CarMad Posted May 14, 2014 Report Share Posted May 14, 2014 Are the government going to fund lots more money for roads, no not unless we get close to gridlock and admittedly it can feel like that in places at times. They are more likely to put fuel prices up to get more people off the road than that. As for the technology working, there are loads of reports and studies that support it and people who are experts in highway engineering which I'd expect none of us are. I mentioned the M42 stretch and it used to be a nightmare, I used to travel to Warwick through there regularly with my old firm at peak rush hour to get to all day company meetings. You would get off the M6/M40 to sit in traffic fighting to get through it, stop start crawling when it was moving at all. Fast forward loads of horrible road works but the result was no stopping, no quick quick slow, then stop and sit there then start moving again traffic. It was free flowing didn't stop and hardly seemed to add anything to the journey where as before it was 20-30 or more at times and far more stressful. How it doesn't work or many any difference contradicts the experience I had of the before and after going down there for about 7 years. Admittedly adding the extra lane helps, holding traffic from getting onto the motorway helps as well along with a few other improvements but all of them as a package resulted in almost 30% improvement to flow and a reduction in accidents on the same stretch than before the improvements were put in place. Yeah more lanes or another road might be better but it costs a fortune and then swampy arrives and it then costs even more again, maybe the government will do a u-turn and really add to the motorway network but then on this little island that we live in there isn't a whole lot of space to add extra roads to compared to the continent unfortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted May 14, 2014 Report Share Posted May 14, 2014 The lower limit would work IF (and it's a fecking big IF), everyone drove at 50, without bunching and without accidents and without tossers cutting in, out, up and tailgating. Oh, hang on a min.................. But would it? I can drive 300 miles to a client in 5 hours. So average 60 mph, almost all of it motorway. If you change it to 50 mph, and it is all camera controlled (or large parts of it) then I'm already at 6 hours.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiser647 Posted May 14, 2014 Report Share Posted May 14, 2014 But would it? I can drive 300 miles to a client in 5 hours. So average 60 mph, almost all of it motorway. If you change it to 50 mph, and it is all camera controlled (or large parts of it) then I'm already at 6 hours.... That's what I meant!, Whatever the limit (within reason be it 50, 60 or even 80) if there are no accidents, tailgating, rubber necking, cutting up, bunching etc etc, the traffic will flow extremely well. However, these drivers are human and these things will happen. They need the old radar gap controlled cruise control! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twinspark Posted May 14, 2014 Report Share Posted May 14, 2014 A big problem which appears to be growing as the government and average car driver focuses more and more on fuel efficiency and emissions is cars driving at 50mph in the nearside lane. This is forcing trucks out of the nearside lane to overtake them, either blocking 2 lane sections of road, or cutting 3 lanes down to 1. Additionally, those happy to cruise along at 70mph are forced into lane 3, causing those doing 80mph+ to brake... I'd like to see the 50mph car drivers pulled and given a talking to - explaining why their penny-pinching ways are fecking up the traffic flow. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiser647 Posted May 14, 2014 Report Share Posted May 14, 2014 That is true. Had one this afternoon. Honda Accord driver on the 2 lane section of the A1. 2 lorries bowling up behind him. 1 pulls out into a small gap and we all slow down. He pulls in and another gap appears. Lorry number 2 pulls out behind me. Sometimes when they pull out, they are a bit 'enthusiastic' and you see the trailer wobbling a bit!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milo Posted May 14, 2014 Report Share Posted May 14, 2014 Again, in my experience, driving at 50 does not stop bunching, does not stop tailgating, does not stop bad overtaking that slows the following traffic causing a ripple effect that can take miles to settle back down. It does not stop that 1 person driving at 10 mph under the limit, causing the bloke doing 5 mph under the limit to crawl past him and again cause a ripple effect for miles. Need I go on? All it does on the stretch I'm on about is cause all the problems that happen at and around 70 mph, to happen at and around 50 mph. And then there are the camera vans lurking on the empty dual carriageway on a Sunday afternoon, issuing NIPs for 57. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted May 14, 2014 Report Share Posted May 14, 2014 As I joined the A46 (to Warwick) from Binley Road in Coventry, I found myself behind a 'lady' drive in a Fiat Punto - doing 30 mph in the outside lane. I very, very rarely lose my temper when driving but she pushed me to the limit as 4-5 cars undertook her but I am always very averse to doing so. So after about 15 seconds or so, and it being obvious she was on another planet and had no idea what she was doing, I flashed my lights twice and then gave a longer than necessary blast on the horn. She indicated and pulled in. She didn't even look as I passed her, shaking my head as I did. I swear she was in a trance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted May 14, 2014 Report Share Posted May 14, 2014 And then there are the camera vans lurking on the empty dual carriageway on a Sunday afternoon, issuing NIPs for 57. I was wondering. So it did get you then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twinspark Posted May 14, 2014 Report Share Posted May 14, 2014 I once had to call the police non-emergency number because of a driver on the M4. She was in a Mk1 Zafira, in lane 3, doing about 45-50mph... looking terrified and so close to the steering wheel she could have steered it with her teeth. I bowled up behind her, probably a little 'hot' and had been caught out by her speed. I hung back for a while, with my indicator on - and she didn't move. So I undertook, in lane 1... saw the same happening to other drivers, so called it in for her own protection. