Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Road Safety Issues



Since settling in Anglesey in September 2004 there have been a number of deaths on our local main road. Not long after we came a section of the A5025 had a revised speed limit of 50mph. Whether this has had an impact on the number of accidents and fatalities I am not aware. But what I do know is that altering the speed limit in particular danger ares will not solve the problem.

A young teenager from our village of Penysarn was killed within our first 12 months here. It is easy to see where it happened as flowers continually appear at the site of the accident. In another stretch a young woman of about 30 years met her maker on a stretch where there is a double dip preventing drivers seeing the entire road before them. Add to this the fact that it was the time of year when the sun was low in the sky and right before a driver going east and you can see how an accident would happen.

A year or so ago a woman was killed late at night when the driver of an HGV from Germany crossed the road and hit her head on. Now there is a bunch of lovely flowers at another site where a death occurred. During the Easter school holidays this year a school teacher was killed by a lorry coming in the opposite direction on the stretch between Cemaes and Bull Bay. Soon afterwards came another fatality when a car and motor cycle came to grief on the same road.

Local people are seeking a reduction in the speed limit. In almost all cases I am certain that drivers are taking chances on a road not designed to take fast traffic.

In my opinion what is need is a new road that has less areas where accidents will obviously happen. One stretch of the A5025, where the double dip exists, provides a second lane for vehicles climbing the hill. It is wrong to provide such a short overtaking lane on the approach to a sharp bend. On one occasion my wife reported being very close to a car coming up the hill overtaking a car in the inside lane. The oncoming driver was driving with one hand and shading his eyes with the other and had already run out of space in which to safely overtake and was driving through the hatched area! There is no legislation that will correct such driving. The answer is to redesign the road and make drivers keep back when the vehicle in front is slower moving. After all we all know what it is like to follow all the tractors that use this road. This means we are used to being held back and this is safer than providing a race track for fools.

We all moan about he activities of the Arrive Alive vans of the North Wales police but we have to realise that the A5025 is a dangerous road that encourages speeding motorists. A preliminary precaution to take would be to spend some of the revenue of the Arrive Alive vans on permanent speed cameras at key points so that fools will slow down, knowing they will be "on camera" otherwise.

If you are a visitor to Anglesey do watch out on our roads. Last weekend the Air Ambulance was called out to a crash on an unnamed country road that passes through Parc. So we have a number of dangerous roads to take account of. This island is very beautiful and can cause you to look around too much whilst driving. Take great care!

2 Comments:

Blogger french knots said...

In the main I agree with you but think it might help if the speed limit was the same all along the road. It does not help when the sun is in your eyes trying to see the speedo. and watch for the A.A. van. Nothing will deter the (boy/girl racers) as this is just the type of road they like. Its a shame the A.A. van never seems to catch them. A new road I think,will only be in your dreams as always it will be a case of no money.
The trouble with set camera's is that once folk know where they are they only slow down till they are through then they speed up again.
I also think the flowers are a good reminder to watch your speed, local people as they pass remember each person who died and it is a gentle reminder to check your speed

7:33 pm  
Blogger Keith Alexander said...

Fixed cameras would protect the danger spots because they cause drivers to slow down. This, therefore, changes habits at the right spot. But A.A. vans simply raise money without changing habits. The racing types will always be with us and they will keep on creating claims for the authorities to do something which will affect those who do not need to be preached to or nannied.

5:06 pm  

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