On Wed, 10 Nov 2010 09:00:33 -0000
"Ret." wrote:
Difficult to comment upon this particular incident without being in
possession of the full facts - but I can assure you that traffic police will
never close off a major route for any longer than necessary because it
simply causes more problems for them on surrounding roads.

Sorry if I'm not 100% convinced about that. They seem to close off major
routes and motorways at the drop of a hat these days.

I don't know what load this truck was carrying - but if it was hazardous -
or there had been a spill of load across the road, they are reasons for for

No spill, looked like a bog standard 7.5 tonner.

closing the road. Also - if people are killed, or so seriously injured that
they might die, then the scene has to be extensively photographed and

Unlikely. It had ridden up a few metres onto a divider seperating the
turn off from the main A406. IT wasn't even badly damaged. The worst the
driver would have suffered I suspect would be a bit of whiplash.

triangulation measurements taken for the production of accurate plans of the
accident scene. Also any skid marks will need to be measured and the
co-efficient of friction of the road surface calculated. This sort of
investigation cannot easily be done with other traffic streaming past.

Oh for gods why?? Why this anally retentive forensic measuring of everything?
As long as no one is drunk or dead just clear up the mess and let the insurance
sort it out. Why do the police feel they always need to charge someone with
something? Haven't they got any real criminals to chase?

The sort of heading on this thread is usually posted by people who are
simply ignorant of what is required in relation to accident investigation.

Its actually usually by people who've driven extensively in europe and know
how quickly they manage to clear even serious accidents over there and
generally don't even close the road while they're doing it.

I repeat, however, that it is the intention of traffic police always to get
normal traffic moving again as quickly as possible. To suggest that they
block off major routes for no good reason is a nonsense.

No it isn't.

B2003