Traffic Nightmares!

Post by **Mike** » Fri Oct 20, 2006 5:20 pm

Chester at 16:00 hours or so is a total nightmare. I was unable to get around the city in less than 30 minutes. Considering it was probably less than 500 metres that is pretty weird. I would suggest avoiding at that time if you possible can.

The other wierd place of heavy traffic was the M56. They seemed to crawl along at about 25 miles per hour all the way to the bridge works. I really wish that they had been able to speed up and get going on this one. It is so boring in heavy traffic. . . . :D

Post by **johnriley1uk** » Fri Oct 20, 2006 5:30 pm

The worst M56 trip I had was 5 hours, so 25mph actually starts to look quite good....

Andy · Post by **Andy** » Fri Oct 20, 2006 11:35 pm

I'll bear this information in mind when I go to Chester during the week.

On of the worst traffic nightmares I have ever had was on the way to Hay-on-Wye when me and Fez got stuck behind a tractor for around 12 miles - now that was ........ s..........l....o........w.....

The other one was on the M6 travelling up to the Lakes, just after the junction for Preston. 2 hours to travel 20 miles was very annoying.

Post by **Mike** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 8:23 am

Andy wrote:The other one was on the M6 travelling up to the Lakes, just after the junction for Preston. 2 hours to travel 20 miles was very annoying.

That sounds so familiar, it is the Blackpool / M6 / M61 junction which really slows the whole thing down. Can be a bit of a pain but I must admit that I am very infrequently there!

How come you are going to Chester this week? Study?

Andy · Post by **Andy** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 11:25 pm

Mike wrote:How come you are going to Chester this week? Study?

No, we're doing our Christmas shopping early this year because we have left it late the previous years and it has been a huge dent in our finances over Xmas. We're trying to get the majority out of the way while we are both off - i have half-term, Rowenna has booked a holiday.

I actually went today and found the M56 very busy at 4pm but thankfully no queues/traffic jams. The part where it goes straight to 40mph with the cameras taking your average speed got particularly hectic because drivers were changing lanes constantly for some reason. I can never understand some drivers' actions and this was certainly one of those occassions.

Post by **johnriley1uk** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 11:37 pm

drivers were changing lanes constantly for some reason.

This is beacuse the cameras only measure one lane. This means that if you enter the area on one lane and exit on a different lane then the cameras will not pick you up and the computer will not be able to calculate your average speed.

The result is that this "safety measure" becomes a totally unsafe nonsense.

Andy · Post by **Andy** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 11:48 pm

To me that makes absolutely no sense at all. Surely, it would cause more accidents than stop them! What the hell is the point of it?

Post by **johnriley1uk** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 12:02 am

Andy, I think the people who design these things can sometimes be incredibly dim-witted. In any event, is it a serious attempt to be safety conscious or just "being seen to be doing something" with the happy side effect that it also rakes in a nice bit of cash?

One thing for sure, if you want to catch "criminals" then just make something that everyone wants to do illegal...Hey presto, instant crime figures...

Oh I am so cynical these days.

Post by **Mike** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 8:28 am

Where did you find out about the average speed camera lane switching tip? I am amazed that someone would be that stupid! How can they expect people not to change lanes?! I thought at the very least it would be to do with the number plate recognition software!

I don't think you are wrong I am just curious!

Post by **johnriley1uk** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 8:40 am

I read my newspaper, and it caused suitable outrage recently....

Post by **Mike** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 1:31 pm

Outrage.. . . . Hum that sounds like the Daily Mail to me!

Andy · Post by **Andy** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 3:43 pm

I too thought it had something to do with number plate recognition.

Couldn't it have been the Daily Express - my gran reads that and is always outraged at 10.15am on the dot every morning.

Post by **johnriley1uk** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 4:13 pm

It may well be number plate recognition, but it only works as one camera for one lane, apparently because of some legal requirement, not a technical one.