Heads up - A1 between Blaydon Bridge and Angel

Heads up - A1 between Blaydon Bridge and Angel

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Discussion

TameRacingDriver

Original Poster:

18,333 posts

278 months

Thursday 19th July 2012
quotequote all
Just a heads up, I heard on the radio today that the Rozzers are planning to have a "crack down" on speeding on the stretch of the A1 between Blaydon Bridge and Angel of the North (50 limit). Zero tolerance was mentioned.

It said throughout August, but hey, what's to stop them doing this starting from next week?

Confirms in my mind that this limit was reduced as a revenue earner, as 50 is far too low, as evidenced by the amount of people who ignore it (i.e. at least 50% of the traffic on there).

If it wasn't such a ridiculous limit, perhaps people wouldn't break it, but hey ho.

I don't personally use the stretch (or at least rarely) but I imagine there are plenty who do.

WATCH OUT!

SeanyD

3,389 posts

206 months

Thursday 19th July 2012
quotequote all
Nice one mate, we use it most weekends and likely fall into the 50% you mention.

Sticking to 50 on that stretch feels like you could walk quicker. rolleyes

TameRacingDriver

Original Poster:

18,333 posts

278 months

Thursday 19th July 2012
quotequote all
SeanyD said:
Nice one mate, we use it most weekends and likely fall into the 50% you mention.

Sticking to 50 on that stretch feels like you could walk quicker. rolleyes
It certainly does Sean. Stupid, stupid limit rolleyes

TameRacingDriver

Original Poster:

18,333 posts

278 months

FreeLitres

6,095 posts

183 months

Thursday 19th July 2012
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Nice to know. 50 does feel slow there so I can imagine many will get caught out.

Baryonyx

18,059 posts

165 months

Thursday 19th July 2012
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Got to be careful on that stretch - the fact that there is a 'speed crackdown' is primarily because some people have complained about speeding as the article suggests. What a damn shame they changed the limit, the council never even thought to provide any justification. I am not surprised that people still 'speed' (and I use the term loosely) along there as it was perfectly safe for many, many years at 70mph. What has changed?

Luckily when I used to commute to Durham it was still NSL and it was a swift (and safe) stretch of road.

Scrambled

589 posts

172 months

Thursday 19th July 2012
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Remember what it was like when it was a seventy limit. Nose to tail traffic and you struggled to get over seventy. At fifty there is a constant flow of traffic. It's not really that big a stretch to try and adhere to the speed limits.

However, like other areas of the country, a variable speed limit would probably be more appropriate.

TameRacingDriver

Original Poster:

18,333 posts

278 months

Thursday 19th July 2012
quotequote all
Scrambled said:
Remember what it was like when it was a seventy limit. Nose to tail traffic and you struggled to get over seventy. At fifty there is a constant flow of traffic. It's not really that big a stretch to try and adhere to the speed limits.

However, like other areas of the country, a variable speed limit would probably be more appropriate.
Agreed, 50 is right at peak times. Not at midnight however.

You could say the same about the traffic lights on roundabouts on at all hours (some of which don't even help at peak times).

Scrambled

589 posts

172 months

Thursday 19th July 2012
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TameRacingDriver said:
Agreed, 50 is right at peak times. Not at midnight however.

You could say the same about the traffic lights on roundabouts on at all hours (some of which don't even help at peak times).
Could accept it if you could NSL upto to say 7am and then after 9.pm and all day Sunday. Suspect Saturday would benefit from being 50 all day while the zombies flock to the Metro Centre.
Totally agree on the traffic lights.

Mind you, on the subject of roundabouts, sometimes drop a mate off after work _ the roundabout at the end of Scotswood road could do with lights.

TameRacingDriver

Original Poster:

18,333 posts

278 months

Friday 20th July 2012
quotequote all
Scrambled said:
Could accept it if you could NSL upto to say 7am and then after 9.pm and all day Sunday. Suspect Saturday would benefit from being 50 all day while the zombies flock to the Metro Centre.
Totally agree on the traffic lights.

