11 Mayıs 2015 Pazartesi
The truth behind lane closures
Only this morning the A4 eastbound into London was clogged with traffic because a car had broken down on the elevated section between the Chiswick and Hogarth roundabouts.
The queues stretched all the way back to junction 3 of the M4, which is an unhappy place for motorists at the best of times, as the 3-lane motorway funnels down to the 2-lane flyover that was designed to scoot you speedily all the way to Hammersmith and beyond – jams are the norm in peak periods and not unexpected at any time of day or night.
Road to ruin
The combination of road architecture, volumes of traffic and mechanical failure is no doubt repeated many times across the country every day.
In fact, according to the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM), if you’re stuck in a queue on a motorway or major A-road in England, there’s a 40% chance the problem will be someone up ahead standing next to a wounded vehicle with an expression that is equal parts dismay, shame and apology for the trouble they’re causing.
In total, breakdowns caused 185,000 lane closures in England in 2014 (out of 440,000). Roadworks, obstructions and collisions, when combined, accounted for another 140,000.
IAM also found (thanks to a Freedom of Information request to Highways England) that lanes closures were also caused by:
- 122 unsupervised children
- 12,759 incidences of pedestrians walking on a motorway or A- road
- 3,990 loose animals
- 5,700 potholes
- 2,598 abandoned vehicles
- 6,742 shed tyres
- 856 suicides or attempted suicides
- 152 cases of objects being thrown onto the roads
- 567 cases of a vehicle driving on the wrong side of the road.
Another big contributor was ‘administration’ – usually police checks – which weighed in with nearly 24,000 lane closures.
Economic damage
The IAM reckons lane closures cost the economy £1 billion a year in lost ‘man’ hours, and it says improved vehicle maintenance, road safety education and driver training will help reduce the problem.
Meanwhile, to the guy standing mournfully next to his car on the Chiswick flyover this morning – I hope you can’t lip-read.
More from my site
The truth behind lane closures
Truck drivers warned of obstructions placed on roads with criminal intent!
This past week I had the pleasure of hosting a young man, Michiel Van Duurling, from the Netherlands and invited him to drive with me from Bloemfontein to Johannesburg. Along the route I could inform him of some unique challenges in South Africa. Much of our conversation was pertaining to the threats on our roads, the low numbers of cyclists on our roads and the reasons for this.
Near Johannesburg I had to explain the road signs alerting road users to hazardous objects on the roads! During this past weekend these messages were further highlighted by a warning from crash reconstructionist Stan Bezuidenhout to truck drivers of this threat. I would like to quote:
“Trucking Alert (and all motorists): This morning at approx 04:30 on N12 near Etwatwa, driver of a loaded fruit truck is reported to have swerved to avoid boulders/ rocks placed on the freeway. He crashed into the centre median, destroying the guard rails and “clearvu” anti-pedestrian fence proceeding across the freeway. The crash also destroyed the trailer and load was scattered.
This is not the first incident on objects being put on the road or thrown from overhead bridges. Earlier this year a cattle truck overturned after bricks were thrown from the overbridge on N1 near grasmere. Last week a mother and child were seriously injured on the N12 near the Glen (comaro offramp) after a brick was thrown at the vehicle. News reports indicate the child is in a coma….
A special warning to all drivers to slow down and be observant on freeways especially in the dark…..pics of this mornings aftermath uploading.”
Also view:
Crime as a Threat to Road Safety
Truck Hijackings, Crime and Road Safety
Truck drivers warned of obstructions placed on roads with criminal intent!
Volvo Selects South Carolina as Location for First U.S. Plant, Breaks Ground this Fall
A former timber plantation in a sleepy southern town will be place back to operate constructing new Volvos. In the initial Swedish-Chinese-South Carolinian collaboration of its kind, Volvo is scheduled to break ground on a $ 500-million factory this fall.
Because late March, when Volvo announced it would construct an American plant with capacity for 25,000 cars a year—nearly double what it sold right here in 2014—the automaker turned down a proposal near Savannah, Georgia, and turned its focus to the Palmetto State, which agreed to offer you incentives worth up to $ 120 million. Volvo has not announced which models would roll down the line when construction finishes in 2018 or what percentage will be exported. (There’s also no word as to whether or not this deal will bring South Carolina its first IKEA store.)
Volvo plans to employ up to 2000 personnel, and you can bet your sweet tea that the UAW will not come knocking. Throughout Volkswagen’s union debates in neighboring Tennessee last winter, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley mentioned she wore high heels to stomp unions out of her state. “You’ve heard me say a lot of times I put on heels. It is not for a style statement,” she stated. “It’s simply because we’re kicking them every single day, and we’ll continue to kick them.” In the lengthy term, Volvo expects to employ 4000 individuals. The plant will be Volvo’s fifth following its 2 Swedish and 2 Chinese factories.
