[Fangio]

PaulOckenden, on 24 November 2011 - 09:30 AM, said:

That stretch of road gets REALLY busy during peak periods. Lowering the speed limit would just cause tailbacks and bunching which would be equally dangerous.

P.

Frankly IMO the entire stretch of that road from east of the tunnels to the traffic lights at the airport could well use a lower speed limit and vastly improved road markings; bear in mind that the speed limit drops from 70 to 40 a large step a little further west.
eg Greater use of solid white lines (incorporating a rumble function) at junctions - particularly the on slip going east at the flyover which has been the scene of several very serious and fatal collisions.
A 70mph speed limit through traffic lights at the airport is nothing but bizarre and is probably a remnant of the old system of speed limits which set these by road type not location.

[PaulOckenden]

Fangio, on 24 November 2011 - 11:25 AM, said:

bear in mind that the speed limit drops from 70 to 40 a large step a little further west.

By which point a lot of the traffic has turned off.

40 limits should be for areas of narrow roads, or where there's a possibility of pedestrians. The stretch between the Hangleton junction and the flyover doesn't meet either of those criteria. It even has pushbikes and mopeds prohibited. To reduce it to 40 would be crazy!

P.

[Fangio]

PaulOckenden, on 24 November 2011 - 12:34 PM, said:

By which point a lot of the traffic has turned off.

40 limits should be for areas of narrow roads, or where there's a possibility of pedestrians. The stretch between the Hangleton junction and the flyover doesn't meet either of those criteria. It even has pushbikes and mopeds prohibited. To reduce it to 40 would be crazy!

P.

I not suggesting 40 as that would be daft; more graduated speed limits as is now common practice in many of our neighbouring countries.
Low blanket speed limits tend not to work and an example I have quoted before the example of Barcelona which has a lot of belt type multi lane roads and umpteen tunnels.
A blanket speed limit of 80kph was put in place on all the arterial roads. It was the highest legal speed in the greater Barca area and supposedly done for reasons of safety and pollution.
What happened is that collisions/serious injuries and deaths increased by more than 40 percent as opposed to the reduction of more than 50 percent (during the last five years) in the rest of Catalunya. There was little noticeable difference in pollution levels.

[kandy]

I wonder if speed enforcement panic braking is ever a factor?

[PaulOckenden]

Just driven that bit of road, around 20 minutes ago.

Something ran across the road in front of me - I think it might have been a rabbit or a squirrel. It was too small to be a cat or a fox.

It happened just before the current skid mark!

I wonder whether this is the culprit?

P.

[Spinalman]

PaulOckenden, on 24 November 2011 - 22:21 PM, said:

Just driven that bit of road, around 20 minutes ago.

Something ran across the road in front of me - I think it might have been a rabbit or a squirrel. It was too small to be a cat or a fox.

It happened just before the current skid mark!

I wonder whether this is the culprit?

P.

Maybe it was a secret squirrel?

[green angel]

Spinalman, on 24 November 2011 - 22:23 PM, said:

Maybe it was a secret squirrel?

Who lived in the secret bunkers

[Suzanne]

Heard on radio this morning there was another overturned car today. Firstly they said it was actually in the tunnel and then just after the tunnel going west. On the Argus site they are saying Hangleton! Local radio and local press, both so reliable, wonder who was right or maybe there were two different accidents. It would seem that the poor driver is very seriously injured. In the Argus it says 'crashed into barriers'.

[Fangio]

I lived for 17 years almost overlooking the bypass and also in the area since '87.
The attrition rate on that stretch of road is incredible and way above what it should be.
All I can say is take the best possible care. At no time is any road your 'regular' run or something that you are used to.
Drive every road as if it was the first time you have done so.

[Spinalman]

Suzanne, on 26 November 2011 - 13:40 PM, said:

Heard on radio this morning there was another overturned car today. Firstly they said it was actually in the tunnel and then just after the tunnel going west. On the Argus site they are saying Hangleton! Local radio and local press, both so reliable, wonder who was right or maybe there were two different accidents. It would seem that the poor driver is very seriously injured. In the Argus it says 'crashed into barriers'.

Twitter source "radioTraffic" initially said eastbound then corrected to Westbound before tunnel near foredown drive. Guess it is the usual blackspot. I'll add it to the list of single-vehicle accidents:

2011
Nov 26th Overturned, westbound
Nov 22nd Overturned, westbound, before tunnel
Nov 4rd Overturned
Oct 20th Overturned, westbound, before tunnel

2010
7th Sept
12th April

2009
2nd April

2008
9th June van, overturned, before tunnel

2007 29th Oct

[Suzanne]

Another one for the list. Four cars westbound just north of Holmbush according to live travel news on Argus site. Loads of emergency vehicles.

[Fangio]

Damned incompetence?

[heavysoul]

I travelled to work and back via A23 and M23 today. Not great driving conditions - but I just could not believe how close many drivers were to the car in front!! Unbelievably dangerous and not surprising there are accidents!!

[richard]

Regional news this morning long delays at Southwick Tunnel following an accident........

http://www.theargus....7_at_Southwick/

[johnjohn]

heavysoul, on 01 December 2011 - 21:57 PM, said:

I travelled to work and back via A23 and M23 today. Not great driving conditions - but I just could not believe how close many drivers were to the car in front!! Unbelievably dangerous and not surprising there are accidents!!

I would go as far as to say that IMHO the majority of drivers drive too fast/close and the standard of driving is generally bad considering the dangerous activity that driving is.

[green angel]

Found this from the argus reply letters regarding the road closure is it proof some thing it realy going on in the secret bunker

Jimmy Stewart's Imaginary Rabbit says...
8:31am Fri 2 Dec 11

Damm. I've got a lorry load of plutonium for the secret bunker. Oh well, it will have to wait until the normal monthly tunnel closure and I'll deliver it with the rest of the supplies.”

[DJ_K666]

Generally you tend to steer to where you are looking. I am well aware of the perceived dangers around this area so I do tend to take care. I tend to look at the road ahead, I know there are two portals so I'm looking where the road bends round (the red crosses) rather than at the eastbound portal. Could it be that some people look at the yellow cross and try and steer there?

 Southwick tunnel.jpg (112.93K)
Number of downloads: 11

[Fangio]

Not the A27 but small wonder IMHO:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15975564

Scoot along to page 7 of 8

[thermo]

put your postcode in. very sobering. i remember attending many of those

[Fangio]

Small surprise about the A259 seeing as how it passes through a lot of town centres and along the beach.