The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
LETTER: John Siddle is very selective in the wording he uses when responding to comments and criticism of the A16 traffic accidents (The Voice, June 11).
Our front page on June 11
It is obvious that the road does not cause crashes; it just sits there quietly all day while people run over it. My sympathy goes to those persons and families affected by the crashes and I have no knowledge of the circumstances so offer no intended comment.
I would agree that a number of drivers’ behaviour and attitudes leave a lot to be desired and not just on the A16.
We have a multitude of ages, experience and cultural differences using the roads. Many have not had the thorough training that some get others fail to learn from their past experiences or care to take it slowly until that experience is gained.
There was a movie trailer once “nice’n easy does it, nice’n easy gets you there every time”. We could all do well to heed that advice. I wish to arrive in my car not a box.
Now to Mr Siddle’s comments on design. I am not a road engineer but I have travelled a great number of miles driving an assortment of vehicles and some roads are relatively easy to negotiate while some have been built with the most stupid of layouts for junctions, no safe overtaking stretches and a quality of carriageway that does not allow drivers to make progress and arrive safe without fatigue.
I am afraid the A16 Spalding to Peterborough via Crowland and Eye falls into the latter category.
On leaving the Cowbit roundabout towards Peterborough there is a sweeping right-hand bend followed by a straight road but because the road disappears downhill to Queens Bank nothing can be seen coming towards you until it’s too late.
Next comes the junction for Holbeach Drove, a very heavily used junction for a lot of villages in that area all wishing to either go to Crowland, Peterborough or Spalding.
Crossing there and traffic goes into blind spots as vehicles turn right and left or straight on and it’s a recipe for risk taking and lack of attention. Yes, it’s not the road’s fault and it needs drivers to pay attention but if a roundabout had been designed from the outset a lot of poor decisions and stress manoeuvres would be eliminated. Design fault, yes.
The same can be said for the next set of junctions for Nene Terrace and Thorney Road, again a roundabout from the outset. Design fault, yes.
Follow the road round the next roundabout and you are on your way to Peterborough but look ahead to where you are heading and the road disappears again under Wright’s Drove and the bridge at Eye then comes into view and it appears to be nowhere near where the car is pointing but eventually you do reach Eye and Peterborough with some good quality dual carriageway.
Most likely in seven or eight hours’ time you will repeat it all in the opposite direction with just the same obstacles and idiots trying to be home before you. All the time you are riding on what feels like corrugated tin or even the rollercoaster at Skegness. How you can have such an undulating surface crossing the flat Fenland landscape with today’s technology is just beyond belief. Design fault, yes.
Now Mr Siddle, put yourself in your car and drive those routes and junctions that many of us take daily, cross the road in different directions and travel from Peterborough to Spalding and vice versa during happy hour at both ends of the day after a day’s work. Get your highways engineers to do it also and then come back and tell us that it is the best road in the county or admit that it could have been done better.
A good standard of driving is only part of it; we need those in positions of decision making to provide conditions that will allow a good standard of unhindered safety.
The road safety partnership is very good at blaming human factors and speed. It then implements speed limits and claims its job is done. It should take a little more time to be constructive in its decision making and promote a safer environment by road surfaces, clear junctions, unobstructed road information signs (read tree and bush cutting) and driver awareness.
Robert Congreve
Lincolns Avenue
Gedney Hill
