d wrote:

On the radio yet again this morning - an accident at Clacket Lane services.
Is there something particularly bad about the way the exits roads to this
service station have been designed? I've driven that part of the M25 more times
than is probably good for me but I haven't noticed anything unusual that
would give rise to so many accidents but clearly something is confusing some
motorists. Does anyone have any ideas?

I've asked the same question in the past, having noticed the same thing. I
remember one spectacuklar even in late 2004 when the M25 was closed both ways
between Sevenoaks and Godstone (A21 - A22) because two (UK-registered) HGVs -
going in the same direction - had collided with each other one night and gone
off the side of the carriageway, needing to be recovered painstakingly over
three days.

Needless to say, the whole region was in chaos. Even the northern side of M25
was affected with diversions round the other way.

The cause is, at a minimum, reckless and inconsiderate driving by HGV drivers
(trying to get more out of the road than it can give in terms of speed and
capacity).

Some say it is because the area is the first really busy stretch of motorway
that foreign truck drivers encounter when coming along M20/M26. But not all
the worst incidents have happened when the road was busy (as noted above,
truck accidents often happen at dead of night). And not all the accidents
have involved foreign drivers.

The answer - there IS one - is to restrict HGVs to the nearside lane only,
24/7/365.

In message , JNugent
writes
wrote:

On the radio yet again this morning - an accident at Clacket Lane
services. Is there something particularly bad about the way the exits
roads to this
service station have been designed? I've driven that part of the M25
more times
than is probably good for me but I haven't noticed anything unusual that
would give rise to so many accidents but clearly something is confusing some
motorists. Does anyone have any ideas?

I've asked the same question in the past, having noticed the same
thing. I remember one spectacuklar even in late 2004 when the M25 was
closed both ways between Sevenoaks and Godstone (A21 - A22) because two
(UK-registered) HGVs - going in the same direction - had collided with
each other one night and gone off the side of the carriageway, needing
to be recovered painstakingly over three days.

Needless to say, the whole region was in chaos. Even the northern side
of M25 was affected with diversions round the other way.

The cause is, at a minimum, reckless and inconsiderate driving by HGV
drivers (trying to get more out of the road than it can give in terms
of speed and capacity).

Some say it is because the area is the first really busy stretch of
motorway that foreign truck drivers encounter when coming along
M20/M26. But not all the worst incidents have happened when the road
was busy (as noted above, truck accidents often happen at dead of
night). And not all the accidents have involved foreign drivers.

The answer - there IS one - is to restrict HGVs to the nearside lane
only, 24/7/365.

It does seem that certain stretches of road attract a high proportion of
accidents or breakdowns.

In the last few months, that old favourite, the Dartford tunnel, seems
to be having a lot of breakdowns and lorries getting jammed. [A few
months ago, wasn't there fire which meant that it had to be closed for
nearly a week?]

On the M25, another favourite spot is the roadworks between J16 and 18,
past Rickmansworth.

On the M1, nearly every day there is one kind of incident or other in
the roadworks at the bottom end.

In roadworks, I've never really understood why there should be a greater
risk of accidents. In 50 years of driving, I've never seen one happen
there. [In fact, I've hardly ever seen a 'live' accident - except those
involving myself!]

And why do lorries choose to wait for roadworks before they break down?
--
Ian

On Tue, 4 May 2010 10:54:20 +0100
Ian Jackson wrote:
In roadworks, I've never really understood why there should be a greater
risk of accidents. In 50 years of driving, I've never seen one happen

Narrower lanes and lanes suddenly veering to the left or right and catching
out people who haven't been paying attention - on the M40 yesterday I saw
a BMW X5 gently veering in and out of the middle lane. When I passed it
it looked like the daft bitch was texting. If we'd been in roadworks she'd
have almost certainly crashed and probably taken a few other cars with her.

