Gantry message numpties

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Sat 13 Feb 2016 00:12
Gantry message numpties - John F

Just driven along M25 anticlockwise from Dartford crossing, making good progress as 1030pm and light traffic, then....ANIMALS ON ROAD 50MPH....gantry after gantry, mile after mile, about 13 in total. All crawl along for ages at 54mph as fearful of cameras - not even a rabbit to be seen, until eventually 'all clear' sign.

I don't use M-ways very often, but time and again I see stuff like this. It must be really frustrating to regular commuters. Don't the numpties that operate these message boards have cameras to see what's going on? Do they not have contact with patrols? So often they seem to fail to switch off the advisories when the problem has long since resolved. Does anyone out there have any knowledge of why the gantry service is so often stupidly incompetent?

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Sat 13 Feb 2016 08:15
Gantry message numpties - jc2

The operator is instructed what to put up by his/her boss.That person then goes to a "meeting" and the operator is not allowed to change the sign until instructed so to do.I've seen the same."Accident ahead-slow"for mile after mile.You gradually speed up and then you arrive at the accident.(Don't know why it's posting in italics-they're not highlighted).

Edited by jc2 on 13/02/2016 at 08:18

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Sat 13 Feb 2016 08:17
Gantry message numpties - Bromptonaut

Or to look at it another way the HA received, from a member of the public, a rather vague report of farm animals loose on the M25. It's dark and while there are extensive cameras & unlit sections of the M25 are floodlit with infra-red there's no certainty they'll detect a couple of ponies on an embankment.

Patrol vehicles are directed to the area. Takes quite a while to get them off other jobs into place and to carefully search 40 carriageway miles of M25. As a precuation, the gantry message seen by the OP are put in until the patrol deals with incident or reports all clear.

What's wrong with that?

And as a regular user of M/ways around England I find the gantries generally accurate and helpful. Not that they're never wrong or behind the curve of course but augmented by radio traffic alerts they're always useful.

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Sat 13 Feb 2016 08:41
Gantry message numpties - Bolt

Its a regular thing from Crittals corner Sidcup to Essex, through to junction 6 there are often Ponies/Horses running around on or near the traffic

I`m surprised the animal owners dont get fined because of the trafic holdups they cause,and the warnings as mentioned stay far longer than needed after the animals have been cleared

If I remember correctly Deer have been know to get on the carriageway as well as foxes and Badgers(more regularly than Deer)

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Sat 13 Feb 2016 10:11
Gantry message numpties - Engineer Andy

Yes, but for 13 gantries! That's way more than the Grand National for them in this case!

Highways Agency incompetence if you ask me!

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Sat 13 Feb 2016 10:28
Gantry message numpties - RT

It seems that quite often, motorists reporting problems don't know where they are, by a long way - eg, M25 between Heathrow and Dartford Tunnel is very vague - control rooms may be able to pinpoint more accurately from their cameras but that can be difficult where something moves!

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Sat 13 Feb 2016 12:40
Gantry message numpties - Wackyracer

Animals on roads are a real danger, I'd rather do 50mph for 10 miles than hit a deer at 70mph.

I had a very near miss with a deer on an unlit dual carriageway late one summers evening when it landed just a few feet infront of my bonnet. Too close for comfort.

A few times I've been held up on the M3 when cows have got out of fields at the side of the motorway.

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Sat 13 Feb 2016 14:10
Gantry message numpties - Avant

Someone gave me a couple of useful tips about deer:

- They are even more brainless than sheep, so no traffic sense whatsoever

- If one comes out on to the road in front of you, expect another one following it.

They are big blighters (this is a family show....) so can do quite a lot of damage to a car, unless it's a Land Rover, Land Cruiser etc - or perhaps an old Volvo.

Edited by Avant on 13/02/2016 at 14:12

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Sat 13 Feb 2016 15:09
Gantry message numpties - RT

Someone gave me a couple of useful tips about deer:

- They are even more brainless than sheep, so no traffic sense whatsoever

- If one comes out on to the road in front of you, expect another one following it.

They are big blighters (this is a family show....) so can do quite a lot of damage to a car, unless it's a Land Rover, Land Cruiser etc - or perhaps an old Volvo.

Body-on-frame SUVs have their strength too low to protect against deer - particularly a big Red Deer stag.

It's why the Aussies still have proper structural 'Roo-bars on their cars/SUVs as they aren't subject to pansy EU rules.

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Sat 13 Feb 2016 15:38
Gantry message numpties - Vitesse6

It isn't pansy EU rules, but safety for the unfortunate pedestrian who may get hit by the vehicle. Far better a crumpled bonnet than a dead person!

