Are local councils deliberately ruining roads?
Discussion
Hi there, I am new to these forums I joined because I wanted other drivers' opinions on bad road modifications and some thoughts as to why it is happening...
The pink line is where the kerb was before, it was perfect width before, and there was pretty much zero danger of a crash. Now the road has been tightened by a huge amount. 95% of the time I am approaching to turn right onto the main road, I need to take evasive action even though I am on my side of the centre/hazard line. This is because if someone is turning left from the main road into this side road they almost always end up cutting the centre line with their front-right wheel.
Dozens of times a day, a LWB delivery van needs to get into the road from the main road and it's pretty much impossible unless the drivers on the side road re-position themselves 1 inch from the kerb. It ends up taking 1-2 minutes, sometimes longer, for everyone to nudge themselves to the left and give extra space. This increases congestion dramatically, especially during rush hours.
Furthermore, there have been multiple accidents here since they did this utterly pointless "modification". Every single day, hundreds of drivers need to take evasive action which they didn't need to take before.
On one occasion I have seen a fire brigade being delayed because everyone had to mount the kerb to make enough space for it to pass. Whereas before there was absolutely no issues here whatsoever.
There are literally dozens of junctions which have been "tightened" and ended up increasing hazard, congestion, rage, and emergency service response time.
Another example is they recently made a big road one-way only, and it has now increased congestion on the surrounding roads. Instead of driving straight through, 1000 cars per day now need to find a way around and it ends up increasing congestion on the surrounding roads, It simply means thousands of cars per day are now forced to take a 1000 foot detour just to get to the same point (lol) and now these cars end up congesting roads which were never congested before!
These are just a couple of examples If i listed every single one this post would be 30 times longer than it is! Over the past 3 years they have ruined dozens upon dozens of local roads and junctions, and the effect of their modifications is evident as soon as they re-open the road after the roadworks. These roads used to be absolutely fine and as soon as they ruin and re-open the roads the congestion is suddenly increased by 300-1000%.
Does anybody know why this is actually happening? Is it pure idiocy, as in someone unqualified is in charge of the road planning? or is it some sort of conspiracy to actually increase congestion/road rage/give extra time for criminals to flee/give extra time for people's houses to burn down?
I simply do not know, this is why I would like other people's humble opinions.
Thanks for reading.
The pink line is where the kerb was before, it was perfect width before, and there was pretty much zero danger of a crash. Now the road has been tightened by a huge amount. 95% of the time I am approaching to turn right onto the main road, I need to take evasive action even though I am on my side of the centre/hazard line. This is because if someone is turning left from the main road into this side road they almost always end up cutting the centre line with their front-right wheel.
Dozens of times a day, a LWB delivery van needs to get into the road from the main road and it's pretty much impossible unless the drivers on the side road re-position themselves 1 inch from the kerb. It ends up taking 1-2 minutes, sometimes longer, for everyone to nudge themselves to the left and give extra space. This increases congestion dramatically, especially during rush hours.
Furthermore, there have been multiple accidents here since they did this utterly pointless "modification". Every single day, hundreds of drivers need to take evasive action which they didn't need to take before.
On one occasion I have seen a fire brigade being delayed because everyone had to mount the kerb to make enough space for it to pass. Whereas before there was absolutely no issues here whatsoever.
There are literally dozens of junctions which have been "tightened" and ended up increasing hazard, congestion, rage, and emergency service response time.
Another example is they recently made a big road one-way only, and it has now increased congestion on the surrounding roads. Instead of driving straight through, 1000 cars per day now need to find a way around and it ends up increasing congestion on the surrounding roads, It simply means thousands of cars per day are now forced to take a 1000 foot detour just to get to the same point (lol) and now these cars end up congesting roads which were never congested before!
These are just a couple of examples If i listed every single one this post would be 30 times longer than it is! Over the past 3 years they have ruined dozens upon dozens of local roads and junctions, and the effect of their modifications is evident as soon as they re-open the road after the roadworks. These roads used to be absolutely fine and as soon as they ruin and re-open the roads the congestion is suddenly increased by 300-1000%.
Does anybody know why this is actually happening? Is it pure idiocy, as in someone unqualified is in charge of the road planning? or is it some sort of conspiracy to actually increase congestion/road rage/give extra time for criminals to flee/give extra time for people's houses to burn down?
I simply do not know, this is why I would like other people's humble opinions.
Thanks for reading.
I have been convinced of this kind of thing for some time now, mainly a desire to blackmail people onto public transport, especially in towns and cities.
The problem is that obviously public transport does not suit everyone's needs, and also the entire nation other than perhaps London is geared around driving, shopping, work, leisure. Then you have the incessant over taxation of peoples cars, insurance, fuel, diesel gate etc, endless oil prices rises for jumped up reason, our gas near me went up about 8 p a litre after Xmas, just ridiculous. It's all lined to an overall desire to fleece the motorist, despite THEM needing us to pay for everything!
I am fairly sure it is deliberate, and actually rather callous.
The problem is that obviously public transport does not suit everyone's needs, and also the entire nation other than perhaps London is geared around driving, shopping, work, leisure. Then you have the incessant over taxation of peoples cars, insurance, fuel, diesel gate etc, endless oil prices rises for jumped up reason, our gas near me went up about 8 p a litre after Xmas, just ridiculous. It's all lined to an overall desire to fleece the motorist, despite THEM needing us to pay for everything!
