Wildwood entrance

WildwoodPaul

Well-Known Forumite
I rang Staffordshire County Council and was put through to their Highways department. The lady I spoke to had recieved a number of enquiries about what was going on with the junction.

Apparently the lines have been put in place as part of a collision reduction scheme. With the thought being that if you want to turn right out of Wildwood Drive your vision can be impaired by vehicles coming down the in slip as well as traffic moving along Cannock Road. I did mention that according to the stats there had only been 1 collision recorded at the junction and all I was told was that they look at statistics over a 3 year period.

She then told me that the out markings had been removed due to "numerous complaints" from local residents, but that the in markings would remain.

Paul
 

staffordjas

Well-Known Forumite
WildwoodPaul said:
She then told me that the out markings had been removed due to "numerous complaints" from local residents, but that the in markings would remain.

Paul
Problem now is that they haven't done a very good job of removing the white lines,so just looks as though the lines have faded!
 

proactive

Enjoying a drop of red.
Finally received a response from the council over this, together with costs involved.

Staffordshire County Council said:
Thank you for your request for information.

We have completed the search of our records and I can confirm the
following;

Accidents involving personal injury that are recorded within the County
are constantly monitored and sites where a high incidence of accidents is
recorded are identified and investigated. Where common factors are
identified that can be treated, remedial measures are introduced.

The junction of the A34, Cannock Road, with Wildwood Ringway, was
identified as a site for further investigation as 6 personal injury
accidents (all slight) were recorded during the three year period from 1
April 2007 to 31 March 2010 (the latest period that records were complete
at the time). When investigations were carried out, it was noted that
four of the six accidents recorded involved vehicles emerging from
Wildwood Ringway. All of these involved vehicles making the right turn and
being hit by westbound vehicles on Cannock Road.

Although visibility to the right for vehicles emerging is good, the
presence of the diverging taper could make it difficult for drivers
exiting Wildwood Ringway. Vehicles occupying the nearside taper could
obscure vehicles that are travelling ahead at the junction and also make
it difficult for drivers exiting Wildwood Ringway to discern the speed of
approaching vehicles that are travelling ahead at the junction. The right
turn manoeuvre from Wildwood Ringway was further complicated by the
presence of the right turning lane on Cannock Road which accommodates
traffic turning right into Wildwood Ringway. In effect, vehicles exiting
Wildwood Ringway and turning right were required to negotiate/anticipate
four lanes of traffic on Cannock Road.

Department for Transport design guidelines state that diverging tapers and
merging tapers shall not be provided at simple junctions such as this. It
was therefore decided to simplify the junction by hatching out the
diverging and merging tapers. Additional direction arrows and slow
markings were also provided. Although the accidents recorded were
associated with the diverging taper it was decided that the merging taper
should also be hatched out to provide a coherent scheme that complied with
the guidelines.

Following implementation of the scheme, a number of requests were received
from members of the public for the hatching to be removed. As a result of
these requests, the scheme was reassessed. The markings within the
merging taper were provided for consistency. As the accidents recorded
were associated with the diverging taper, it was decided that the hatching
within the merging taper should be removed.

Although still awaiting the actual costs for implementing this local
safety scheme, it is estimated they will be in the region of
£500-£1,000, and no more than £500 for the lines that were
removed. This is considered exceptional value for money if just one
accident is prevented.
 

gilesjuk

Well-Known Forumite
I've never seen any accidents there but have seen plenty at the traffic lights by the MOD. Yet they do sod all about that.
 

gilesjuk

Well-Known Forumite
I said I'd never seen any. Not that none have been reported.

It's usually when the clocks change and it gets darker. I saw two accidents in consecutive days at the traffic lights on Sandon road near the MOD. Yet I've never seen any at Wildwood despite going past there about 4 times a day.
 

henryscat

Well-Known Forumite
gilesjuk said:
I said I'd never seen any. Not that none have been reported.
You said "sod all" was done at a particular junction. Not all accidents are reported - which might be a factor, since acting on road safety issues largely relies on what stats are available.


I saw two accidents in consecutive days at the traffic lights on Sandon road near the MOD. Yet I've never seen any at Wildwood despite going past there about 4 times a day.
There are reported accidents as per previous postings, just because you see something doesn't mean it hasn't happened. That you have seen two accidents on consecutive days somewhere else doesn't make that junction more dangerous than one you haven't seen anything happen at.

What proportion of the day does your passing Wildwood four times represent? About 30 seconds out of 24 hours? So for the most part you don't see what's happening.
 

henryscat

Well-Known Forumite
Withnail said:
henryscat said:
A lot of accidents never get reported.
How do you know?
Comparisons have been done between casualty figures from accidents reported to the police and road accident casualties treated at hospitals - and the two don't match!

I suspect a lot of people don't bother reporting minor accidents in particular, but it is interesting that there are more serious accidents that obviously go unreported.
 

gilesjuk

Well-Known Forumite
henryscat said:
What proportion of the day does your passing Wildwood four times represent? About 30 seconds out of 24 hours? So for the most part you don't see what's happening.
Many of the peak times. Morning rush hour, 12pm, 1pm and then back home at 5.30.

Peak times are when you are most likely to get an accident surely?
 
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