Well done Highways Agency (!)
 

Not sure if anyone noticed this morning, but a major accident shut the
M25 anti-clockwise, near Heathrow. It caused chaos as you might
imagine, and I bet a fair few people missed flights or wasted half the
day as the police and incident response units cleared up the mess.

Top marks must go to the Highways Agency/police control centre for
ensuring that the huge gantry signs kept people informed throughout.
Yes, with a motorway closed and traffic building up - it's always good
to say "THINK DON'T PHONE WHILE DRIVING".

WTF? Didn't they learn anything after the M25 closure (for nearly 24
hours at the QE2 bridge)? That was even worse, and the signs were
showing more "THINK!" campaign messages then. How can they happily
allow people to join the jam when a simple "MOTORWAY CLOSED AHEAD"
would allow people to make a diversion early, or turn around if the
journey wasn't absolutely necessary.

Jonathan

Well done Highways Agency (!)
 

In article .com,
() wrote:

Not sure if anyone noticed this morning, but a major accident shut the
M25 anti-clockwise, near Heathrow. It caused chaos as you might
imagine, and I bet a fair few people missed flights or wasted half the
day as the police and incident response units cleared up the mess.

Top marks must go to the Highways Agency/police control centre for
ensuring that the huge gantry signs kept people informed throughout.
Yes, with a motorway closed and traffic building up - it's always good
to say "THINK DON'T PHONE WHILE DRIVING".

WTF? Didn't they learn anything after the M25 closure (for nearly 24
hours at the QE2 bridge)? That was even worse, and the signs were
showing more "THINK!" campaign messages then. How can they happily
allow people to join the jam when a simple "MOTORWAY CLOSED AHEAD"
would allow people to make a diversion early, or turn around if the
journey wasn't absolutely necessary.

Not sure why you're ranting in this newsgroup but the signs on the M11
approach to the M25 this morning warned of the delays at M25 J16/7.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Well done Highways Agency (!)
 

I agree - with the information available on websites and via
trafficmaster, etc., it is frustrating that the matrix displays cannot
be used more proactively. I would rather hear about delays and blockages
well in advance than when I am in the queue. Even where there are no
matrix signs, to use the "standard" units to display an "!" to warn of
an incident ahead would be a useful start.

John
In article .com,
writes
Not sure if anyone noticed this morning, but a major accident shut the
M25 anti-clockwise, near Heathrow. It caused chaos as you might
imagine, and I bet a fair few people missed flights or wasted half the
day as the police and incident response units cleared up the mess.

Top marks must go to the Highways Agency/police control centre for
ensuring that the huge gantry signs kept people informed throughout.
Yes, with a motorway closed and traffic building up - it's always good
to say "THINK DON'T PHONE WHILE DRIVING".

WTF? Didn't they learn anything after the M25 closure (for nearly 24
hours at the QE2 bridge)? That was even worse, and the signs were
showing more "THINK!" campaign messages then. How can they happily
allow people to join the jam when a simple "MOTORWAY CLOSED AHEAD"
would allow people to make a diversion early, or turn around if the
journey wasn't absolutely necessary.

Jonathan


--
John Alexander,

Remove NOSPAM if replying by e-mail

Well done Highways Agency (!)
 

wrote in message
oups.com...
Not sure if anyone noticed this morning, but a major accident shut the
M25 anti-clockwise, near Heathrow. It caused chaos as you might
imagine, and I bet a fair few people missed flights or wasted half the
day as the police and incident response units cleared up the mess.

Top marks must go to the Highways Agency/police control centre for
ensuring that the huge gantry signs kept people informed throughout.
Yes, with a motorway closed and traffic building up - it's always good
to say "THINK DON'T PHONE WHILE DRIVING".

WTF? Didn't they learn anything after the M25 closure (for nearly 24
hours at the QE2 bridge)? That was even worse, and the signs were
showing more "THINK!" campaign messages then. How can they happily
allow people to join the jam when a simple "MOTORWAY CLOSED AHEAD"
would allow people to make a diversion early, or turn around if the
journey wasn't absolutely necessary.

