ADUK Archive

Going over a theory paper with a pupil this evening, we came upon a question relating to small motorised disabled buggies and the use of flashing amber beacons. On checking in Driving the essential skills, it stated that, "they must use a flashing amber beacon when travelling on a dual carriageway with a speed limit greater than 50mph. I seem to remember Dorset police removing an elderly gentleman from the Holes Bay dual carriageway going into Poole a few years ago because they said it was far too dangerous to travel on that road in a disabled buggy.

This brings me to whether, just as with motorways, certain classes of road user should be prohibited from using certain types of road. for their own safety. IIAC, the A 5 North of Shrewsbury has a pedestrian prohibition on it, although if I remember correctly, there is a wide grass verge.

Up here in Scotland we have a few Special Roads (The A720 and A1 spring to mind) where pedestrians, invalid carriages and horses are not authorised. I believe there is at least one in Wales, but I don't think there has been much use of non motorway Special Roads in England other than on river crossings.

A720

(For the uninitiated a Special Road is a road upon which the public do not have an automatic right of passage, instead specific classes of traffic have to be explicitly authorized by the SoS - A motorway is a type of special road. Those of the geeky persuasion may be interested to know that there is no National Speed Limit for non-motorway special roads which means that a 70 mph limit has to be explicitly signed) .

Most if not all English A-road tunnels are restricted. No pedestrians, bikes, mopeds etc.

The primary difference when building a motorway as opposed to 'improving' an A road to essentially motorway status, is that in the former case, provision has to be made to provide alterative route for those prohibited from using the Motorway. In the case of tunnels, there are usually alternative routes anyway.

Banning certain road users from dual carriageways would leave many people with no effective route between destinations. We already have a road system which makes non-motorised users 'second class', this would completely remove the ability of many without access to a car to travel where they need to go.

Oh dear - a little O/T but having watched my grandad's antics on one of these it makes me think we need certain prohibitions for certain people regardless, not just certain roads!

Firstly he popped a tyre racing grandma home from Sunday service. They now have solid tyres but complain about the ride! Secondly, when we noticed a scrape on the front he confessed to trying to corner too quickly in the local Asda - the cereal section to be precise, apparently! Still, 94, I guess he's not doing too badly, hooligan that he is!

I often wonder why some exemptions that apply to morotways don't apply to some dual carriageways. I remember seeing a coach go into the back of a tractor on the a14 on the way home one weekend when I was much younger (just passed my test) and was thoroughly surprised by the amount of destruction caused to the coach. I understand tractors still have to get about, but surely the speed differentials are the same (if not worse on that stretch of a14 (Bury St Ed's/Haughley way)) as on a motorway? Or is it the less frequent on/offs or rest stops that trigger the restrictions?

swatchways wrote:I understand tractors still have to get about, but surely the speed differentials are the same (if not worse on that stretch of a14 (Bury St Ed's/Haughley way)) as on a motorway? Or is it the less frequent on/offs or rest stops that trigger the restrictions?

I suspect it's the lack of alternative road. If you look at something like the A1(M) upgrading in Yorkshire, one side of the old carriageway is generally kept as a renamed A-road for local (and non-M'way) traffic, running parallel to the motorway. With the A14 there isn't really a viable alternative for much of it.

Never mind tractors, I've seen cyclists on the A14. I know they have the /right/ to be there, but I wish they'd have a sense of responsibility and keep off it!

Same problem with the A34 from M40 / Oxford / M4 / Newbury. A shockingly overloaded road with frequent accidents. Dual carriageway with no hard shoulder. Cyclists and farm traffic mix it with huge number of HGVs and Audi loonies.

It's a road that begs upgrading to motorway, but there is no real alternative route over the downs.

jont wrote:

swatchways wrote:I understand tractors still have to get about, but surely the speed differentials are the same (if not worse on that stretch of a14 (Bury St Ed's/Haughley way)) as on a motorway? Or is it the less frequent on/offs or rest stops that trigger the restrictions?

I suspect it's the lack of alternative road. If you look at something like the A1(M) upgrading in Yorkshire, one side of the old carriageway is generally kept as a renamed A-road for local (and non-M'way) traffic, running parallel to the motorway. With the A14 there isn't really a viable alternative for much of it.

Never mind tractors, I've seen cyclists on the A14. I know they have the /right/ to be there, but I wish they'd have a sense of responsibility and keep off it!

Indeed, it was hoped from the start that those pesky non-motorists would just learn to keep out of our way:

Hansard, 1934 recording Lieut.-Colonel MOORE-BRABAZON MP wrote:...It is true that 7,000 people are killed in motor accidents, but it is not always going on like that. People are getting used to the new conditions. The fact that the road is practically the great railway of the country, instead of being the playground of the young, has to be realised. No doubt many of the older Members of the House will recollect the numbers of chicken's that we killed in the early days. We used to come back with the radiator stuffed with feathers. It was the same with dogs. Dogs get out of the way of motor cars nowadays, and you never kill one. There is education even in the lower animals....