I am amazed at having completely destroyed this road, now the council see fit to post speed cameras on it.
The lane markings are confusing to locals and visitors alike and contribute to making the roads less safe than they were before.

People now get confused and change lanes prematurely or too late-causing more problems!

I notice that the sign quoting average number of incidents states 2006 & 2007 figures. My guess is that this will not be modified as there has probably been an increased number of incidents post road changes.

Perhaps bad driving (or not driving appropriately for the road conditions) has caused many of the accidents in the past, not adverse speed?

Another example of the road planners making things worse is the roundabout at the end of the A442 (in Hortonwood) – in 12 years of using the old road layout I never once saw an accident – once it was changed I saw 3 in 3 weeks!

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I have never in all my years of driving down the EP ever seen ne speed camera (fixed or mobile) on this stretch of road.

People regularly travel in excess of 70mph down the EP.

So for the council to start talking about installing these new forms of speed camera is a red herring.

T & W have had 60mph signs on the EP for over 2 years, no effort has been made to ctach speeding drivers now in my view they plan to install camera’s to generate huge amounts of income which is very crafty as a great majority of drivers on the EP have got used to no speed limit being inforced.

Another point is the EP layout is very dangerous currently if you are in the slow land and someone is coming of the slip road at great speed you have to to speed up to either let them in or move into the far lane. I can ONLY see more accidents occuring if everyone is forced to keep below 60mph in fear of going over the limit.

Gross stupidity on T & W behalf

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One way to cut speed on the EP is to place 4 sets of traffic lights down the EP. Pref at the most used slip roads this would prevent drivers speeding down the slip roads and it would also prevent drivers driving at 90mph down the EP.

But hey traffic lights will not raise money for T & W council but speed camera’s will.

So safe option with no money revenus or unsafe option with speed cameras guess which T & W will go for

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This will probably cause more accidents as drivers will be watching speedometer & not watching the road, And of course it will bring in more revenue wich will be needed to pay for the latest sets of new lighting just installed.

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Peasbody – find me a Frenchman who actually knows how to use a two-lane traffic island! They all drift around in the outside land regardless of which exit they’re taking.

Mind you you see plenty of that over here too…

That being said, French driving has improved immeasurably over the past 20 or so years, whilst ours seems to get worse and worse.

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Front foglights = chav.

End of.

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Dont quote me, but I understand that 3% of accidents are caused by speeding drivers and 2% by drink drivers. So the vast majority of the problem lies with sober slow drivers.
I contribute not having an accident in 17 years/250,000 miles due to the fact that I am constantly drunk and speeding so satatistically making my likelihood of having an accident negligable. Well apart from when I ran into the back of an unmarked police car at an island – but really that was his fault for going and changing his mind. I was was also travelling at about 5mph and was sober which just proves that statistics never lie!

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NOW we know why they are putting new lights in ..!!!

EACH one has a little aerial on the top ….
Have you noticed this ?

SO …. are these “Lights” actually combined with inbuilt cameras with some sort of linked conecction?? (i.e averaging )

I have travelled over 800,000 accident free miles in 40+ years and have used the A442 “ep” since moving to shropshire in 1973.(thats 35 years) I have NEVER EVER had a problem using this road, and In my humble opinion the lowering of the speed limit, and markings have made this road MUCH worse.

The lowering of the speed lmit has reduced the speed differential between the inner and outer lanes, and has made overtaking lengthy, /impossible, thereby clogging up traffic.

The reason why most people seem to ignore this speed limit (POLICE cars INCLUDED as I have followed them OFTEN at a “safe” distance and seen them dissappearing from view even though i have been travelling at 60Mph.) is that most drivers know “instinctively that 60 Mph is too slow for a good dual carriageway in ideal conditions

Putting averaging cameras up will do NOTHING to improve anything other than CASH flow!

As to Drivers “speeding” down the access slip roads, surely, the correct way to use these is to accelerate to the speed of the traffic already on the road, and “merge” in .
This of course requires “consideration” from those aleady on the “inside” lane.

Again, in ALL my 35 years of using these slip roads, and other dual carriageway /motorway slip road access …. using the “accelerate and merge” technique … I have NEVER EVER had a problem, nor have I ever had any problem from traffic whom I’m joining already “on the road”

Not to do this (i.e accelerating down the slip road) means having to slow or stop at the end of the slip road, thus becoming a severe danger to traffic coming from behind you, and also becuase you have created the maximum speed differential between you and the traffic on the inside lane, making it difficult and a highly dangerous manoeuvre to “join” the main highway.

