jhrfc1

Sadly a fatal accidient happened of the A40 on weds night (about midnight), an overturned lorry completey blocked westbound.
Two lanes eastbound had to be closed for access.
I can understand this causes problems on my journey to work at 8:00am.
But why the HELL were the same clousres still in effect at 18:00 in the evening!
I'm sure others here where caught in the chaos, it took me 3 hours to do the first 7 miles of my journey.
Surely th old bill can take their photos, and measure their skidmarks a little quicker than this?
But they're not answerable to anybody so they just take theire sweet time.

RB5320

2 drivers have been arrested, on charges of causing death by dangerous driving. In view of this, I would imagine the Police investigations must take some time.
More importantly, the road has to be resurfaced, apparently due to the huge amount of diesel which has soaked into the tarmac.

Steve

Scooby96

2 bmw drivers wasnt it - allegedly racing?

RB5320

Correct, 1 of whom did a runner from the scene.

Goochie

where abouts on the A40 was this?

scoob_babe

Haven't both have been arrested though? I saw the shocking state of the lorry cab on the news.

RB5320

Both drivers have now been arrested. The accident was close to the Polish war memorial. More details here - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3266241.stm

ChrisB

What a mess of the truck. Poor bloke

S.B.

Dont worry about that jhrfc1 wanted to get home.....

jhrfc1

Read my post SB, it's tragic an innocent person was killed by these selfish idiots, but my problem is with the time taken to re-open a major route.
Do you suggest we should keep the A40 closed for a week as a mark of respect?

S.B.

As stated above:
Would you rather the road be opened with a dangerous surface? Which could cause another accident.

corradoboy

Sympathies to the innocent victim.

20 hours. That gets the Plod well into their 3rd shift of standing around drinking coffee watching the Fire Brigade do their job.

RB5320

Incredibly this is the third fatality in one week on this stretch of the A40 - a straight dual carriageway with a 50 mph limit

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Look out for it to become 40mph, or even 30mph pretty soon then, with PLENTY cameras:
Alcazar

hedgehog

I have noticed this of late in many areas. In Scotland I have seen at least one case where the road was reopened and then closed for several days in order to "collect evidence." The press were invited to witness this exciting event which seemed to involved a few coppers and a bit of measuring tape.

I also witnessed an incident where a road was closed for nearly 48 hours as a result of an accident. No resurfacing or other major work was required.

Am I just being cynical in thinking that this seems to be some form of new policy to punish motorists for having accidents? Police know that we don't believe revenue cameras are for safety so they are going to delay us all until we beg for mercy. Once we do beg for mercy they are going to say "more cameras would make the road safer and would mean less delays."

They are trying to paint us into a corner and we have to fight every step of the way.

fast bloke

with three fatalities in a week this place needs cameras. How many are currently there?

We have a stretch of road in Belfast where there is a sharpish bend followed closely by a junction in a 50. All the lanes are quite narrow as the normal 4 lanes have been split to 5 to allow a filter lane. Since I moved here in 1997 I can remember at least 7 fatalities and almost weekly serious injuries within 200 yards of the junction.
In July the police announced that they were putting a fixed camera on the road. I thought - 'good plan'....... unfortunately they put it about a mile away in a 40 zone on a relatively safe piece of road. I can never remember any accident near the camera location... not even a minor one (straight road, 40 zone, 25ft high walls on either side of the road and no junctions or traffic lights nearby.)
Seems like they made the right decision as the camera has netted them 80k in the 10 weeks it has been in place

ADP

so next time your "wasting the fella in the evo" think about it ay?

Leslie

jhfrc1,

It is unlikely surely that the police would keep the road closed unless there was a good reason for it. Diesel soaked tarmac is pretty lethal,especially to 'bikers. Maybe worth knowing all the facts before shouting about it!

NotoriousREV

Also, the whole area is treated as a crime scene so I'd guess there was plenty of evidence to be collected before the clear up began.