I am fairly sure it is deliberate, and actually rather callous.
7mike said:
Your local highways authority have probably listened to some goon fresh out of uni who's told them narrower streets mean cars go slower. Slower=safer in their eyes, but as you say it's made to roads riskier. Why not drop them a line and ask what their reasoning is?
Well if you ask the question I hope you live long enough to get an answer, because reasoning is something they don't seem able to understand!Good luck.
It's one of those jobs where those in charge of implementing a new road layout can do no wrong - because it's in the interest of "say-f-tee" and a public service. And if they do balls it up there is no budget to change it back or improve it until 2 decades down the line.
I constantly question new build scheme, such as retail parks, where they only build one entrance/exit. If there is a certain number of car movements then more than one of each should be built.
I constantly question new build scheme, such as retail parks, where they only build one entrance/exit. If there is a certain number of car movements then more than one of each should be built.
I did get a reasoning letter/planning letter for one of the local one way conversions because its a side road off the road I live on. Apparently it was to "reduce congestion". They actually seem to think that making a road one way will just make all the vehicles which would have used the road, vanish. When in reality they just spill out into other roads and have to take 1000 foot detours around and congest other roads which would never have been congested.
It's truly bizarre and I am shocked there is no one checking up on how stupidly public funds are being completely and utterly wasted. In other news my mother had to get a GP appointment and the waiting time was THREE weeks. If only they had pumped the millions of pounds they spent ruining the roads and given them to some locum doctors instead of their, personal interest construction companies, they could clear the NHS backlog and we could go back to a time when we could see a doctor almost instantly. Man I miss the 90s.
It's just beyond belief, the PM, the Mayor, the local councillors, they are either all absolutely clueless and have no idea how to run a country, or, they are simply pure evil and on a mission to milk public funds and pump the money into their personal interest companies.
It's truly bizarre and I am shocked there is no one checking up on how stupidly public funds are being completely and utterly wasted. In other news my mother had to get a GP appointment and the waiting time was THREE weeks. If only they had pumped the millions of pounds they spent ruining the roads and given them to some locum doctors instead of their, personal interest construction companies, they could clear the NHS backlog and we could go back to a time when we could see a doctor almost instantly. Man I miss the 90s.
It's just beyond belief, the PM, the Mayor, the local councillors, they are either all absolutely clueless and have no idea how to run a country, or, they are simply pure evil and on a mission to milk public funds and pump the money into their personal interest companies.
To answer the basic question I suspect some local councils are deliberately seeking to make life unpleasant for drivers with the aim of discouraging car usage, and a fair proportion of the others are simply incompetent.
Examples:
Siting bus stops opposite pedestrian refuges in the middle of the road, so that vehicles have to wait behind any bus that stops there.
Installing ill-considered traffic light systems that cause unnecessary delays and add to congestion.
Neglecting to keep roads surfaces in decent condition so that potholes can be used as a form of traffic calming.
Examples:
Siting bus stops opposite pedestrian refuges in the middle of the road, so that vehicles have to wait behind any bus that stops there.
Installing ill-considered traffic light systems that cause unnecessary delays and add to congestion.
Neglecting to keep roads surfaces in decent condition so that potholes can be used as a form of traffic calming.
p1esk said:
Siting bus stops opposite pedestrian refuges in the middle of the road, so that vehicles have to wait behind any bus that stops there.
Ah yes this is just plain stupid. I remember back in the 90s they used to make bus stops in their own lay-by, away from the traffic, and all traffic could easily go past and get to their destinations much quicker and safer.Nowadays they are actively removing the laybys and making busses block traffic flow so cars take much longer getting to their destination and there is much more congestion. Also it's much more dangerous because I've personally been in situations where an idiot tries to pass a bus and I have to brake hard.
I mean why make life more difficult? Why increase congestion? Why actively try to increase pollution? Why actively try to increase road danger? It just doesn't make any sense.
I mean the recent one way implementation means that traffic is now forced to detour past a school, I know for a fact that an extra 200-500 cars per day minimum are now forced to go past the school because they cant go straight through any more. They must have known that they are forcing traffic to go past a school by making this road one-way, therefore they must be trying to poison schoolkids with extra exhaust fumes.
Another example is they recently put speed-humps near a school, before you could literally coast down the road with minimal throttle. Now all drivers need to brake and speed up, brake, speed up, brake, speed up, etc etc. It's like having a constant gas tap on outside the school fence. And these are the types of humps which will ruin your car if you go over them at 20mph, so drivers are forced to slow down to 5-10mph and then use more gas and thus poison more schoolkids.
They must have known the effect the speed humps would have on the adjacent school grounds, so again i am led to believe that this is a pure evil attempt to poison schoolkids. Its unbelievable.
Edited by Maurice Chavez on Saturday 25th January 21:19
Dont like rolls said:
Town planners are mostly cyclists.....QED
Well most of the local road-destruction is done by a company called "con way".Looking at their website they use "artificial intelligence" to design the roads.
I mean why use artificial intelligence? Why not just use an actual intelligent person to design roads????? Its just absolutely bizarre.
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