Volvo says it will use a large chunk of the 6800-acre Camp Hall Plantation, situated about 40 miles northwest of Charleston (exactly where one of 2 main ports is situated) and closer nonetheless to Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van plant. According to The Columbia State, Volvo filed an environmental permit for 575 acres with an additional 322 acres accessible for expansion.
Offered Volvo’s languishing volume amongst an industry that has noticed nearly every brand bounce back from the recession, the South Carolina plant will probably export half, if not a lot more, of the vehicles it builds. A planned lineup expansion into compact crossovers and upscale S90s will assist fill the factory floor. But far more telling is what Geely, Volvo’s owner since 2010, may do with a large car-assembly plant sitting on inexpensive land and a state willing to do whatever it requires to boost employment. Could this be the very first step to American-made, Chinese-branded automobiles? If Volvo wanted to export vehicles cheaply, it could have constructed a plant in Mexico, a nation that is tariff-free to most European and Latin American countries. More than shiny XC90s, we’re betting Geely desires to win in America.
Volvo Selects South Carolina as Location for First U.S. Plant, Breaks Ground this Fall
LIVE: Formula DRIFT Round 2 – Road Atlanta
This weekend sees the 2015 Formula DRIFT championship hit up Road Atlanta and, soon after the drama of Round 1 on The Streets of Extended Beach, we’re hunting forward to tuning into the live stream and keeping an eye on the action.
Verify the timetable under to make positive you tune in at the proper time (all instances are GMT):
Friday, May 8, 2015 - Practice & Qualifying
15:30 – 16:00 - International Time Attack 2 – Track
11:15 – 12:00 - Trans Fast 5 Qualifying – Track
17:15 – 17:45 - Worldwide Time Attack 3 – Track
18:00 – 18:30 - International Time Attack 4 – Track
19:30 – 20:15 - Trans Practice / Qualifying – Track
20:00 – 21:00 - FD: Autograph Signing Session – TBA
21:30 – :30 - FD: Open Practice – Track
:30 – 03:00 - FD: Qualifying – Track
Saturday, Might 9, 2015 - Principal Occasion
13:00 – 13:30 - International Time Attack 1 – Track
13:45 – 14:15 - Global Time Attack 2 – Track
14:30 - 115:40 – Trans – Foametix Muscle Auto Challenge (TA2) – Track
15:55 – 16:25 - Global Time Attack 3 – Track
16:40 – 17:50 - Trans – Foametix Trans 25 (TA & TA3 A&I) – Track
19:30 – 21:00 - FD: Open Practice – Top 32 – Track
21:00 – 23:00 - Major Competition: Round of 32 – Track
23:00 – 00:30 - HALF TIME BREAK
00:30 - NATIONAL ANTHEM / OPENING CEREMONIES – Track
01:00 - Primary Competition: Round of 16 to Finals – Track
03:00 – 03:30 - TROPHY CEREMONY & CLOSING
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Written by Ali Posted on May 8, 2015. Filed below Drift News, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry by way of the RSS 2.. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry LIVE: Formula DRIFT Round 2 – Road Atlanta
10 Mayıs 2015 Pazar
Truck drivers warned of obstructions placed on roads with criminal intent!
This past week I had the pleasure of hosting a young man, Michiel Van Duurling, from the Netherlands and invited him to drive with me from Bloemfontein to Johannesburg. Along the route I could inform him of some unique challenges in South Africa. Much of our conversation was pertaining to the threats on our roads, the low numbers of cyclists on our roads and the reasons for this.
Near Johannesburg I had to explain the road signs alerting road users to hazardous objects on the roads! During this past weekend these messages were further highlighted by a warning from crash reconstructionist Stan Bezuidenhout to truck drivers of this threat. I would like to quote:
“Trucking Alert (and all motorists): This morning at approx 04:30 on N12 near Etwatwa, driver of a loaded fruit truck is reported to have swerved to avoid boulders/ rocks placed on the freeway. He crashed into the centre median, destroying the guard rails and “clearvu” anti-pedestrian fence proceeding across the freeway. The crash also destroyed the trailer and load was scattered.
This is not the first incident on objects being put on the road or thrown from overhead bridges. Earlier this year a cattle truck overturned after bricks were thrown from the overbridge on N1 near grasmere. Last week a mother and child were seriously injured on the N12 near the Glen (comaro offramp) after a brick was thrown at the vehicle. News reports indicate the child is in a coma….
A special warning to all drivers to slow down and be observant on freeways especially in the dark…..pics of this mornings aftermath uploading.”
Also view:
Crime as a Threat to Road Safety
Truck Hijackings, Crime and Road Safety
Truck drivers warned of obstructions placed on roads with criminal intent!