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.

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The truth behind lane closures