Highways Agency: Enforce This.

Over two years after locals started asking the Highways Agency and Hampshire County Council to make the Tufton intersection safer for all road users there are still weekly near-misses, as drivers misunderstand the road layout or signage and put themselves and others in danger.

This photo was taken recently by a Tufton resident who happened to have a camera handy when he came across this HGV reversing back down the sliproad, as cars waited. In the words of one resident, "I think these photos speak for themselves really. This poor lorry driver did as many other drivers have done and got very confused at our badly designed intersection. Happens weekly, it's just that a Tufton resident so happened to have a camera near by this time. It is only a matter of time before the photo will be linked with a fatality statistic"

A senior local elected official added, "I too - some two years ago - encountered  four young adults in a car with Polish plates going up the A34 exit ramp at Tufton. I was able to stop them before they could get to the A34 itself."

In reply Hampshire County Council Traffic Management - who are responsible for the signage, markings and road up to the sliproad - replied, "As discussed in previous correspondence, we are intending to implement some low cost improvements at this location during the current financial year. The County Council has no authority or funding to do a wider scheme on the Highway Agency managed slip road"

A reply by the Highways Agency stated: "The photos demonstrate that even with physical interventions the individual has ignored two regulatory signs and a regulatory road marking on the local road network prohibiting him from proceeding past that sign. We do understand your concerns about the issue of drivers going the wrong way down the slip road. However this is an enforcement matter and this incident or any similar incidents need to be reported to Hampshire Police in the first instance"

Local are surprised that the Highways Agency believes the driver of the HGV chose to 'ignore' the signs and road markings, as if the subsequent journey onto the wrong side of the A34 was a planned route. Instead the belief is that this driver - like many others before - was confused by the roading layout and did not understand the danger they were about to place themselves and others into.

If you have experienced a near-miss at this intersection please email tuftonordeath@gmail.com - your input will be recorded and shared with the authorities. Also please email your HCC representative Cllr Tom Thacker - tom.thacker@hants.gov.uk - as it is HCC who can make the most effective changes in the near future.

Progress. Kinda.

Recently the below email was sent to HCC Highways and Cllr Thacker:

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Dear HCC Highways team, Cllr Thacker,

As you are aware for the last two years we have been battling to get the HA to do something about the Tufton intersection. Even the direct intervention of Sir George Young was fobbed off with lies about 'watchmen', which we now know (through an FOI request) do not do anything regarding driver behaviour or risk.

But I then realised: the section of road in question - the two-lane 60MPH end of Winchester Road - is under HCC control. The fact that it is the HA sliproad funnelling traffic too fast and in the wrong lane onto HCC's area of responsibility is by the by.

I would therefore like to know: What is HCC going to do about traffic heading the wrong way in the Tufton-bound lane under the A34? and what is HCC going to do about traffic failing to turn right into Nun's Walk and instead proceeding onto the HA sliproad, again in the wrong direction?
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Good news! The following response has now been received from HCC Highways:


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Hello Mr Stead and Cllr Thacker,

I have been discussing the slip road exit with colleagues from the County Council Safety Audit team, to see if there are any low cost improvements we can make. We have come up with a few ideas to make the no entry signs and hatched area more prominent. These are intended to help prevent vehicles going up the off slip and prevent vehicles driving over the hatched area on the exit to the off slip. The current plan is to complete these changes during the current financial year.

These low cost measures only consist of repositioning signs and additional carriageway markings on County Council managed highway. The real long term solution involves a scheme down the length of the slip road which is managed by the Highway Agency.

When we have suitable plan I am happy to forward it on.

Regards,

...

Team Leader - Traffic Management (North) Highways, Traffic & Transport Hampshire County Council
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The Watchmen are watching...

Following on from local MP George Young witnessing first-hand a car leaving the Tufton sliproad and immediately veering onto the wrong side of the road with the intention of turning right up the southbound sliproad, the HA was forced to invent a new excuse: The Watchmen Are Watching.