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Sat 13 Feb 2016 16:15
Gantry message numpties - focussed

Pedestrians are never "unfortunate" in my experience,

They are usually "unobservant".

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Sat 13 Feb 2016 16:21
Gantry message numpties - focussed

Having sat stationary on the M1years ago between J9 and J6 for hours on end looking at matrix signs that were displaying "road clear" I have healthy disregard for any information that the government decides that might be important to me.

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Sat 13 Feb 2016 16:21
Gantry message numpties - RT

It isn't pansy EU rules, but safety for the unfortunate pedestrian who may get hit by the vehicle. Far better a crumpled bonnet than a dead person!

Country drivers are at risk from animal strike, as big one ride over the pedestrian-friendly bonnet and smash through the windscreen - but of course there's far more city pedestrian voters than country driver voters.

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Sat 13 Feb 2016 17:14
Gantry message numpties - Bromptonaut

It's why the Aussies still have proper structural 'Roo-bars on their cars/SUVs as they aren't subject to pansy EU rules.

Err no. The clue is in the name. There are 'roos in Oz; lots of them. We've no outback in Western Europe but lots and lots of people.

Roo bars do a lot of damage to people so thet're not allowed.

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Sat 13 Feb 2016 17:50
Gantry message numpties - RT

It's why the Aussies still have proper structural 'Roo-bars on their cars/SUVs as they aren't subject to pansy EU rules.

Err no. The clue is in the name. There are 'roos in Oz; lots of them. We've no outback in Western Europe but lots and lots of people.

Roo bars do a lot of damage to people so thet're not allowed.

OK - call them Deer Bars here then - we do have soddin' great animals that suddenly appear in front of you - just like the Aussies - but a different animal.

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Sat 13 Feb 2016 18:08
Gantry message numpties - Bromptonaut

OK - call them Deer Bars here then - we do have soddin' great animals that suddenly appear in front of you - just like the Aussies - but a different animal.

Call them what you like - bull bars was another option. Whatever they're called they have no place on UK roads unless designed to eliminate risk to pedestrians and other vulnerable road users.

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Sat 13 Feb 2016 18:13
Gantry message numpties - RT

OK - call them Deer Bars here then - we do have soddin' great animals that suddenly appear in front of you - just like the Aussies - but a different animal.

Call them what you like - bull bars was another option. Whatever they're called they have no place on UK roads unless designed to eliminate risk to pedestrians and other vulnerable road users.

How's about something to keep pedestrians out of the road ?

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Tue 8 Mar 2016 12:10
Gantry message numpties - expat

I am in Oz. My son's girl friend hit a roo in her Yaris and wrote it off. She would have been doing about 110kph at the time and they were lucky not to have been killed. I have never seen a Yaris with a roo bar but they would have been glad of one then.

If there is any chance of animals on the road slow right down.

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Sat 13 Feb 2016 17:21
Gantry message numpties - Engineer Andy

The BMW of one of my former bosses was hit a deer when he was driving (legally) at 60mph and did over £3k of damage, taking out the front grille, radiator and quite a bit else.

I've had a close call with a kamikaze partridge (or similar) which managed to make it across the road in between the fron and rear wheels of my car whilst I was driving at 40mph; my dad's car being hit by a stray dog (it miraculously survived and kept going).

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Sun 14 Feb 2016 16:58
Gantry message numpties - John F

Or to look at it another way the HA received, from a member of the public, a rather vague report of farm animals loose on the M25. It's dark and while there are extensive cameras & unlit sections of the M25 are floodlit with infra-red there's no certainty they'll detect a couple of ponies on an embankment.

Patrol vehicles are directed to the area. Takes quite a while to get them off other jobs into place and to carefully search 40 carriageway miles of M25. As a precuation, the gantry message seen by the OP are put in until the patrol deals with incident or reports all clear.

What's wrong with that?

Not a lot, put like that. However, even in the dark an animal of any size is visible on a quiet dry wide motorway. I wouldn't mind if it was an orange advisory limit but I thought those red round 50 signs were compulsory, linked to automatic speed cameras. Is that not so?

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Sun 14 Feb 2016 17:00
Gantry message numpties - RT

No point in advisory speed limits on motorways - virtually everyone ignores them.

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Sun 14 Feb 2016 19:42
Gantry message numpties - Bromptonaut

No point in advisory speed limits on motorways - virtually everyone ignores them.

Indeed. The OP is pretty much saying he'd do that.

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Sun 14 Feb 2016 17:16
Gantry message numpties - drd63

I've just got my car back after hitting a deer at about 70 on the A34 Christmas day. It's going to be interesting to know what the repairs cost. Interesting to see how soft the noses of cars are these days - looked absolutely destroyed but lifting the bonnet you could see where everything had pushed back to but no real hard points had been hit. I've still not been forgiven for killing Rudolf on Christmas day!!