I heard a motorway police control room officer say in a lecture a few years
ago that the police preferred to keep traffic stationary on a motorway
because at least that way it isn't diverting onto other roads that can't
handle the extra volume of traffic. For this reason, he loathed the fact
that radio stations give out traffic reports that might allow people to take
an alternative route. I can see his point, but it does seem very churlish
not to tell people of a hold up and just to let them join the M25 car park
from which there is no escape. When the A34 near me was blocked by yet
another bloody HGV jacknifing, the limit of the police's involvement was to
hand out bottles of water to imprisoned motorists, rather than taking
drastic measures and either dismantling the crash barrier or reversing cars
to the nearest junction. Obviously first priority goes to rescuing anyone
injured in the crash and clearing the road, but I think motorists stuck
there for several hours tend to get forgotten about.

Well done Highways Agency (!)
 

On 29 Aug 2005 09:57:34 -0700, wrote:

Not sure if anyone noticed this morning, but a major accident shut the
M25 anti-clockwise, near Heathrow. It caused chaos as you might
imagine, and I bet a fair few people missed flights or wasted half the
day as the police and incident response units cleared up the mess.

Top marks must go to the Highways Agency/police control centre for
ensuring that the huge gantry signs kept people informed throughout.
Yes, with a motorway closed and traffic building up - it's always good
to say "THINK DON'T PHONE WHILE DRIVING".

The signs were showing that the M25 was closed all up the M1, from at least
Leicester downwards.

Steve

Well done Highways Agency (!)
 

wrote:
Not sure if anyone noticed this morning, but a major accident shut the
M25 anti-clockwise, near Heathrow. It caused chaos as you might
imagine, and I bet a fair few people missed flights or wasted half the
day as the police and incident response units cleared up the mess.

Top marks must go to the Highways Agency/police control centre for
ensuring that the huge gantry signs kept people informed throughout.
Yes, with a motorway closed and traffic building up - it's always good
to say "THINK DON'T PHONE WHILE DRIVING".

WTF? Didn't they learn anything after the M25 closure (for nearly 24
hours at the QE2 bridge)? That was even worse, and the signs were
showing more "THINK!" campaign messages then. How can they happily
allow people to join the jam when a simple "MOTORWAY CLOSED AHEAD"
would allow people to make a diversion early, or turn around if the
journey wasn't absolutely necessary.

Jonathan
I see that the lorry that crashed was a tanker carrying hydrogen
peroxide. Just as well it didn't crash into a tanker carrying acetone.

Kevin

Well done Highways Agency (!)
 

wrote in message
oups.com...

I see that the lorry that crashed was a tanker
carrying hydrogen peroxide. Just as well it
didn't crash into a tanker carrying acetone.

Hundreds of bodies with blonde hair and no nail varnish!

--
John Rowland - Spamtrapped
Transport Plans for the London Area, updated 2001
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acro...69/tpftla.html
A man's vehicle is a symbol of his manhood.
That's why my vehicle's the Piccadilly Line -
It's the size of a county and it comes every two and a half minutes

Well done Highways Agency (!)
 

John Rowland wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...

I see that the lorry that crashed was a tanker
carrying hydrogen peroxide. Just as well it
didn't crash into a tanker carrying acetone.

Hundreds of bodies with blonde hair and no nail varnish!

--
John Rowland - Spamtrapped
Transport Plans for the London Area, updated 2001
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acro...69/tpftla.html
A man's vehicle is a symbol of his manhood.
That's why my vehicle's the Piccadilly Line -
It's the size of a county and it comes every two and a half minutes
I was thinking more about the acetone peroxide. Every suicide bomber
would have been making tracks to Staines to collect the ingredients.

Kevin

Well done Highways Agency (!)
 

On 30 Aug 2005 07:56:19 -0700,
wrote in . com:

John Rowland wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...

I see that the lorry that crashed was a tanker
carrying hydrogen peroxide. Just as well it
didn't crash into a tanker carrying acetone.

Hundreds of bodies with blonde hair and no nail varnish!

It's the size of a county and it comes every two and a half minutes
I was thinking more about the acetone peroxide. Every suicide bomber
would have been making tracks to Staines to collect the ingredients.

Hmm, suicide bombs rather than suicide blondes...

--
Ivan Reid, Electronic & Computer Engineering, ___ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. ] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

Well done Highways Agency (!)