Using the slip roads is not difficult, it just requires common sense, and consideration from BOTH parties.

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Furthermore:

Before I’m castigated for advocating “accelerating” on a access slip road ….

Accessing Dual carriageway using Slip roads:

* See Tutorial video :
http://www.2pass.co.uk/joining.htm

And, extract from typical Driving school website discussions on the subject:

Lesson objectives
By the end of this lesson you should be able to:

* join a dual carriageway from a slip road by building up speed to match that of the traffic on the dual carriageway;

* leave a dual carriageway safely by using the slip road, not the carriageway, for decelerating.

*cross or turn right from a dual carriageway safely, paying particular attention to the extra problems this causes.

*exercise good lane discipline and use of the two-second rule;

*maintain good progress and overtake other vehicles as necessary;

*anticipate the actions of other drivers and apply the hazard drill appropriately;

*demonstrate a good awareness of what’s happening behind.

So! there you are!

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Y Mab,
if the lights have aerials on top then I would guess that Askeric is right, would contractors know what a light fitting contains? I would suspect not ,all they need to do is connect up the power to them and what goes on inside would be a mystery to them. I would guess that they would have to be in for decades to save enough energy to justify the replacement costs of the old ones. Why have lights on there anyway? It’s just a main road, other country roads don’t need fancy, expensive lights.

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Steve Bentley stated over 18 months ago that they would be looking to turn off some of the un neccasary traffic lights and computerise the others to be more efficient….still no sign of that. It’s my bet that they won’t wait as long to get the cameras up and running.

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HEAR, HEAR

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Hi Lucy.

I can see where you’re coming from …

But really … How can we justify the ridiculously low speed limits being imposed on perfectly good roads?

You said yourself early about the statistivs relating to speed / drink – and the conclusion you drew was interesting !

You sound to me like an experienced driver – like me (800,000 miles plus UK wide, and in several different countries.) and – if we implemented your proposal, why SHOULD the likes of us get penalised?

I’ve NEVER had a problem driving at any speed, and in any conditions.
That’s down to taking an interest and a pride in what you do – and it’s my belief that most drivers just don’t care about improving their skills beyond “passing the test”.
The only way I can see of improving the situation for the remaining “not so skilled drivers” is to introduce some sort of progressive testing, similar to that used for aviation.

Like I said earlier – what this needs is some POSITIVE action from us, the motoring fraternity who want better roads for commercial and pleasure use, to make sure that those authorities who see fit to make all these changes listen to US first BEFORE making ANY changes.

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I think the majority of people who are crying over the camera’s cannot drive very well and often break the speed limit. As for people saying its education that people need… I agreee. People over 30 or that have taken their test over ten years ago should have a re test. The driving test is a lot harder these days compared to the one years ago. Alternatively ban all old age pensioners. They are dangerous.

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Wibble, passing a driving test , no matter how hard it is doesn’t give you the experience to drive safely at any speed on any road. Only mileage experience will give you that. Unfortunately people who have been driving ten, twenty years or more sometimes still haven’t improved. This is why progressive testing is needed but I would say that 5 years after passing your test or less is the important time because, believe me, you can make a lot of mistakes in those first few years and if they aren’t spotted and improved upon then that could be the time when you are most likely to cause an accident.

But don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking young drivers, I was one myself once, and you are spot on with the fact that there are some very bad older drivers but they feel that they are safe just because they never go above 40MPh, unfortunately they go EVERYWHERE at 40MPH, often without using mirrors or indicators, which makes them VERY, VERY dangerous.

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I’ve said it before and I will say it again.

Speed cameras are merely there to tax motorists.

If they were serious about wanting to cut accidents, they would fine people who crash, not people who speed. If a certain ‘old lady’ I know had been fined and given 3 points every time she reversed into another car, she would have been off the road years ago, and the roads would be safer for it. She never goes above 30mph, not because she is safe but because she couldnt control the car if she did !

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Swindon have just announced they are not going to fund speed cameras in future as there are better ways to spend the money. If only all councils could be so sensible, but then when you look at the self opinionated fools that stand for Council, its hardly surprising the daft decisions they come up with.

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