The A14 onion spill.
A14: Experts to analyse crashes to see if safety work needed
BY RICHARD CORNWELL
Friday, October 19, 2012
3:23 PM
HIGHWAYS experts are to look at the recent spate of crashes on the A14 between Seven Hills and the Orwell Bridge to see if they form part of a longer pattern of incidents.
The Highways Agency analyses accidents to see why they happened – and assess if safety action is needed to trunk roads to prevent further incidents in future.
Two weeks ago, the A14 was closed for more than a day after two accidents a mile apart on the westbound carriageway.
In the first incident a lorry overturned spilling thousands of onions across the carriageway.
Just 18 minutes after the clean-up was complete and the road re-opened, three lorries were in collision on the same stretch, forcing its closure again.
This week the Orwell Bridge was closed again for nearly two hours after a trailer on a vehicle became loose, a car smashed into it and then several others were also caught up in the chaos. Police said there were only minor injuries among the drivers involved.
A spokeswoman for the Highways Agency said all accidents which closed the road were assessed.
“Safety is our top priority and we work closely with the police to monitor any areas of concern on our road network,” she said.
“We actively monitor accident data to identify potential problem areas.
“This data allows us to examine where clusters of accidents occur on our road network.
“The data reviews the last three years so that we can see any particular trends that are developing.
“We use this information to drive our safety improvement programme and address any areas of potential concern.”
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4 comments
Two things that will greatly improve the safety on the A14. 1. Stop Home Farm Nacton from sending their tractors out during rush hour, or ban them totally. Too big and too slow. 2. Change the slip road from the shell garage, whoever had the idea of putting such a short slip on a bend...genius..almost every night there is a potential accident at that spot.
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Andrew Ward
Friday, October 19, 2012
A dual carriageway is THE route too and from one of the busiest ports in Europe, circling around the busiest town in the county, what do you expect.
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equalibrium
Friday, October 19, 2012
Unfortunately, it would appear to be vehicles coming out of the garage at the bottom of the Orwell Bridge (West bound) that is causing the majority of the issues. In addition, drivers who are desparate to get home, clog up the outer lane and the 'shot' back into the inside lane when trying to get off the A14 at Nacton and Seven Hills, causing lorries and other road users to 'slam' on their brakes! Set up No Overtaking lanes and force drivers to 'Get In Lane' in plenty of time. Another irritating cause of traffic problems is the rush of lorry drivers to get their loads from A to B, without really thinking about other road users. Why do they always attempt to over-take slower lorries on a hill? This always leads to long tail backs and can take upto a mile or so before they have completed their manouver but they have also 'upset' fellow road users.
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Steve Squirrell
Friday, October 19, 2012
So that will be the usual "lets bring it down to 50mph brigade", nothing to do with the huge increase in traffic over the past 15 years and the incessant need for a bypass.
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trueblue
Friday, October 19, 2012