Who are The Watchmen? Specifically they are Accident Incident Watchmen, or 'AIW's'. Apparently these people are employees of the area contractors (not the HA itself). They 'patrol and monitor' the roads on a daily basis in accordance with their 'Health and Safety procedures to ensure safety of workforce and road users while site visits are undertaken'. Identified issues are then fed back to the HA via a 'Watchman Report'.

Noting the italics above - these 'Watchmen' don't seem to have a remit to look at general road safety issues like poorly-designed intersections - they appear to be focused on specific visits or works.

In the HA letter to George Young of 28th Jan 2013 (assuming this is actually 2014 and the HA simply don't know what year it is) they state 'any future misuse of the sliproad can be reported ... on 0300 125 5000'. They also suggest members of the public report 'misuse' to the Police.

So we seem to have come full circle. Nearly two years ago we started down a road where locals were complaining to the HA, to the local contractor, to the Police and to their MP and councillors. Things Were Looked At. The HA wrote a flawed, self-contradictory report that acknowledged the issue of the road layout, but then went on to say that as this had no influence on collisions that happened 500 yards away due to different issues of speed and cornering, there was no problem.

Now following many residents and the local MP witnessing first-hand a potentially fatal driver error that was 100% attributable to the poor road layout, the HA response is 'we are Watching on a daily basis, please let us know if you think anything is wrong'.

One wonders if the HA have a sweepstake running on just how long they can drag this out before residents give up and resign themselves to the death of a friend, neighbour or loved one.

When local residents offered to collate video evidence of vehicles crossing the centreline, the response from the HA was as follows (by email, 30th Jan 2014):

"...it would not be possible to use video footage or the number of vehicles crossing the centreline as evidence. This would mean that we were not adhering to the nationally consistent process for obtaining funding to undertake safety improvement works"

Yes. The *only* way to get that funding is via a formula. A formula that says 'X people have died or been seriously injured. This equals £Y funding, let's go fix the problem'.

In other words, we will accept nothing less than a death or serious injury at this location as proof it is dangerous.

If no-one's been injured or killed yet, there is clearly no problem.

Suggestions on where to go from here are most welcome. The HA is clearly unable to grasp the concept of fixing something *before* someone is hurt or killed.  The HA is a statutory body who is judge, jury and executioner of road safety, to whom a senior MP witnessing a potentially fatal traffic error is a mere inconvenience to be fobbed off. What hope a small community?

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The following response has been sent to the HA today, after a similar reply was received regarding the proposal to collect video evidence'Watchmen':

Dear Mr Degallerie

Thankyou for your information regarding the previously-unheard-of 'Watchmen' who apparently ceaselessly prowl the roading network, seeking out and reporting on potential or actual Health And Safety breaches. I welcome your assurance that they are aware of all problems on the road network and strive to maintain our wellbeing.

• Can you please confirm how many 'Watchmen Reports' have been written on the Tufton intersection over the least 5 years?

• Also on which dates the Watchmen have specifically visited this location and assessed the issue of traffic not adhering to the road layout? I'm assuming that if there was no issues found, that would also be documented?

Also, thankyou for clarifying that video evidence of repeated driver error caused by a confusing road layout would not be considered relevant, and that you only consider the 'nationally consistent process' applicable in this sort of matter. 

• Can you please confirm that under this process, a road user must be seriously injured or killed before the Highways Agency will consider improvements to this intersection? 

Or is there another mechanism apart from spilt blood that can have a bearing on funding allocation? I would hope there was the opportunity for common sense and observation of driver behaviour to have *some* influence (although we appear to have proved that the word of a senior MP has no sway).

Regards

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FOLLOW UP:

After this update was added, a long-time Tufton resident and mother of two reported the following incident to the Highways Agency:

Since you have requested that we advise any "misuse" of the intersection to the HA,  I today reported by phone ... that at 2.45pm I met a vehicle driving UP the off the ramp of the intersection in question as I exited the A34. With my headlights flashing, and hazard lights on the on coming vehicle saw my vehicle in time and did a multiple point turn and safely went down the off ramp, thank fully cars behind me noticed and stopped with space so that we were not on the A34.   

