Last night (13th) the A11 was closed at the Thetford roundabout because of…incident? No prior warnings, no diversion route - just a police car blocking the way in (east bound) and a sign “incident”. Go find your own way around…which is fine if you’re a light vehicle as there’s a small road off the A1075 (norht) which is UNSUITABLE FOR HGVs so I had to go all the way north to the A47, then east to the Norwich roundabout and back on the A11 west to where I needed to go - all in all a 1 hour diversion of about 40 miles which btw would’ve been IMPOSSIBLE to do as the A47 istself was supposed to be closed overnight from 10th to 17th or so for painting the road but since the A11 is part of the diversion route for the A47 closure they had cancelled the “works” on the A47 that night so lorries could actually you know…get somewhere.
The best part is there’s no information online or on site about what, why, how long…sat nav doesnt’ see the closure on the A11, only google maps does. Police can now apparenly close any road at any time for any reason and don’t have to even announce it to the public or why they had to cause a major disruption and incur additional costs on businesses.
Punchy Dan:
It’s amazing how these lorries grow massive once the sat nav route can’t be followed
The op would have had kittens if he had to do what I did this afternoon and go through the centre of market Drayton [emoji23][emoji23]
4x4 and trailer had over turned on A41 at Tern hill
Punchy Dan:
It’s amazing how these lorries grow massive once the sat nav route can’t be followed
The op would have had kittens if he had to do what I did this afternoon and go through the centre of market Drayton [emoji23][emoji23]
4x4 and trailer had over turned on A41 at Tern hill
Punchy Dan:
It’s amazing how these lorries grow massive once the sat nav route can’t be followed
The op would have had kittens if he had to do what I did this afternoon and go through the centre of market Drayton [emoji23][emoji23]
4x4 and trailer had over turned on A41 at Tern hill
Sent from my truck
Was it an A frame turn table
Couldn’t see as light was fading and I was sneaking in to the wood yard 100yards before it
I know they had the Air ambulance there [emoji47]
Punchy Dan:
It’s amazing how these lorries grow massive once the sat nav route can’t be followed
The op would have had kittens if he had to do what I did this afternoon and go through the centre of market Drayton [emoji23][emoji23]
4x4 and trailer had over turned on A41 at Tern hill
Sent from my truck
Was it an A frame turn table
I heard that it was an A frame with rear steer and 4 in line axles.
The reason the police close roads for “incidents” is because an RTA is immediately classsd as a crime scene until investigations prove otherwise, likewise they are no longer called accidents because that implies nobody might be to blame. That would ruin plods performance statistics wouldn’t it
It`s just a shame the person who may be seriously injured or died, didn’t give notice what was going to happen, so the authorities could of set up a diversion for the OP.
pig pen:
It`s just a shame the person who may be seriously injured or died, didn’t give notice what was going to happen, so the authorities could of set up a diversion for the OP.
my son was killed in a motorbike accident 18 months ago, police collected me from work and took me home, the road was still closed and they took me the alternate way of a country lane which was bumper to bumper, a driver coming the other way decided to voice his annoyance to the police officers taking me home, his comments have stuck in my head since, very clear… , his annoyance for having to go a few miles out of his way and maybe be a bit late and getting home to his loved ones is far more important…
Just to be clear, Police do not close A road on a whim, it takes a ranking officer to authorise the closer of a main trunk road.
Yesterday there was a closer of the A21 to Hastings due to a fatal incident where the passenger was deceased and the driver had done a runner, the driver was eventually caught and charged with “Death by dangerous Driving” but the road did not re-open until the afternoon for forensic work to be carried out. The search for the driver involved many police resources including the helicopter.
In my humble opinion the closer was justified to detain the guy that was driving.
In some cases the road stays closed for 12 hours or more when there has been a one vehicle fatal incident. I have on a few occasions had to reverse for some distance because a motorcyclist has hit a tree. If it would bring the person back to life I would reverse further. I have sympathy for the deceased and his family but I cant help. Get all of the area photographed and back to normal ASAP.
Its not just closing a road on a whim.
Think about it, lets say there is someone on a bridge threatening to jump, the first officer on scene will relay that information to both the local and also the motorway (assuming the bridge is over the motorway).
So the situation has now escalated to not only a concern for the person on the bridge but to every vehicle passing below, so a decision will be made to halt the traffic passing below the person because if that person does fall from the bridge then they may also take out the occupants of a passing vehicle.
Should the person have already fallen from the bridge and been struck by a passing vehicle then from there is it classed as a serious incident and as such will attract a certain amount of investigation.
Now this investigation is not to say how the person came by their death but to investigate the circumstances and obtain evidence from the scene, thhis investigation is a forensic examination and as the name suggests it goes into minute detail.
The reasoning behind this is there is only one opportunity to capture that evidence and if it means closing the road then so be it.
The family of the deceased will obviously have questions and they will want answers so gathering the evidence can sometimes answer those questions.
When it comes to incidents such as a tyre blow out on a HGV the Highways Agency will close a lane to give the tyre fitter a safe space to work.
The real reason traffic builds up is rubberneckers, slowing to gawk at what has happened or even take video footage and photographs, stop the rubberneckers and you will increase the flow of traffic.
Martin:
Just to be clear, Police do not close A road on a whim, it takes a ranking officer to authorise the closer of a main trunk road.
Yesterday there was a closer of the A21 to Hastings due to a fatal incident where the passenger was deceased and the driver had done a runner, the driver was eventually caught and charged with “Death by dangerous Driving” but the road did not re-open until the afternoon for forensic work to be carried out. The search for the driver involved many police resources including the helicopter.
In my humble opinion the closer was justified to detain the guy that was driving.
Oh I’m sure they have good reasons to close roads. But there’s also that little 5 hour closure (both ways) of the M11 back in 2019 when a woman on the bus overheard a fellow passenger mention the word “bomb” in a phone conversation. I’m sure all those people stuck who missed their flights from Stanstead were so reliefed to find out at the end of the day why they missed it.