Mind you, on the subject of roundabouts, sometimes drop a mate off after work _ the roundabout at the end of Scotswood road could do with lights.
Which roundabout do you speak of? As far as I know they all do have lights except the small ones along towards lemington and newburn. If you mean the scotswood bridge junction then yes I agree; at peak times I've actually found it easier to go over the bridge, to the roundabout near KFC and come back again!

Scrambled

589 posts

172 months

Friday 20th July 2012
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TameRacingDriver said:
Which roundabout do you speak of? As far as I know they all do have lights except the small ones along towards lemington and newburn. If you mean the scotswood bridge junction then yes I agree; at peak times I've actually found it easier to go over the bridge, to the roundabout near KFC and come back again!
Yeah, that's the one. Nobody ever wants to let anybody out. The sequence of lights at the roundabout beyond means there is just a constant stream of traffic.

Probably quicker to not only go to the KFC roundabout but call in have a family bucket and come back out again and then come back across the bridge.

As an aside, this thread should be kept going separate to the other NE police thread so that we can identify where they hide along that section of the A1.

TameRacingDriver

Original Poster:

18,333 posts

278 months

Friday 20th July 2012
quotequote all
Scrambled said:
Probably quicker to not only go to the KFC roundabout but call in have a family bucket and come back out again and then come back across the bridge.
rofl

True though! It is terrible. I either go that way, or just turn off right after the Audi garage and go up towards Denton Burn. That junction desperately needs improvement.

Scrambled said:
As an aside, this thread should be kept going separate to the other NE police thread so that we can identify where they hide along that section of the A1.
Agreed.

After_Shock

8,751 posts

226 months

Friday 20th July 2012
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TameRacingDriver said:
Agreed.
Always thought if turned right at Audi and went up the hill it was a dead end??

Streetym89

933 posts

156 months

Saturday 21st July 2012
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I use this stretch every morning at 5am. 50 mph seems to slow when the only other thing on the road is roadkill.

TameRacingDriver

Original Poster:

18,333 posts

278 months

Saturday 21st July 2012
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After_Shock said:
Always thought if turned right at Audi and went up the hill it was a dead end??
Not that one, whitehouse road, further along (had to look that up on a map!)

cslwannabe

1,496 posts

175 months

Saturday 21st July 2012
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Thanks for the tipoff - used to travel that road everyday and before 6am most people ignore the 50mph limit altogether. During the roadworks a couple of years ago it really helped the traffic flow in the afternoon rush hour instead of the usual stop/ start situation but imposing it 24/7 is nuts.

minimoog

6,928 posts

225 months

Wednesday 25th July 2012
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You do see a lot of accidents on that stretch of the A1, so I'm not surprised the 50mph limit was introduced.

...by retards who totally failed to realise all the prangs were at <10mph in the rush hour crawl rolleyes

z4me

303 posts

175 months

Thursday 26th July 2012
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Struggling to comprehend who would do this :

The stretch of road between the Blaydon Bridge and the Angel of the North was changed to a 50mph zone around 12 months ago and since the change officers have received a number of complaints about drivers ignoring the limit and speeding in the area

Could understand if it was outside a school or playground, but do people actually ring the police and complain that people aren't sticking to speed limits on a motorway.

TameRacingDriver

Original Poster:

18,333 posts

278 months

Thursday 26th July 2012
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No I don't get it either...

SeanyD

3,389 posts

206 months

Thursday 26th July 2012
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From the police link..."It is in place to protect road users and help ease traffic flow at peak times."

Rubbish. During peak times you'd struggle to do more than 50mph, and off-peak times you can comfortably do more than 50mph without the need to be 'protected'. The only danger is numpty drivers driving too close and not obeying the 2 second rule, so applying the 50mph speed limit is irrelevant, other than an easy target for the BiB to make a few quid and dish out a few points.