are Warwickshire Council negligent...

[buggi]

There is a very windy country lane to my village where a crash happens approximately once month. Some are minor, some are serious, one person has died since i moved here 18 months ago. One of the particular blackspots is a very tight bend which has black and white chevron arrows to depict this. However these arrows are placed around the bend, so drivers do not see them on approach to the bend, only when they are virtually on top of the bend and they realise they have run out of road... and they end up in a very deep ditch. Someone did this at the weekend and in doing so, took out the said chevron arrows.

I reported it to the council and explained they needed to come out urgently to put them back. Two days later they hadn't been so i got off my bike, in the ditch, retrieved said arrows and propped them up on a better part of the road so that now drivers can see them on approach (was not an easy task as they were heavy but i honestly believe i have saved someone from serious injury).
Today the council rang me to see where the location was and I explained what I'd done and that also the arrows were better where i had placed them as now drivers could see them clearly and could they possibly consider moving them here permanently in view of the 5 people that have ditched themselves here.

the short answer was that it wasn't up to highways dept, it was up to the safety team.

WTF? I pointed out that the safety team obviously wasn't doing their job!! And that the police told me, last time they pulled someone out injured, that they had asked many times for the arrows to be moved... Which the council man said wasn't possible. ??

surely the fact that 5 people have ditched themselves on this corner alone in the last year or so warrants a review of the location of said arrows? They have not all been boy racers either, some have been older and i know myself how the tightness of the bend is not obvious on approach as there is no warning on approach and by the time you see the arrows it's too late, particularly in the dark. I think the council are negligent if they put them back to their old location. What say you?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I say "ask to see the risk assessment"

 

[buggi]

if they put them back to original position I'm gonna tell the next person that ditches themself that i complained. Where there's blame...

 

[ColinJ]

I say 'Well done for trying to get it sorted out'! Sounds like more accidents waiting to happen ...

I walked down this stretch of road last week. It has a 90 degree RH bend just after a steep slope, and the camber of the road leans down towards the wall, throwing you out towards it as you go round the bend. I noticed that vegetation had completely overgrown the chevron sign so I spent a couple of minutes clearing it. The person with me asked what I was doing, so I told her that I had been looking for the sign as we walked down the hill, but it had been invisible behind the weeds.

You can see from Streetview that the wall had been hit in the past, and I noticed that the sign has itself been hit since the Streetview car took that photograph!

 

[buggi]

its a bit like that bend but it has a grassy bank after that makes it look less severe... Until you get on top of it. I will post a link when I'm not on my phone.
they really drive safety at work and the "don't walk by" message... I suppose its rubbed off on me after all.

 

[buggi]

does that road drop a lot after the hedgerow?

 

[ColinJ]

does that road drop a lot after the hedgerow?

If you mean, what would happen if you went straight on through the sign(!) ... there is a sloping bank down quite a long way but there are lots of trees which would probably stop the car. You'd have to be completely mad to hit it at that speed though. The biggest danger is not realising how tight the bend is until you get to it, so you would be more likely to sideswipe the wall.

From a cyclist's perspective - it is easy to misread the bend, so having the chevron sign visible is important because it is a good clue that the bend is a bad one. I overcooked the bend the first time that I rode down there, so I am always careful now. It is particularly dodgy at this time of year because of the loose leaves on the road, and especially when it is wet. (The Streetview picture was clearly taken in the autumn.)

 

[buggi]

don't agree... this road isn't a bend as such, its a 90 degree blind turn, its far worse than a lot of bends with chevrons on that I've seen.. and its a pitch black road with a 50 limit. No warning and at 50 mph by the time your headlights pick up the turn its game over. Therefore its the fault of the council if the chevrons are not visible on approach and theyve set a 50mph limit.

 

[buggi]

... And they still haven't fixed it, but my handy work is still standing

 

[CopperCyclist]

Can we have a Google link to the bend, purely for my own interest!

Have you thought of telling your local paper? Might be the short of story that could interest them. Also your local MP may get things moving!

 

[buggi]

Can we have a Google link to the bend, purely for my own interest!

Have you thought of telling your local paper? Might be the short of story that could interest them. Also your local MP may get things moving!

i will do it when i log on to my laptop, am on my phone at the moment. I have thought about it but the villagers told me theyve been complaining for years

 

[swansonj]

The fault is not that of the council but the drivers... end of.

Why does it have to be one or the other?

 

[MontyVeda]

The fault is not that of the council but the drivers... end of.

from Buggi's description of the road in question... that's nonsense Reg.

 

[buggi]

Why does it have to be one or the other?

Like he said.
the point is 5 people have driven into this ditch in just over a year. One car had an older couple in. Something needs to be done to make it safer. The corner after ain't any better either!!!

 

[CopperCyclist]

Reg's point is 100 percent valid. No competent driver should ever lose their vehicle off a road, with no external factors, markings or not, 90 bend, 10 degree bend or 180 degree bend. It's driving basics.

That said, there are more than a few less than competent drivers out there that would do just that, so if the council could take proportionate steps to reduce risk, perhaps they should. Yes, there is certainly an argument that the overriding issue is improving driving standards, but that's a fairly well accepted point on these forums anyway.