Unfortunately, there didn't appear to be any "watchmen" or "watchwomen" to view the live evidence provided today, nor was there an incident to report to the police.  As always it was just local people sorting out a driver who was unfamiliar with the confusing road layout and many many markings that prevented an incident.

  

When reporting today's "misuse" I was asked if I wished for any feedback on my reason for phoning in and to be honest it would seem pointless as your letter is quite clear that you are not interested until you can "justify investment" for the safety of all road users.  

If at some point there is a tragedy and a life is lost, with all the information and openness over concerns in regard to this intersection the HA may find themselves in a position of having to  provide evidence of  due diligence or duty of care to road uses.  In no dimension am I  exaggerating the dangerousness of this intersection.   Fortunately, yet again no tragedy but it is only a matter of time.

You couldn't make it up

This morning a handful of locals met MP George Young at the Tufton intersection. We stood in the bright cold sunshine and described what we had seen over the years - the near-misses, the reversing cars, HGV's and buses off the sliproad, and the cars driving on the wrong side of the road to head back south on the A34. George asked us what we thought would work to stop this happening, and considered the option of some plastic road marking poles along the hatching marking boundary a good solution to try - low cost, could be installed or removed quickly and easily, and should a driver hit them, no worse than some scratched paintwork. Poles that would hopefully stop people cutting the corner coming down, as well as stop them driving up.

We gave our thanks for his meeting us, and George said he'd be in touch.

As he turned away to walk back under the A34 toward Whitchurch, a silver Volvo estate came down the sliproad and immediately moved onto the right-hand side of the road under the bridge, into the face of any oncoming traffic bound for Tufton. The driver realised his or her mistake and swerved quickly back onto the correct side of the road, before then indicating and turning right to head south on the A34.

All in full view of George and the locals gathered.

We cannot presuppose the outcome of today's meeting, and the Highways Agency is now legendary in their adherence to rules, formulas and policy in the face of known issues, countless photos, witness statements and vociferous calls for action from locals. Now a senior minister of the crown and former transport secretary has witnessed an innocent motorist being completely misled by a road's design, and has heard from locals that far from being a rare mishap, this is a daily occurrence.

Fingers crossed.


Footnote: Whilst waiting to meet at the intersection, this photo was taken of a car crossing almost entirely over the hatching and centreline at the intersection. Note the MP standing on the corner looking on.

In the News...

The Andover Advertiser and Basingstoke Gazette have carried stories on the intersection in late November 2013:

http://www.andoveradvertiser.co.uk/news/10825062.Residents_demanding__danger__slip_road_action/

and 

http://www.basingstokegazette.co.uk/news/districts/10834198.Calls_for_changes_to_confusing_interchange_near_Whitchurch/

Some cross locals.

Thursday 14th Nov, 8am - photo shoot and interviews with locals

Things move slowly sometimes here are TuftonOrDeath Towers, and occasionally things actually happen - the latest update is that two local papers and BBC Solent are going to do a photo/video shoot and interview locals.

The date/time is: Thursday 14th November, at 8am.

If driving, please park down Nun's Walk - not on Winchester Road.


And meanwhile, out on the road...

This from a local last week on the town Facebook page last week (26th Oct): 

"Around 12:15 today I was driving behind a car that also exited A34 at Tufton. As he drove towards the underpass he moved into the oncoming lane and indicated for the A34 southbound ramp. Thank goodness no one coming towards us, especially any family out for a bicycle ride."


Also reported on the town website: 

"Driving out to Tufton the week before last we witnessed a car, having gone up the slip road the wrong way, come face to face with an ambulance coming down. The ambulance used its blue lights to warn other drivers, whilst the car driver did a three point turn and came back down"



Remember, this is a junction not worthy of remedial works by the Highways Agency. Maybe ambulances using their lights to warn traffic while cars reverse down sliproads is a commonplace event.


