Basingstoke Crash! Are road planners to blame?
Discussion
So there I was this morning. Driving to work. I get to the entrance of my estate and join an unusually large queue heading down to a mini-rounbdabout.
This min-roundabout is the worst designed min-roundabout I have ever seen. Apart from that god-awful thing in Swindon.
Anyway, I digress.
This mini-rounadbout is shaped such that coming from the South or the East it is straigtforward to negotiaate. But from the North...the central circle (which is domed) is placed such that it is so far off centre the quickest way through the roundabout is to use the wrong side of the road.
In fact it is so badly shaped that a normal car with a regular turning circle cannot get around it coming from the North and either
(i) Has to go the wrong way around it. OR
(ii) Has to drive over the domed centre..at least partially.
I think this has been done to act as a sort of speed hump...????
This morning the inevitable happened. Two young lasses had a coming together.
Their cars looked decidedly second hand.
Clearly by definition it was their fault. But bl**dy hell. Our planners did nothing to prevent it.
Shame on you. You are mental. And finally I have proof.
Game on lads.
>>> Edited by Don on Thursday 21st November 09:32
This min-roundabout is the worst designed min-roundabout I have ever seen. Apart from that god-awful thing in Swindon.
Anyway, I digress.
This mini-rounadbout is shaped such that coming from the South or the East it is straigtforward to negotiaate. But from the North...the central circle (which is domed) is placed such that it is so far off centre the quickest way through the roundabout is to use the wrong side of the road.
In fact it is so badly shaped that a normal car with a regular turning circle cannot get around it coming from the North and either
(i) Has to go the wrong way around it. OR
(ii) Has to drive over the domed centre..at least partially.
I think this has been done to act as a sort of speed hump...????
This morning the inevitable happened. Two young lasses had a coming together.
Their cars looked decidedly second hand. Clearly by definition it was their fault. But bl**dy hell. Our planners did nothing to prevent it.
Shame on you. You are mental. And finally I have proof. Game on lads.
>>> Edited by Don on Thursday 21st November 09:32
I too live in Basingstoke, lets face it our local road planners have been spending a fortune in recent years. Unfortunatly I rarely understand the logic behind there decisions.
Removing perfectly good roundabouts, adding traffic signals everywhere, painting the roads red, and lowering the speed limits on duel carriageways to 50 mph.
Madness!!! I am sure there trying to bring the road system to a standstill in the hope we'll use it's pathetic excuse for a public transport system.
Removing perfectly good roundabouts, adding traffic signals everywhere, painting the roads red, and lowering the speed limits on duel carriageways to 50 mph.
Madness!!! I am sure there trying to bring the road system to a standstill in the hope we'll use it's pathetic excuse for a public transport system.
And what's laughable is that Basingstoke was developed with the car in mind.. and now they want to rid the place of them.. or at least piss off everyone who relies on a car. In fact, I doubt there's more than about 0.1% of households in basingstoke that doesn't have a car - and probably only 10% that don't have 2 cars or more..
Regarding this mini-roundabout and general traffic engineering lark, remember that recently, the HIghway Agency was deemed liable for road engineering which cost someone their life - the logic of this precedent must extend to all accidents caused by bad road engineering..
Problem is that some nobber on the council has insisted on a mini-roundabout, without allowing teh engineers to widen the road enough to make the thing safely negotiable. The council must be held to account in matters like this.
Perhaps one silverlining on the cloud of litigiousness is that this will become so, and obstructive road-engineering will be rendered a legal no-no and councils' liabilty insurers will insist on negating such exposure to litigation.
Regarding this mini-roundabout and general traffic engineering lark, remember that recently, the HIghway Agency was deemed liable for road engineering which cost someone their life - the logic of this precedent must extend to all accidents caused by bad road engineering..
Problem is that some nobber on the council has insisted on a mini-roundabout, without allowing teh engineers to widen the road enough to make the thing safely negotiable. The council must be held to account in matters like this.
Perhaps one silverlining on the cloud of litigiousness is that this will become so, and obstructive road-engineering will be rendered a legal no-no and councils' liabilty insurers will insist on negating such exposure to litigation.
markda said:Madness!!! I am sure there trying to bring the road system to a standstill in the hope we'll use it's pathetic excuse for a public transport system.
[rant]
This is the sworn duty of Bristol City Council - make it so damned difficult to get anywhere by car that we'll all leave them at home and use public transport. Unfortunately the proximity of Bristol to rural areas and the laughable state of the public transport ensures that we all end up sitting in gridlock rather than toe the line.
[/rant]
pdv6 said:
markda said:Madness!!! I am sure there trying to bring the road system to a standstill in the hope we'll use it's pathetic excuse for a public transport system.
[rant]
This is the sworn duty of Bristol City Council - make it so damned difficult to get anywhere by car that we'll all leave them at home and use public transport. Unfortunately the proximity of Bristol to rural areas and the laughable state of the public transport ensures that we all end up sitting in gridlock rather than toe the line.
[/rant]
Yup. Cribbs Causeway now does better business than the town centre. And is it any wonder? Hah. Stuff that in yer pipe and smoke it BSC...
I have similar problems with the newly painted roundabouts in my bit of b'stoke -- esp in the cerb.
And I still haven't fathomed out what all this gaudy road-painting is hoping to achieve. Did someone order 1 million gallons of the wrong paint, and they need to hide it somewhere?
Mentalists, the lot of 'em.
And I still haven't fathomed out what all this gaudy road-painting is hoping to achieve. Did someone order 1 million gallons of the wrong paint, and they need to hide it somewhere?
Mentalists, the lot of 'em.
Ah, the famous Swindon "Magic Roundabout". A quick Google search reveals a load of pics.
>> Edited by JonRB on Thursday 21st November 14:16
>> Edited by JonRB on Thursday 21st November 14:16
Too right! Before Xmas..
Don said:Its nearly time we organised another beer night.
Basigstoke PHers up for some beverages of an alcoholic variety? Step forward.. don't be shy..
Which reminds me, Don - are you, by any chance thinking of coming to teh ABD meeting on Saturday? If not, I'm compelled to ask 'why not?'
CarZee said: Which reminds me, Don - are you, by any chance thinking of coming to teh ABD meeting on Saturday? If not, I'm compelled to ask 'why not?'
Unfortunately I have other committments. I have, however, recently renewed my membership and made a small donation to the fighting fund...so I am trying!
I shall also mostly be causing trouble for the local planning department....
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