Unecessary lane closures

[longdogs]

Part of my journey along a certain stretch of the A12 normally takes me about 10 minutes. On Friday evening it took more than 30 minutes. Traffic was moving at less than 5mph and sometimes at a complete standstill.

So what was the reason?

A broken down vehicle on the hard shoulder - BUT the police had decided to block off the inside lane (Starsky style). So two lanes were merging into one.

Am I alone in thinking that was totally over the top?

 

[Newboy]

Police or the highways agency (the ones with more dayglo & flashing beacons than any other vehicle on the road!

 

[Whitespirit66]

The cops like nothing more than closing roads. It's no longer an accident, it's been elevated to a crime scene to justify the dozens of officers, CSI, crash investigators, helicopters etc, etc, etc.

Not like the good old days, where they would scrape the squashed biker off the tarmac, whilst keeping the traffic moving. Now, a little fender-bender is a big deal, often closing at least one side of a motorway for a whole day.

 

[cajar]

the vehicle could've been spilling oil into the inside lane

 

[longdogs]

the vehicle could've been spilling oil into the inside lane

No evidence of that, I did take a look as I crawled past. The police and the driver were standing fairly close to the car but he didn't look like he was under arrest or anything.

 

[jockscott]

Same with bloody roadworks. Travelling on the A1 recently there were roadworks,, One lane coned off and not one worker in sight (during normal working hours too) . It's high time councils made these companies work right through the week 24/7 so roadworks are finished sooner (rather than keeping them there for weeks/months)

 

[Norcon]

Closing the road down is becoming more popular now as the works can be carried out quicker and is safer for the workers.

Car drivers will swerve when they see a cone but drive over a worker.
I wouldn't be too bothered about inconveniencing car drivers. If I'm offloading somewhere I'll make them wait the full 15 minutes before moving.

 

[Belboz]

DELETED

 

[Doug99]

Every death is tragic, but to close a motorway for 6 hours seems over the top. How long does it take to record photographs and measurements?

 

[maltaron]

Seem to recall not long ago the M42 south of Birmingham was closed for 2 days because of a nutcase threatening to jump of a bridge. That is overkill.

 

[cajar]

Then what do you call this

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4150386.stm

 

[longdogs]

Seem to recall not long ago the M42 south of Birmingham was closed for 2 days because of a nutcase threatening to jump of a bridge. That is overkill.

Was the pun intended?

 

[JBR]

Same with bloody roadworks. Travelling on the A1 recently there were roadworks,, One lane coned off and not one worker in sight (during normal working hours too) . It's high time councils made these companies work right through the week 24/7 so roadworks are finished sooner (rather than keeping them there for weeks/months)

That's a favourite bugbear of mine, too. I see that sort of thing almost every time I travel on the motorway: miles and miles of cones, there for no apparent reason. On some occasions, I have seen the same stretch for a few weeks and nothing being done.

When I worked in Saudi Arabia, I saw a flyover being constructed by Koreans (South, I presume!) which was up and running in a matter of a few weeks. I don't know whether or not they worked all through the night but, by God, they worked!

 

[Gasman28]

When I worked in Saudi Arabia, I saw a flyover being constructed by Koreans (South, I presume!) which was up and running in a matter of a few weeks. I don't know whether or not they worked all through the night but, by God, they worked!

That's because they were on tuppence an hour and grateful for the work
However, here, roads are always closed / restricted for no apparent reason.

 

[JBR]

When I worked in Saudi Arabia, I saw a flyover being constructed by Koreans (South, I presume!) which was up and running in a matter of a few weeks. I don't know whether or not they worked all through the night but, by God, they worked!

That's because they were on tuppence an hour and grateful for the work
However, here, roads are always closed / restricted for no apparent reason.

I'm sure they were on low wages, as were other third world nationalities like Philippinos. But to them, they were being paid handsomely compared to what they'd get back home. That's why there are there.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that our road workers should work for a pittance, just that they should work! Actually, I suspect the problem arises as much due to mismanagement as anything else.