Safe Speed Forums

i had the mis fortune to drive through this dreaded stretch of Motorway last week for the first time in a year or so, i was amazed £millions spent on gantry's, huge signs, gallons of paint marking out the overhead speed traps every couple of hundred yard and thousands of discarded cones.

After what must be years of closed lanes and temp speed cameras it looks finished as all lanes were open and everyone seemed to be going 70 (+ a bit for speedo etc).

Then it dawned on me the road surface has been forgotten! it's like an Iraqi airstrip! is this the worst case of road user tax money abuse in the UK or just a Brummie thing?

this:
http://www.highways.gov.uk/knowledge/tcc/atm/index.htm
you mean?

to be fair the gantry signs are excellent, and although not running VSL worked well last friday:

as i passed under a gantry it flicked onto advisory 50, the next one was the same, the next had a left arrow above L3, same for the next one.

the next had a lane closed red X above vL3 and the following one a red X with flashing reds.

sure enough shortly after was a shunt accident in L3.

followed by a NSL on the next gantry.

The concrete surface on the M42 J3a-4 is abysmal, must be the most rutted bit of motorway in the country. And it's still not due for resurfacing for another couple of years, at which point they can cover the road in cones once again.

That surface is famous. I used to work for a company that made production car suspension components. They use the concrete section of the M42 as a test track, it was one of the worst surfaces for a particular type of vibration vibration in the world!.

_________________
Speed camera policy Kills

I'm sure the arrows and sign do a marvellous job at highlighting the accidents, but the way my car was bouncing about on the slabs would make my brakes less effective and increase my chances of an accident in the first place.

I despair at the waste of my money on Britains roads, i'm sure if the road was realaid and then a few patrol cars cruised up and down every day at random times, it would have been quicker, cheaper, less stressful to drive on (for car and driver) and more importantly safer.

Birminghams head of road planning should be publicly flogged on the hard shoulder untill at least 50% of drivers are satisfied he's learned a lesson.

I thought Motorways were not local responsibility, but were Highways Agency and centrally controlled.

The ribbed concrete is a very hard wearing surface, it lasts for years and years, unlike tarmac, and the deep ribbing allow water to drain and it is a high friction surface that should give good grip at the expense of shedding your tyres. Also on the downside it is very noisy, and knackers the shocks. The misaligned slabs on that particular stretch are particularly awful - as I discovered when an older car of mine broke down and had to be recovered - if you think it is bad in a car try a breakdown truck with solid suspension! This was 6+ years ago and the surface is unchanged to this day.

While I am local to this and my work is close to J5, I avoid the section because of the high congestion levels (motorway stationary from J3 onwards most work days) and scameras installed around 4 thru 5. Instead and nice cross country run from J3 is quite refreshing in the mornings.

Fine but why do we have to do it on the cheap. In the US they have ribbed concrete but the ribs follow the direction of travel. Still displaces water fine.

The problem is we cast concrete in sections so you have joints and a crap texture on the surface. Over the other side of the atlantic they use a continuous casting process that does not have joints.

The only downside with concrete is exteme weather they have overthere can cause cracks. These get filled with mastic but can be a bugger if you run along one on a motorcycle!

_________________
Speed camera policy Kills

Because it's cheap. C'mon Gizmo, haven't you learned anything about UK Roads plc yet

Rule 1: if something benefits the motorist, do it as cheaply as possible but only if you've exhausted all hope of not actually doing it in the first place

e.g. maintaining road surfaces and markings, clearing roadside vegetation, providing additional road capacity...


Rule 2: if something makes life more miserable for the motorist, spare no expense and then add a bit on for good measure

e.g. installing speed monitoring systems, congestion charging schemes, traffic "calming" devices...


Cynical, me?

Another downside of concrete surfaces is that they're extremely slippery in the snow.
When we had that heavy snowfall the beginning of last year I had the misfortune to drive along a concrete-surfaced dual-carriageway, and even at 10mph it was very dodgy. The tarmaced sections of the same road were fine (as fine as you'd expect, anyway).

Cheers
Peter

I seem to remember from when the Preston north section of the M6 was concrete, that it was harder to repair and patch too.

French tarmac is different to ours - a lot smoother and quieter, but prone to scuffing on junctions where large numbers of multi axled HGV's turn.
I'm not sure how it would perform in snow though, they dont seem to get as much

_________________
Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!