General Chat

We can all understand the reason behind closing a motorway if there's been a serious collision or, in the case of the M1 today, a suspect package under a bridge.

What I can't understand is why the trapped traffic isn't turned around when they realise its going to take more than an hour to deal with, and then released. Any suggestions please?

I think it would be quite hard to do that.

Three full lanes, traffic still coming along, all those three point turns at the front and then,when the obstruction is gone, having to get them all going the right way.

It would take time but why not, if they start from the back of the queue?

Somewhere further back down the motorway there would still be traffic coming in that direction and, by the time you had them all turned around and no more joining them from behind, the obstruction would be cleared.

there surely could be a means of stopping more vehicles joining the queue. diverting them on to off ramps and then via diversions past the blockage.

That is what happens here!

Local radio traffic updates, for example, seem to be of limited assistance.

They do that, Sylvia, when they officially close the motorway. My thoughts stemmed from those stuck after the previous 'off' ramp and the blockage.

The blockage might not be necessarily cleared, Sharron. Think of today's M1 closure. There were reports that some people had been stuck for 8 hours. Couldn't go forward past the bridge and the 'suspect' item nor allowed to turn back to the previous junction.
The same thing happens when there is a major vehicle collision involving fatalities or serious injuries. Once the casualties are extracted & taken to hospital, the collision site is treated as a crime scene, the debris needs to be cleared, road surface checked & possibly repaired. It could take hours.

I can understand your reasoning, Det.
Close the motorway, say 5 miles before the incident to stop any more vehicles joining the queue, then turn the queue around and off the slip roads.
But there may be a problem joining the traffic off those slip roads (don't forget they'd be going the wrong way up the slip roads).
But it's an idea worth thinking about.
Every other morning, there's a 'hold up' on the M27 or M3 around here, and I just think 'You left home early - just to sit in a queue for half an hour or more'.

..at least I can walk to work/home if the useless bus company doesn't deliver!

on a similar theme..

if, when a jumper is on a bridge, why don't they commandeer several tall lorries, park them up alongside each other , under the bridge so that the jumper cant fall far....

They could still jump off the lorry.

but not into moving traffic....

Line up slowly decreasing in size cars next to the lorries finishing with smart cars
:-D

I've travelled in the wrong direction on the M 20. It felt very strange.

There was an accident between junctions 11 and 10 heading towards London and after waiting for a while, the police turned around all cars sending them back to junction 11 and onward through local A roads.

This area of motorway is particularly busy, as the Channel Tunnel terminal is nearby. There are always many foreign lorries too, heading from Dover docks..
The lorries couldn't be turned around so easily, due to their size, so were held in a controlled stack until the emergency services had dealt with the accident.

If Kent can do it, why can't other Forces?

there are a fairly small number of pinchpoints in the motorway system where any kind of accident / heavy breakdown can cause massive jams. Drivers could use their local knowledge or satnav to avoid these pinch points either in real time based kn news reports or always.

For instance there are alternatives to the M27 nr Southampton.

The analysis of major road accidents using such techniques as 3D data has improved no end. Unfortunately the data collecton takes time.

Bobtanian, don't you think that if a jumper means to jump it will happen before any high-sided trucks can be commandeered?

Quite possibly if the funding often promised for mental health with great fanfare was actually delivered the incidence of jumpers would decline saving a lot of time, money and irritation.

An effective low budget anti jumper method is simply to install a higher barrier on bridges. This has worked wonders with a notorious spot on the M3. Of course the jumpers then look elsewhere.

Clearing up after accidents is a dismal job and the memories tend to persist. Yet the police, fire brigade, nhs, highway engineers get very little help with the stress. So if you do get caught in an accident related jam don't take it out on them. Many do.

The recent horrific accident on the M5 near Almondsbury shut the Northbound side for a long time, I don't know how long people were eventually stuck there but, according to reports in the media, that one seemed to bring out the best in people with food and drink being shared round cars. I think when people know there are fatalities (in this case four and three seriously injured), it tends to make people think 'there but for the grace....' and be patient. This area of the M5 is bad for accidents but this was a different one, imagine travelling in the third lane of the motorway and seeing a huge lorry hurtling through the barrier at you, horrendous. So far the report is that it suffered a puncture and went out of control and ended up in the ditch on the other side of the motorway.

So sad for the families of thos concerned.

There is of course, a natural alternative to the M5, the A38 but I imagine once on that the gridlock would have been nose to tail up to the next available junction, it is such a small winding road. Strange to remember that thatw as how we used to travel to the West Country.

I have been turned round on the M25 as said it works ok starting from the back.
What I cannot understand is why there is not a system to alert all the affected entry points to stop drivers entering a blocked motorway, it could be activated from a central control as soon as the indecent is confirmed as causing a blockage.
So frustrating to be half way up the entry slip and find the motorway at a standstill!
Drivers take risks by trying to reverse out back onto the A road system.

The local "A road" system could not cope with the traffic resulting in ordinary life getting all snarled up. So for the most part post blockage motorway traffic is left to get on with it.

Other modern countries build roads. The UK is an exception. It is into post modernism.