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patently Posted May 14, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2014 Our local A road was classified as a dangerous road. So they put up a yellow board with the number of casualties in the last three years, and a message to "TAKE CARE" (what did they think I was doing before??). That made no difference. So they dropped the speed limit from NSL 60 to 50mph along the whole length - not just the difficult spots. The number on the yellow board has been rising steadily since they did that. Now, correlation is not causation*, but... *unless you're using accident stats to justify a camera Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patently Posted May 14, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2014 saw the same happening to other drivers, so called it in for her own protection. Good move. You may have saved her life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milo Posted May 14, 2014 Report Share Posted May 14, 2014 I was wondering. So it did get you then. Mine was allegedly 60 ish on a Monday. And no they didn't get me Half a mile earlier (in the 70) it would have been a licence-shredder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted May 14, 2014 Report Share Posted May 14, 2014 I 'm usually on that stretch very early morning (pre-7am) or late evening (9pm on). I still haven't figured out when they're monitoring it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eldavo69 Posted May 15, 2014 Report Share Posted May 15, 2014 £1M worth of fines in a month is why. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted May 15, 2014 Report Share Posted May 15, 2014 I did hear the revenues from it were high. But is it a van? Or is there a camera they move? I'll admit I have yet to even spot one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milo Posted May 15, 2014 Report Share Posted May 15, 2014 Vans. Usually only 1 van, sometimes 2 - one on each carriageway and other times two on the same side. One trick they did during the crackdown was stick a one on the southbound carriageway at the Metrocentre. Those that didn't get collared may have been tempted to drift up to 60mph once past. Only the sneaky twats had another one hidden further up at the Team Valley, just before it goes back into a 70 and starts climbing. Many people, once they see the hill, the NSL sign and the road going into 3 lanes, start accelerating - the van was 10 yards inside the limit, picking people off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiser647 Posted May 15, 2014 Report Share Posted May 15, 2014 Is the Team Valley area a low crime area and they are bored? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted May 15, 2014 Report Share Posted May 15, 2014 Is the Team Valley area a low crime area and they are bored? Say what? Ermmm, no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted May 15, 2014 Report Share Posted May 15, 2014 That little line going through the centre is the A1.... The numbers are crimes, in a month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patently Posted May 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2014 M4 Westbound today. Matrix sign just before Jn 14, says the M4 is closed Jn 14-15. Yes, closed. It wasn't. Matrix signs just before Swindon, saying congestion ahead. Then 60 limit. Then 50. Then 40. Then NSL. No congestion at all. In fact, nothing even approaching it. At the junction with the M5, matrix sign says congestion ahead. No-one takes a blind bit of notice because we've just been lied to twice in succession. Cue heavy braking when we round the corner to see traffic at a standstill. These are the actions of a Highways Agency that is *creating* danger on the roads. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimdiesel Posted May 15, 2014 Report Share Posted May 15, 2014 I had a new one tonight that might be the new way of slowing us all down. A greyhound got onto the York ring road so for 2 hours the police ran rolling road blocks up and down the dual carriageway to try and catch the dog. !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eldavo69 Posted May 16, 2014 Report Share Posted May 16, 2014 What a bitch. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiser647 Posted May 16, 2014 Report Share Posted May 16, 2014 That little line going through the centre is the A1.... The numbers are crimes, in a month. Oh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milo Posted May 16, 2014 Report Share Posted May 16, 2014 That little line going through the centre is the A1.... The numbers are crimes, in a month. The Team Valley Trading Estate has over 700 businesses, employing over 20,000 people, so to only have 23 crimes is remarkably low. The 231 will include 230 drugs offences right out the outskirts of that area, in Beacon Lough. The 93 in Birtley will all be attributable to 1 or 2 families. The 13 Kibblesworth will be kids hiding the old folks' garden gnomes. The 2 and 3 areas will be incest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted May 16, 2014 Report Share Posted May 16, 2014 Yes, that map is somewhat wide in reach. The majority of offences on TVTE are shoplifting anyway, and the high numbers are dominated by ASBO's. Quite was has happened in the 2 and 3 areas I don't know. I didn't even know there was life out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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