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Sun 14 Feb 2016 19:41
Gantry message numpties - Bromptonaut

Not a lot, put like that. However, even in the dark an animal of any size is visible on a quiet dry wide motorway. I wouldn't mind if it was an orange advisory limit but I thought those red round 50 signs were compulsory, linked to automatic speed cameras. Is that not so?

If it's half a dozen Holsteins cavorting on the carriageway then I'm sure they'd be visible on the cameras. But if they're field escapes grazing on an embankment?

And of course if the reporter was unclear where between Dartford and Bell Common tunnel they were when the saw the quadrupeds the problem is bigger.

Slow everything to mandatory 50 for sake of users and searchers seems reasonable and proportionate.

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Mon 15 Feb 2016 13:17
Gantry message numpties - Snakey

The gantry signs at the tyne tunnel are even more irritating. After queuing for 30 minutes the signs then cheerfully tell you which x factor contestant they think you should vote for.

And no, I'm not kidding.

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Mon 15 Feb 2016 19:04
Gantry message numpties - alan1302

The gantry signs at the tyne tunnel are even more irritating. After queuing for 30 minutes the signs then cheerfully tell you which x factor contestant they think you should vote for.

And no, I'm not kidding.

Not now they won't - X-Factor finished in December

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Tue 16 Feb 2016 00:14
Gantry message numpties - Avant

Peoplle above are complaining, with good reason, about gantry signs that are out of date. This could be another example....

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Tue 16 Feb 2016 07:17
Gantry message numpties - Ethan Edwards

I have never seen any useful message on the illuminated matrix signs that couldn't have been done by other means cheaper and easier. Mind you its early as I have only had a licence since 1980 and do 20k miles a year.

Imo numpties is far too kind.

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Tue 16 Feb 2016 08:05
Gantry message numpties - RT

I have never seen any useful message on the illuminated matrix signs that couldn't have been done by other means cheaper and easier. Mind you its early as I have only had a licence since 1980 and do 20k miles a year.

Imo numpties is far too kind.

It does happen properly sometimes - yesterday on M42 southbound, the 40 comes up on the matrix and lots of brake lights ahead - everyone slows to about 35 - next matrix show 40 "Debris in road" - just before the next matrix we see men in hi-viz jackets scuttling off the carriageway with a big lump of something or other back to their vehicle on the hard shoulder - and the next matrix changed to NSL just as we got to it.

Would you want to fetch debris off the carriageway without a full stoppage?

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Tue 16 Feb 2016 14:48
Gantry message numpties - Bromptonaut

I have never seen any useful message on the illuminated matrix signs that couldn't have been done by other means cheaper and easier.

How?

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Tue 16 Feb 2016 21:17
Gantry message numpties - alan1302

I have never seen any useful message on the illuminated matrix signs that couldn't have been done by other means cheaper and easier.

How?

I'm interested to know as well.

The other day on the M1 there was a broken down vehicle in lane 1 which was reported on the gantries so you knew to move to lanes 2-4 and watch out for lane 1. I'd love to know how they could do that easier and cheaper.

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Mon 7 Mar 2016 22:07
Gantry message numpties - Bromptonaut

I have never seen any useful message on the illuminated matrix signs that couldn't have been done by other means cheaper and easier.

How?

I'm interested to know as well.

So we're still no wiser about how Andy might engineer better warnings?

Up to Liverpool today. Gantries warned correctly of (a) lane closure M6/J17 - HGV in the undergrowth (b) longer distance problems Lancs/Cumbria due massive fuel spill (c) Queues on slips at M56/M6 wore n/b (d) Salt spreading in progress on M1.

The 'simpler sytems' filed utterly to warn of the accident on Speke Boulevard that delayed me two hours.

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Tue 16 Feb 2016 08:27
Gantry message numpties - Snakey

The gantry signs at the tyne tunnel are even more irritating. After queuing for 30 minutes the signs then cheerfully tell you which x factor contestant they think you should vote for.

And no, I'm not kidding.

Not now they won't - X-Factor finished in December

x factor/strictly/jungle - whatever, its whatever the current brain dead tv show that is on.

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Tue 16 Feb 2016 12:50
Gantry message numpties - alan1302

The gantry signs at the tyne tunnel are even more irritating. After queuing for 30 minutes the signs then cheerfully tell you which x factor contestant they think you should vote for.

And no, I'm not kidding.

Not now they won't - X-Factor finished in December

x factor/strictly/jungle - whatever, its whatever the current brain dead tv show that is on.

Not a big fan of them then? :-)

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