Weird (and alarming) one on Monday morning. Was trundling south at about 0820, enjoying the Christmas-induced quietness of the J10-J9 stretch, when I saw one of the roadside matrix boards display something I hadn't seen before - and don't want to see again.
20
Oncoming vehicle
Passing junction 9, no-one else seemed to be slowing to anything like 20, but I got myself into lane 1 and matched speed with an HGV a comfortable distance ahead, making sure I had as good a view as I could get. A police car had joined ahead of me at the junction and set off southward with blue lights flashing.
I kept this up until somewhere near J8, when the centre matrix board changed from 20 to 'End', and went on my way at a more normal speed. I saw nothing else unusual, and didn't see the police car again, so I wonder if anyone here was ahead of me, or coming north (preferably on the northbound carriageway!) and knows any more about what happened.
Edited by rtj70 on 23/12/2008 at 22:00
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Scary
what did the sign say further on after the incident
CHECK YOUR PANTS
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that's not the sort of message i'd want to ignore....it amazes me though that some people would be willing to bimble along as usual in their own little worlds
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Happens more often than you'd think.
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Damn frightening - I've seen it a few times, normally late at night, when some late-nite reveller has taken the wrong turning.
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How do you go about safely resolving an incident like that MLC ? Must be one of the tougher ones to bring to a happy ending I would have thought ?
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Three Volvos aross all lanes. Rolling closure. Oncoming car has a choice of stopping or having an argument. They generally realise they're mistake and pull onto the shoulder after a while.
(Had a large truck go down a slip road and decide to turn RIGHT last week. Even indicated bless him. Then decided to do a 39 point turn as he tried to turn around further down the carriageway)
Edited by midlifecrisis on 24/12/2008 at 20:18
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You can contact the Highways Agency by emailing ha_info@highways.gsi.gov.uk - they replied to my signs query. More contact details at:
www.highways.gov.uk/aboutus/2304.aspx
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Travelling on the M25 a few nights ago between J16 and J15 I saw "Animals in road" message, didn't see any animals however...
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been on the M4 with a car doing 70 to 100 in the opposite direction towards me a few years ago, phoned it in on 999, only 30 seconds later to see lots of police cars blasting along the other carriageway chasing him (they were on the correct side for direction of travel) so they must have been chasing him already
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Joining the M40 going south at J8 (S Oxford) I met a van coming the wrong way up the long sliproad. I, and all around me, gave him lots of flashing lights and horn, but I never saw what happened to him and whether he turned round (it's about a mile to the first point he could have turned off on, so I hope he turned round, although I still have no idea where he could have been coming from).
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That WDB's no fool is he, got a reasonable distance behind an HGV and stayed there....i'd have been with him by the way.;)
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Tragic accident happened on the A94 autobahn near where I live in Munich a few years ago.
Old codger in a 7 Series drove onto the autobahn the wrong way at night and proceeded at an estimated 160km/h (if he'd been going in the correct direction he would have seen the 80km/h signs) before his journey was prematurely ended by a head on collision with (IIRC) a Focus. Unbelievably, the guy survived. Sadly, the driver of the Focus and his 3 year old daughter were wiped out.
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What are you expected to do with that information? I can understand the OP's cautious approach though . I'm similarly flummoxed when I see the 'Beware falling rocks' sign.
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Or 'low flying aircraft' - what are you supposed to do about it?
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Low flying aircraft - so you are prepared not to be startled if one comes over.
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I'm similarly flummoxed when I see the 'Beware falling rocks' sign.
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I passed such a sign, in New Zealand. I slowed down and was confronted with rocks all across the road so the sign was useful to me.
A "Beware trees removed" sign on a 30 mph road at Feltham, close to Heathrow still is the best I have seen.
There were never any trees on that road just a few small ones along side the pavement. on the ramp to a railway bridge.
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I had this experience in August on the M62 in the wee small hours. Like the OP I tucked in behind a larger vehicle in lane 1 and took it slow with a large gap between us. Sure enough an A4 came the other way doing about 40mph. Then a few miles later plod on the right side of the road going fast.
It livened up a long dull drive.
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Thanks to everyone for some interesting comments and insights. Might even try Focus's link to find out what happened in this case.
}:---)
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