Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Road of Death

The Times reports that the A4074 from Reading to Oxford is one of the most dangerous roads in the UK with 10 fatalities since 1999 over 4 1/2 mile stretch.

How many speed cameras have been installed on this stretch of road if they are the panacea to dangerous driving?
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4 comments:

Alfie said...

I live on the A59, which is also an incredibly dangerous death trap of a road - especially for young boy racers - hardly a week goes by without someone within a 10 mile stretch of me wrapping his car around a tree. Our village has a 30 mile an hour limit - it is never observed. The solution to the problem? To hide a single speed camera in a thicket. No one can see it.

9:06 am
Snafu said...

Alfie, hiding any speed camera suggests that it is there to raise revenue rather than reduce the number of serious accidents and fatalities.

I really struggled to type a post saying that there maybe a need for more speed cameras to be installed anywhere in the UK!

It goes against all my principles!!

6:34 pm
Anonymous said...

Reading the article I was struck by how few of the deaths seemed to be single accidents, of the 'car went off the road' kind, caused by speed alone.

Most of them were motorists hitting other motorists (the Range Rover driver being a particularly heinous example) during dangerous or unsafe driving, or pedestrians being hit.

Nothing, in other words, that a speed camera would do anything about. So you've no need to worry about writing a post 'in favour of' speed cameras....

9:56 am
Anonymous said...

I live in Woodcote which is the start of the 13 bends of death in the article. The road is simply not straight enough for speed cameras. The road has a number of blind bends, deer crossing places and a number of entryways from large properties.

I have seen a number of incidents, and in fact since the article in the times know of more fatalities. Nothing apart from a road widening project would work. And as it's in the Chilterns AONB that won't be allowed. I agree, however, that speed kills. The number of drivers going too slowly cause frustration. This is a 50mph road, and I have followed drivers at 20mph.

12:36 am

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