Wrexham to Mold road accidents
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They’ve change the layout since a couple of fatal accidents at Pontbyddyn, but yet again there has been another car overturned this morning on the same bend. Seems even a new lay out and plenty of warnings to slow down there are still accidents on this bend.
@Taffy 10882 wrote:
The only way to slow people down is to put a speed camera there.
Speed van was there last week about halfway along the straight. i think the only thing that will stop it is to take it down to a single lane like they have in the opposite direction.
With them dropping the speed limit on the dual bit to 50 now it’s hard to pass anything without breaking the 50 limit as i’ve found several times now.
It’s quite a distance from Alyn Waters where it goes single lane to there and if you’re a few cars behind a slow lorry etc by the time you’re into the dual c/w part just past the Druids the lorry has reached 50 so in theory you can’t pass it. A lesson learned by me as i put my foot down only to spot the speed van up the road:eek:
@Taffy 10882 wrote:
The only way to slow people down is to put a speed camera there.
I am afraid the bottom line is that most people drive way to fast these days, everybody is always in a rush and inpatient, so there’s bound to be accidents…:( its not the roads that are dangerous its the people that drive on them :o
I agree with that, there are lots of signs on that stretch to indicate where the road goes into one lane and to slow down at the approaching bends,
which suggests it’s the drivers speed at fault rather than the road itself. Having said that, I feel sorry for the innocent driver that gets caught up in the bad drivers that cant take the bend slow enough to control their car.The simple fact is not just speed its poor driving and aggression. I was a firefighter in a station who regularly attended calls at Pontblyddyn, it was our patch. Some were tragic and my heart goes out to those involved. But my point would be, if you can take 14 ton of Fire Appliance through the bends at 50 plus mph, and take any bend on old dual section at 70mph with 400 gallons of water onboard, is it the road? albeit the road was not the best I feel we are dumbing down peoples thinking skills and making some feel invincible in the traction controlled, airbag/SIPS, ABS metal box we sit in. This is in no way intended to denigrate any person who has been killed or injured on this section, but as this weeks case showed it was impatient, inexperienced and downright selfish driving that killed 2 innocent souls.
I do think there is a focus on speed rather than skills in terms of driving.
People do genuinely think if they are doing the speed limit they are safe regardless of conditions. It is quite scary.
My personal view is mobile speed cameras are to catch people not dissuade or educate – and something I have been researching shows the education value is penalised as well.
People do slow for fixed known cameras, although floor it after, and they don’t catch idiot drivers driving like plums.
Both Wrexham and Flintshire Councils have recently had a purge on speed limits and road layouts in an attempt to make roads safer. All they have succeeded in doing is frustrate the normal law abiding motorist, and compel us to drive in queues of traffic at 50mph. However accidents are caused by drivers not obeying the speed limits or sensible road rules. Do the councils really think that a driver who does not keep to a 70mph limit will keep to a 50mph limit, or not drive over some white paint on the road? I honestly do not believe that accidents can be prevented in Pontblyddyn until the dual carriageway is extended around the village, and the funds will never be found for that.
Are all the road rules sensible though? Surely the accident statistics should have been drastically cut with all these new speed restrictions in place, if speed is the problem. Speed limits that have been in place for years without incidence have been cut & for what reason? What does it achieve? There will always be black spots & impatient drivers.
Unfortunately it doesn’t matter how many white lines or signs they put up it won’t make people that break the rules drive differently.
Other than a permanent camera near the end, the only way to eliminate the issue I can see would be an engineering solution. It’s difficult because the river is right next to the road, but some sort of re-alignment, road widening or extension of the dual carriageway will at least protect other road users from those who won’t see reason.
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