B2003

On Tue, 4 May 2010 10:54:20 +0100, Ian Jackson
wrote:

And why do lorries choose to wait for roadworks before they break down?

you only hear about those!
--
Mike. .. .
Gone beyond the ultimate driving machine.

On May 4, 10:54*am, Ian Jackson
wrote:
[snip]
In the last few months, that old favourite, the Dartford tunnel, seems
to be having a lot of breakdowns and lorries getting jammed. [A few
months ago, wasn't there fire which meant that it had to be closed for
nearly a week?]

You're getting muddled with the Blackwall tunnel - the northbound bore
was closed for repairs after a fire last November for a few days,
though I can't remember how long it lasted in the end though.

See:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23777182-.do
and
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/london/h...00/8385980.stm

On 04/05/2010 10:54, Ian Jackson wrote:
In 50 years of driving, I've never seen one happen there. [In fact,
I've hardly ever seen a 'live' accident

Interesting. Drivers rarely see a live accident, yet they happen daily
on the same stretches of road causing havoc for all. You would think
drivers would use a little logic here, rather than the standard
'continue as I always do as it's the other idiots'.
--
MrBitsy

In article ,
Ian Jackson wrote:
In roadworks, I've never really understood why there should be a greater
risk of accidents. In 50 years of driving, I've never seen one happen
there. [In fact, I've hardly ever seen a 'live' accident - except those
involving myself!]

I have: on the M11 a lorry lost a tyre about a mile ahead of me.
Quite entertaining.

--
Please help Imogen May keep talking - www.imogenmay.com

On Wed, May 05, 2010 at 10:25:51AM +0100, Mike Bristow wrote:
Ian Jackson wrote:
In roadworks, I've never really understood why there should be a greater
risk of accidents. In 50 years of driving, I've never seen one happen
there. [In fact, I've hardly ever seen a 'live' accident - except those
involving myself!]
I have: on the M11 a lorry lost a tyre about a mile ahead of me.
Quite entertaining.

I have too. On some northern motorway, someone coming the other way was
drifting all over the place. I thought "bah 'eck" (I'd been in the
north for a week, it was rubbing off on me) "that looks like trouble",
and then they hit the central barrier and the car bounced up in the air
and disintegrated. Seconds later I went through the cloud of debris,
thankfully suffering nothing worse than a chipped windscreen and a
dented roof.

I didn't see what else happened, or what happened to cause the initial
loss of control, and didn't hang around either, working on the
assumption that the accident was going to stop the traffic on the
northbound carriageway anyway and someone else would call for an
ambulance.

I did phone the Oop North Police when I got home to try and give a
statement but they weren't interested.

I wouldn't call it entertaining, but it was at least exciting. I expect
that having an HIV test after your SO admits to sleeping with tramps is
similar.

--
David Cantrell | Cake Smuggler Extraordinaire

THIS IS THE LANGUAGE POLICE
PUT DOWN YOUR THESAURUS
STEP AWAY FROM THE CLICHE

On Thu, 06 May 2010 12:25:00 +0100
David Cantrell wrote:
north for a week, it was rubbing off on me) "that looks like trouble",
and then they hit the central barrier and the car bounced up in the air
and disintegrated. Seconds later I went through the cloud of debris,

Motorway barriers are far too thin and low IMO. Occasionally they don't stop
cars and almost never stop trucks going through them. The yanks have the
right idea in some states - a 5 foot high solid concrete wall between the
carraigeways which even a tank can't get over as they found out in LA a few
years back. Plus it makes it harder for rubber neckers to get a look.

B2003

Thirty years ago I had a tyre blow-out on the southbound M11 carriageway about
a mile before the M25 junction. It was interesting but not entertaining. At
that point the southbound carriageway is downhill for about a mile, which of
course did not help me to slow down. I didn't dare touch my brakes so I
changed gears and drifted downhill. I thought I was going to get away with it
but when I was down to about 20 mph the car spun round and crashed into
the central reservation.