what a mess our motorways are in

martyh · 05-09-2012, 20:47

I do a lot of driving in my new job ,usually a couple of thousand mile a week and most of that is on the motorways across britain and i have noticed they are in a hell of mess with debris from crashes and blow outs lying around on the hard shoulder and in the central reservation .I have had 3 windscreens crack last month caused by metal or small stones being thrown into them .Coming up the A1 tonight i saw a couple of mud guards from artics any number of blown out tyres a windscreen and other assorted car/lorry parts all just left lying on the hard shoulder or in laybys .All of this is a very real hazard to other road users as as some of the smaller stuff can be blown back into the road causing damage or even a crash .
In short they need cleaning up

Gary L · 05-09-2012, 22:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by martyh

In short they need cleaning up

No money.

martyh · 06-09-2012, 07:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gary L

No money.

There's plenty of money ,a large portion of my driving is done at night and the amount of night works that goes on is quite staggering .The next time they have a mile of cones to cut the grass they could remove the rubbish instead of cutting around it

**Chris** · 06-09-2012, 07:48

Mor'n my job's worth, guv'nor ...

TheNorm · 06-09-2012, 07:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by martyh

....All of this is a very real hazard to other road users as as some of the smaller stuff can be blown back into the road causing damage or even a crash .
...

With the evidence you have, why don't you make a formal complaint?

Quote:

The Highways Agency is responsible for the maintenance, operation and improvement of the motorway and trunk road network in England.
We aim to provide the best customer service, but there may be a time when you need to complain. We want to hear about these experiences as we are keen to learn from them so that we can improve the service we deliver.

http://www.highways.gov.uk/customer/25231.aspx

**Kymmy** · 06-09-2012, 08:25

I wouldn't like to be the poor person detailed with the clean-up... A motorway worker can't even get life insurance any more due to the dangers involved with working next to a live carriageway and if they stop the traffic everyone would moan about that instead..

Gary L · 06-09-2012, 09:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by martyh

There's plenty of money ,a large portion of my driving is done at night and the amount of night works that goes on is quite staggering .The next time they have a mile of cones to cut the grass they could remove the rubbish instead of cutting around it

If there was plenty of money we wouldn't be making millions of pounds of cuts everyday.

it's not the cone or the grasscuter mans job to remove debris.

it'll be another department where they go through elf and safedy steps of coning it all off and picking it up.
which inevitably costs time and money.

Taf · 06-09-2012, 09:37

Around here, it's the sweeper trucks that are moving debris from the hard shoulder to the main carriageway. I called to tell them this and they blamed their equipment!

When there were police actually patrolling the roads, debris that was a danger to road users was often removed by the police. Now I see police ignoring such debris, or if they are reporting it, it is then being ignored by someone else.

**Chris** · 06-09-2012, 09:40

IIRC responsibility for removing large items from the carriageway was formally shifted from highways police to Highways Agency workers - the ones who cruise up and down the motorways in somewhat police-esque marked vehicles with orange lights atop, in place of blue ones.

Hom3r · 06-09-2012, 10:27

I wonder who took the adult deer that was hit by a dumper truck on the M11 last/this year.

Thankfullly the drive pulled to the hard shoulder and ran back and was waving the drivers into lane 2, also by the time I got there the road signs had said lane one closed.

**Derek** · 06-09-2012, 10:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by martyh

I have had 3 windscreens crack last month caused by metal or small stones being thrown into them

Are you sure there wasn't an auto glass van in front of you chucking stuff onto the road to drum up business?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris

IIRC responsibility for removing large items from the carriageway was formally shifted from highways police to Highways Agency workers - the ones who cruise up and down the motorways in somewhat police-esque marked vehicles with orange lights atop, in place of blue ones.

Yup. And like all shifting of responsibility they have targets which can be remarkably generous when it comes to timescales of removing bits of debris and more often than not they request the help of the Police to stop or slow traffic when they do. Another brilliant bit of 'helping' from the government.

STONEISLAND · 06-09-2012, 11:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kymmy

I wouldn't like to be the poor person detailed with the clean-up... A motorway worker can't even get life insurance any more due to the dangers involved with working next to a live carriageway and if they stop the traffic everyone would moan about that instead..

They should get prisoners to do it in orange jump suites and chains around there legs.

martyh · 06-09-2012, 12:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheNorm

With the evidence you have, why don't you make a formal complaint?

http://www.highways.gov.uk/customer/25231.aspx

That i might just do ,start taking photo's etc

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kymmy

I wouldn't like to be the poor person detailed with the clean-up... A motorway worker can't even get life insurance any more due to the dangers involved with working next to a live carriageway and if they stop the traffic everyone would moan about that instead..

There's plenty of them out there at night .The A1 at the moment is aswash with night workers filling in pot holes changing light bulbs and cutting the verges all of which usually involves closing the road for at least one juntion

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris

IIRC responsibility for removing large items from the carriageway was formally shifted from highways police to Highways Agency workers - the ones who cruise up and down the motorways in somewhat police-esque marked vehicles with orange lights atop, in place of blue ones.

Yes it has ,they are the ones who appear as if by magic behind a lorry/car with a blowout and proceed to park in the most ridiculous fashion with the arse end of their land rover sticking out into lane 1

Quote:

Originally Posted by Derek

Are you sure there wasn't an auto glass van in front of you chucking stuff onto the road to drum up business?

I wouldn't put it past them

I would have thought that the responsibility would be on the company replacing tyres or windscreens to take the crap with them when they have finished

Yup. And like all shifting of responsibility they have targets which can be remarkably generous when it comes to timescales of removing bits of debris and more often than not they request the help of the Police to stop or slow traffic when they do. Another brilliant bit of 'helping' from the government.

One of the cracked windscreens i am sure came from a low loader carring a 360 digger that had mud all over the tracks dropping off onto the carriageway .I am sure that carrying such a load is illegal in the same way that if a lorry has rubble stuck between the tyres is an offence

Uncle Peter · 06-09-2012, 14:17

My mate totalled the front of his new car when he hit a wheelbarrow in the outside lane of a dual carriageway around here. The irony is that it had fallen off the back of a council cleaning van.

Matthew · 06-09-2012, 19:10

The A180/M180 is bad in places and its not one of the busiest roads really, it can be brought down to 1/2 lanes during the day due to it leading no where really. A sweep once a week won't take them long but they insist on cutting grasses over cleaning up dangerous objects.