London Banter - View Single Post

Ret. · November 10th 10, 11:08 AM posted to uk.rec.driving,uk.transport.london

d wrote:
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?

This will only be done where there is a fatality or the possibility of a
fatality. If a driver caused an accident in which one of your loved ones was
killed, I presume you would want him bringing to justice?

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.

Probably because in much of continental Europe the standard of driving is so
bad that there are considerably more accidents and dealing carefully with
each one would take up too much time?

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.

And you qualifications for claiming this are?

--
Kev