I've started regular trips Oxford-Ipswich so am now using the A12 from the M25 to Ipswich .Two things about that road strike me
The road surface in parts has really deep grooves worn by lorries , which disturb handling and are potentially dangerous with a slick of rain on them .Presumably the authorities know but are afraid to do the necessary roadworks because of the chaos they cause.
I've also noticed for some reason an exceptionally high proportion of wrong/broken lights being used by drivers on that road. Eg Wed night , on the A12 about 173O , London bound , it was already overcast and twilight ...I counted coming the opposite way between M25 and Ipswich, over 100 vehicles with ..
parking lights only (even as late as 1845, and travelling at 60-80 mph) ...broken lights ...dip plus fogs although no visibility problem (except the glare caused by the foglights !) and in a couple of cases, no lights at all ..surely unbelievably dangerous when 90% of traffic has lights on.
|
"The road surface in parts has really deep grooves worn by lorries , which disturb handling and are potentially dangerous with a slick of rain on them"
Not unique to the A12. The M25 has lots of similar problems. You might have mentioned the dangerous T junctions toward Ipswich, many on almost blind corners.
Also the driving is among the worst in the UK for this type of road see the stats - if I can find the link, I'll post it.
Finally the lights issue is a problem this year because of the lack of traffic police. This is the first winter with such low police road attendance. The job is given over to cameras of course.
|
'deep grooves worn by lorries'
The worst are on Tower Bridge. On a bicycle (B*&^%$ stupid, shalln't be doing that again tho' it was Sunday morning, so not too bad) they were horrendous.
|
|
Sadly, both grooves in the carriageway and no/poor/broken lights in poor visibility are all too common - and not just on the A12. The A1 north of the Peterboro' bypass has the grooves, and driving in fog and murk the other morning on the M69 and M6 junctions 3-10 was horrendous. Scameras will not catch those who commit these and other 'dangerous driving' type offences.
|
|
Please see your e-mail. Thank you.
|
|
|
|
I've started regular trips Oxford-Ipswich so am now using the A12 from the M25 to Ipswich .Two things about that road strike me The road surface in parts has really deep grooves worn by lorries , which disturb handling and are potentially dangerous with a slick of rain on them .Presumably the authorities know but are afraid to do the necessary roadworks because of the chaos they cause.
As you've only just started using the A12 you won't have been around to notice the amount of roadworks done over the last 4/5 years on it. Various sections come to mind, Brentwood- Mountnessing bypass, Hatfield Peverel, Marks Tey, Witham bypass are ones which come readily to mind. On most of these sections the road has been stripped right back to the foundations and relaid, taking months on end. At the moment we have a respite from the works, they've only recently finished Witham, but I believe there is a continuing rolling plan for more improvements over the next few years.
I agree the road surface is far from perfect in many places but it was really dangerous before and it can't all be done at once.
By the time you've put up with single lane working for 2-3 miles and the ensuing queues for 4 months at a time you'll appreciate what they've achieved, not before time, I might add.
Sadly the A12 has always been a busy road but has been a bit of a Cinderella when it came to improvements which does show.
Cockle
|
|
A12 might get a bit less busy when the new A120 Stanstead - Braintree dual carriageway opens. I wish they'd hurry up and finish it!
|
I drove back from Essex to Surrey round the M25 in the early hours this morning and estimate more than 10% of vehicles on the road displayed illegal lighting. On a single journey I saw headlights broken, grossly misaligned lights, front foglights on with/without headlights, brake light(s) broken, white light showing to rear, blue lights on bonnet/windscreen, electrical faults causing rear lights to dim in sequence with indicators, the list goes on.
Despite continuous traffic flow, plenty of selfish people on the other side driving on full beam and European lorries with lights not adjusted for our side of the road.
Given the high number of vehicles with lighting faults, I can only assume plenty don't have an MOT or owners that give a monkeys about maintenance.
"When I was a lad" the coppers would pull you up the day a brake light failed and issue a producer after checking me for drink and a peek inside the vehicle. Bring back real policing!
|
Given the high number of vehicles with lighting faults, I can only assume plenty don't have an MOT or owners that give a monkeys about maintenance.
Some are too new for the MoT and with extended service intervals do you honestly expect the road warriors to check their own lights?
It is vary rare to see the front foglight brigade with only one working.
As mentioned on other threads, it is sometimes difficult to change certain bulbs.
I have just read in the Yaris manual that if the repeater indicator fails then it "should be replaced as an assembley". So it is not just change the bulb. I guess its buy the assembly as I prefer to carry a full set of spare bulbs.
As some cars already have, a dashboard indication of a failed bulb, IMO it should be mandatory on all new vehicles. Sadly if rear foglight indicators fail to register I could only anticipate a small improvement in getting lights fixed.
End of mumble mode.
|
|
I changed the rear stop/tail bulbs on my vehicle last week as both brake lights had failed. Within ONE DAY, one of the tail light filaments had gone. I haven't had time to change it again but it'll get done Saturday. So when you see someone driving with faulty tail/brake lights, don't just assume they can't be bothered fixing them!
|
|
|
|
