?I can't believe they've done this on the M1, north of Barnsley, four lanes and no hard shoulder, soon to be launched further south near Sheffield.
I guess it won't be very expensive to convert it to a conventional part time hard shouder/fourth lane.
Just takes a few more more deaths for the Highways Agency to sit up and take notice.
Whoever authorised this idiocy needs stringing up.
speedyguy said:
Post incident bulletin
http://www.highways.gov.uk/traffic-information/tra...
I couldn't believe my eyes travelling back past 37 to 38 yesterday eve to see an old couple in an Audi who had stopped and parked on the hard shoulder and had let their dog out on the grass bank by the motorway, just unreal, especially under the circumstances of the accident so recently. This was about 2 miles south of Tebay looking over Lowgill viaduct.http://www.highways.gov.uk/traffic-information/tra...
Mandown46 said:
Its a damn shame, people just do not realise how dangerous the motorways can be.
Also worth remembering that the only HETO's killed or seriously injured at work have all been on the hard shoulder, not a safe place.RIP.
mybrainhurts said:
When HATOs are parked up at an incident, aren't they required to have a spotter constantly watching approaching traffic?
The mybrainhurts said:
When HATOs are parked up at an incident, aren't they required to have a spotter constantly watching approaching traffic?
They are, but eye witnesses say it happened so fast, no-one had time to react! Plus where the incident occurred, there was nowhere to go due to a rocky outcrop and barrier.
baldy1926 said:
The sh*t driving on dashcam thread has footage of another hato who was very close to being killed on the 30/01/16. He was very lucky.
There is also this one taken from the onboard camera!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABuVWdmYFno
mybrainhurts said:
oyster said:
Given the hundreds of cars I see each week who pile on recklessly through red X's on the M25 I'm surprised there aren't more such horrible tragedies.
But I guess a few deaths are ok so long as these folks all get home in time for tea eh?
There's another angle to view. Signs are frequently unnecessary and this is bound to lead to drivers ignoring them. But I guess a few deaths are ok so long as these folks all get home in time for tea eh?
Ignoring a warning because the previous warning was unnecessary is very immature.
Irrelevant or spurious signage and overly-cautious speed limits have reduced the legitimacy of a lot of traffic laws, sadly.
AN example; I was driving on the A422 from Banbury jct of M42 on way to Silverstone the other weekend. It used to be a NSL A road, but large sections have been dumbed-down to 50 limit. Now I am sure someone, somewhere will do doubt have a worthy reason for this, but that does not seem to wash with the general public, whose country it still, actually is. I was doing 50 and either had cars right up my arse or overtaking. I was even overtaken by a bloody fruit and veg van at one point. Oncoming cars didn't generally seem to be sticking to 50.
There were bits where the limit seemed a good idea but, on the whole, I could see why most people thought the law was an ass.
None of the above is to excuse ignoring speed limits or safety signs, but to highlight the very real dangers of their misuse. We've all seen matrix signs that cry wolf about approaching hazards which fail to materialise.
AN example; I was driving on the A422 from Banbury jct of M42 on way to Silverstone the other weekend. It used to be a NSL A road, but large sections have been dumbed-down to 50 limit. Now I am sure someone, somewhere will do doubt have a worthy reason for this, but that does not seem to wash with the general public, whose country it still, actually is. I was doing 50 and either had cars right up my arse or overtaking. I was even overtaken by a bloody fruit and veg van at one point. Oncoming cars didn't generally seem to be sticking to 50.
There were bits where the limit seemed a good idea but, on the whole, I could see why most people thought the law was an ass.
None of the above is to excuse ignoring speed limits or safety signs, but to highlight the very real dangers of their misuse. We've all seen matrix signs that cry wolf about approaching hazards which fail to materialise.
oyster said:
mybrainhurts said:
oyster said:
Given the hundreds of cars I see each week who pile on recklessly through red X's on the M25 I'm surprised there aren't more such horrible tragedies.
But I guess a few deaths are ok so long as these folks all get home in time for tea eh?
There's another angle to view. Signs are frequently unnecessary and this is bound to lead to drivers ignoring them. But I guess a few deaths are ok so long as these folks all get home in time for tea eh?
Ignoring a warning because the previous warning was unnecessary is very immature.
I'm driving 50-80,000 miles a year and the huge number of false alarms never fails to amaze me.
This time, the signs were set correctly for the incident, weather conditions and traffic, but one idiot thought they knew better and as a result my friend and colleague lost his life on duty! We had his funeral yesterday, it was very emotional seeing his wife and young son heartbroken. You lot carry on bickering about the signs, and I'll get on with doing my job.
BossHogg said:
This time, the signs were set correctly for the incident, weather conditions and traffic, but one idiot thought they knew better and as a result my friend and colleague lost his life on duty! We had his funeral yesterday, it was very emotional seeing his wife and young son heartbroken. You lot carry on bickering about the signs, and I'll get on with doing my job.
Tragic and senseless. It can't be easy going back to work after that, stay safe out there. Gassing Station | News, Politics & Economics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff