What changes are required to improve our road network?

PeterNem said:
There were two of these on the M25 around junction 17 which were removed when it was widened. Thank god - in rush hour traffic it ground to a halt there and started moving again shortly afterwards - doesn't really work when the roads are so congested.
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The M25 is a stupid place to put them. Lanes are pretty much irrelevant on that road as they're all full anyway.

I was thinking more of putting them in the long stretches of nothingness between congestion hotspots, ie on the M6 somewhere between Keele and Sandbach, between Stafford and the M54, between Liverpool and Preston. Shuffle all the idiots over one lane in the quieter bits so that they don't screw up the congested bits quite so much.

jaybee said:
2: Somehow encourage "school run" traffic to walk instead or use a bus service like the old days. How much less busy are the road in the school hols?.
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Red routes around schools, and some decent enforcement? (maybe even *gasp* cameras?)

Trifid said:
People need to live closer to where they work.
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Jobs need to be more secure.

On the subject of public transport though. We need more orbital routes. The hub+spoke design that most bus services use fails to take into account the common commute of Suburb -> Out of town industrial park.

Also park and ride schemes should be 24/7, not stop at 8pm or whatever. Means anyone in a job with unpredictable overtime (ie. tech workers) end up taking the car every day just in case.
 
Traffic lights sequences need to be looked at. I often see busy crossroads and the light is on green for way too long for the quiet street with nobody waiting there, whilst the other 3 busy lanes have a big queue forming.

Also the lights down the road from said lights need timing so they change to green as you approach them at the set speed limit.

Too many times i've seen the second set of lights i'm approaching purposefully change to red as i approach them thus wasting fuel. It all needs setting up so cars on the busiest road sections flow nicely through most sets of lights without stopping. (providing they stay at the speed limit)

I know this isn't possible, but it could be improved over the current setup a 1000 times over.

EDIT: Just read Phillydee's post. That's what i meant :)

I would like to see money spent on resurfacing the roads that actually need doing, instead of doing the good main roads every 5 years.
 
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Turn traffic lights off at night, apart from major places where they are needed.
We have a roundabout that comes off the A13, and honestly we have to wait 6-7 minutes for it to change even though there are NO cars anywhere else. People end up driving through the red light, thankfully there aren't any cameras there.

The turn left at lights is a great idea!

Now this is just for me but I prefer sitting at 65mph on the motorway, for some reason there is a fairly big difference in MPG between 65 and 70mpg. (Do not worry though I don't sit in the middle lane!)

They are the ones I can think of at the moment

This roundabout is a perfect example of removing traffic lights.

Sainsbury Roundabout

Ever since they stopped using the lights, traffic has eased up beyond measure!
Even at Christmas it must be one of the busiest roundabouts in the country its still manageable!!
 
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An 'elite/advanced' driving license that allowed you to drive faster on motorways and NSL dual carriageways would be nice, something that wasn't cheap to attain and required frequent re-tests.

Obviously never going to happen!
 
I'm a big fan of the right on red here in the US, but when you think about it a bit more, Im not sure that turn left on red would make that much difference in the UK.

It works in the US for a couple reasons, first because of the sheer number of traffic-light junctions it would be crazy not to be able to do it, but more importantly singe-lane roads are virtually unheard of, most non-residential roads have a minimum of two lanes so not only can one always be dedicated to people turning, but that you can turn into an empty lane while traffic goes straight over the lights - in the UK you don't have that luxury unless you live in Milton Keynes where they have gone for the roundabout approach rather than traffic light junction.

Also the visibility at traffic lights is much better in the US than in many UK places, again because of the great big wide roads and that they are normally on 90 degree angles, so I feel it's safer to have that rule in the US than perhaps it would be in the UK.

Tbh what would be good is a wholesale change in attitude to the roads, driving over here is more relaxing because I find the other drivers aren't so focused on hooning it around and getting to places as fast as possible, getting all aggro etc. Maybe because driving everywhere here is such a necessity it's akin to the fact you don't sprint around everywhere in day to day life, you walk.

Also, it would be nice if the UK didn't go further towards the US in terms of building wider and wider stretches of concrete everywhere towards a society where you have low density housing resulting in strip malls with giant parking lots everywhere and the car is an out and out necessity, but rather in the opposite direction towards keeping local communities and shops going. Likewise, things like the freeways work well in the US, but the trade-off is giant concrete monstrosities going through the centre of towns etc.

I actually think the UK has a decent balance in terms of motoring, all things considered and particularly given the age of the roads and rather car-unfriendly town layouts and suchlike - I'd much rather the UK try to preserve that character by looking at things like effective park and ride set-ups rather than trying to jam more and more cars and roads into already congested areas.
 
All these people saying "educate people about…":*where, when and how is this education going to take place? Who will fund it? How will you reach existing drivers as well as new ones? How will you make sure new drivers stick to your grand new educations and don't just forget them within a week of unaccompanied driving, like they do now?
 
I think the roads are fine it's just the traffic that uses them, with much slow traffic being caused by a small minority going slow.

Here is the answer, paint all vehicles the following

<100bhp green
100-200bhp blue
200-300bhp silver
300+ bhp red
emergency services dayglo orange

all good vehicles painted green, all motorcycles over 500cc painted red.

remove all give way signs from the roads.........


now the highway code,

- remove all speed limits except urban areas

- you must give way or yield to a car in a lesser power bracket than you, you may ask them to give way with a flash of your lights. If they cannot move out of the way they must pull over and let you past.

- you may under take on dual carriage / motorways

- it is a offence for a higher powered car to hold up lower power traffic, ex- if you can't stay ahead of a corsa in your STI you must downgrade


All the above will mean smooth flowing traffic, everyone is happy.
 
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slighty OT but..

motorway and dual carriageway lighting. turn off every other light. we can all still see perfectly well, save 50% of the energy cost (and post it to me as a cheque)
 
[TW]Fox;17416108 said:
Introduce it and ban it in London then to keep you happy.
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The problem is the legacy of the Nanny State labour government, who felt they had to legislate for everything. The general population were no longer able to make decisions for themselves, and instead needed the government to make them for them. Anything that posted a danger (such as a car going through on red when pedestrians could be crossing) would be an instant no no.

Its the labour government that was responsible for the sudden increase in the H&S mentality that saw kids banned from playing conkers.

This sort of thing (allowing to turn left on red) is just the tip of the iceberg of stuff labour would have banned. We need a wholescale 180 back to the old days were individuals were to be trusted to make decisions for themselves, and the government to stop thinking they can stop all accidents and injuries by legislating.
 
Physically separate cars, bikes and pedestrians wherever possible.

Realise accident blackspots are nearly always the fault of the road design, and do something useful about it.

Fully variable speed limits on motorways

Compulsory retesting.

Ban the idea of trying to make public transport attractive by attacking and delaying the motorist instead of improving public transport.
 
I know its not possible and never going to happen but my suggestion would be....

HGV's, Plant and other heavy vehicles can only use the roads between 7pm and 7am.

Would take a huge chunk of the slowest vehicles off the road during the day and "should" mean the roads are less congested through the day.
 
zootfloot said:
I know its not possible and never going to happen but my suggestion would be....

HGV's, Plant and other heavy vehicles can only use the roads between 7pm and 7am.

Would take a huge chunk of the slowest vehicles off the road during the day and "should" mean the roads are less congested through the day.
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that would never work

How do you propose trucks that come off the ferry get to the north of england, scotland etc.. ?

They'd have to lie around in car parks all day waiting for night fall. Where in dover are you going to park all the thousands of lorrys that come on the ferry every day ?

And not to mention the human aspect, you'd be forcing every single trucker in the country to only work nights. Not sure many would be happy with that.
 
zootfloot said:
I know its not possible and never going to happen but my suggestion would be....
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MrLOL said:
that would never work

How do you propose trucks that come off the ferry get to the north of england, scotland etc.. ?

They'd have to lie around in car parks all day waiting for night fall. Where in dover are you going to park all the thousands of lorrys that come on the ferry every day ?

And not to mention the human aspect, you'd be forcing every single trucker in the country to only work nights. Not sure many would be happy with that.
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MrLOL said:
that would never work

How do you propose trucks that come off the ferry get to the north of england, scotland etc.. ?

They'd have to lie around in car parks all day waiting for night fall. Where in dover are you going to park all the thousands of lorrys that come on the ferry every day ?

And not to mention the human aspect, you'd be forcing every single trucker in the country to only work nights. Not sure many would be happy with that.
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They should just use teleports instead of roads. I know it's not possible and never going to happen, but...
 
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