Death on the roads

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Thu 5 Sep 2002 14:03
Death on the roads - GJD
A14 (2 lane dual carriageway) North of Cambridge yesterday afternoon. Free flowing traffic at 70mph. Suddenly everything gets clogged up - HGVs frantically switching to the outside lane, brake lights on all over the place etc. Even though I was keeping a decent gap ahead I had to brake hard - fortuantely the guy behind was alert too so I didn't collect him in the boot. When I got to the head of the problem, it turned out to be a hearse and three other vehicles in convoy at 40mph. By no means the first time I've seen this. Presumably they regard potentially causing (albeit indirectly) a multi-vehicle pile up as a good way to generate business.

GJD
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Thu 5 Sep 2002 14:13
Death on the roads - doug_523i
Similar thing happens all the time on the M56, 80% of the time it's some mobile crane that struggles to 'nod' along at 30mph. I really think if a vehicle isn't capable of keeping up with the flow of traffic then it shouldn't be on that road. More so at peak times.
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Thu 5 Sep 2002 14:35
Death on the roads - Richard Hall
A14 Cambridge-Huntingdon is so overcrowded during the daytime that I am amazed it has not been given a 50mph speed limit (ideally 7am-7pm only). I used to drive this road almost every day, and most days there would be an accident of some sort. The large number of side turnings, farm entrances etc don't help. I'm sure I read somewhere that it is Britain's busiest stretch of dual carriageway.

Richard Hall
bangernomics.tripod.com
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Thu 5 Sep 2002 14:40
Death on the roads - BrianW
The A14 is the extension of the M11 and carries on to the A1(M) and the M1.
Most of the traffic on it is long-distance.
It really ought to be a motorway.
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Thu 5 Sep 2002 19:31
Death on the roads - Daedalus
Doug R1

You should see the M62 in the mornings at about 06:30. The mobile cranes head over to Manchester early to miss the worst traffic I suppose, and cause slow moving queues on the uphill section from 23 to 22. The worst is that you then see an apparantly identical crane heading the other direction to Leeds causing similar queues in the other direction.

Bill
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Thu 5 Sep 2002 14:33
Death on the roads - BrianW
There is a good case to be made for minimum speed limits on some M and A roads, with police escorts for those vehicles unable to make that pace.
There would then be no need to specify banned classes e.g. motorcycles under 50 cc. if they were capable of the performance.
(A Honda 50, capable of 50+ mph, is banned from a motorway.)
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Thu 5 Sep 2002 19:28
Death on the roads - Tom Shaw
When I lived in Essex it used to be quite common to be blasting along the NSL A127 just past Upminister to find a milk float causing chaos as it trundled along the nearside lane taking the short way back to it's depot in Hornchurch. I often wondered if the driver realised he was taking his life in his hands or if he was even aware of some spectacular avoiding action taken just behind him.

Definately should be restrictions on the type of roads slow moving vehicles can use.
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Sat 28 Sep 2002 02:28
Death on the roads - Dave_TD
Just as the M11 northbound turns into the A14 and bears to the west at Cambridge, the left hand lane (of 3) becomes the slip road for the Cambridge Crematorium...!
This would explain the hearse and mourners cars you saw.
I went to a funeral there on thursday and you have to slow almost to a standstill while still on the main carriageway, as the entrance to the complex is by way of a 90degree left turn off the nearside lane.
Of course anybody following a hearse into the site is likely to have their mind elsewhere, and certainly not on making sure they have pulled over safely out of the way of the passing traffic.
This road is the main signposted route bringing cross-channel traffic up from Dover to the north of england, next time you are driving on the M25 from dartford tunnel towards A1 you will see the sign that says "The NORTH via M11/A14/A1"
It also carries freight from the east coast ports of Harwich and Felixstowe to the West and North of the UK. So most of the passing traffic consists of lorry drivers on "auto-pilot"...
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