Sigh.

Justification 101

<update: see below for resident's emails to MP & County Cllr following this post being made public>

The following received from the Highways Agency:

Dear Mr Stead

I am Assistant Asset Manager for the A34 in the vicinity of Whitchurch and I have been asked to respond.

We note your comments and concerns regarding the findings of the scoping note sent to you by Surinder Bhangu. The issues you have raised relate to the speed limit on the A34 in the vicinity of Whitchurch and instances of driver error at the same location.

Any proposals to reduce the speed limit on the A34, needs to be supported by evidence that there would be safety benefit (reduction in recorded accidents) to the travelling public. In addition, the police who are responsible for enforcement of any speed limit would need support any new proposal. In this case, due to the relative few recorded accidents, we are unable to provide a case to reduce the speed limit at this time.

We have investigated potential options that might reduce the potential for driver error which includes going the wrong way up the on slip. However, any funding towards a scheme would require evidence that it would reduce recorded accidents.

I agree that the issues are completely separate, however we have analysed the A34 in the vicinity of Whitchurch as a whole to provide a robust study instead of looking at individual issues (that would have given less evidence). We have gone further and considered 10 years of accident data instead of the normal 5. There is currently not enough evidence to suggest that a scheme at this location would provide a safety benefit to the travelling public. It would be even more difficult to provide robust evidence of safety benefits if considering the issues completely separately. The speed management trigger levels for further investigation are set out in table 1.1 (page 8) in the scoping note.

I can reassure you that we will continue to monitor the A34 in the vicinity of Whitchurch but at present we cannot justify an improvement scheme at the location.

Yours sincerely

..., Assistant Asset Manager

Highways Agency | Federated House | London Road | Dorking | RH4 1SZ

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My response, CC'ing in MP George Young, HCC Cllr Tom Thacker, B&DBC and Town Cllrs.:

Dear ..., HA staff

Thank you for your reply. I would like to address the points you raise, again:

Sliproad speed

Any proposals to reduce the speed limit on the A34, needs to be supported by evidence that there would be safety benefit (reduction in recorded accidents) to the travelling public. In addition, the police who are responsible for enforcement of any speed limit would need [to] support any new proposal. In this case, due to the relative few recorded accidents, we are unable to provide a case to reduce the speed limit at this time.

According to your own scoping note the collision rate is four times the national average (Table 4.1), yet the Highways Agency don't see this as warranting remedial action. Also you have not advised what the per-100 million km crash rate is for the 500m-long A34 northbound Tufton off-ramp area, to allow comparison with the trigger level of 37 crashes per 100 Million km travelled.

Let me work backwards from what we do know to get an idea: there have been 3 crashes in the past 10 years (Table 4.1) on the northbound sliproad, and the area the area in question is 500m in length.  As there have not been 37 crashes in the period, rather 3, we must divide 3 by 37 to get the multiplier of 0.081, but as we are only talking about a 500m stretch of road, we need to double this number to 0.162 in order to get an accurate per-km comparison. 100m vehicle movements multiplied by 0.162 is 16.2 million vehicles over ten years, or 1.62 million per year, or about 4,438 per day, or 185 per hour, or 3 per minute, 24hrs a day. Let's assume traffic between 10pm and 6am is very light indeed, giving a 'waking hours' flow of 4.5 cars per minute. I am not a statistician and last sat in a maths class several decades ago, so am open to being corrected on these numbers but believe I am more or less correct in my assumptions.

So if the northbound Tufton sliproad carried 4,500 cars per day off the A34, the crash rate of one per year would not warrant investigation. This is clearly absurd - I would suspect the volume of traffic per day is an order of magnitude lower.

In other words, and without knowing your specific traffic flow numbers, I surmise that the crash rate on the 500m stretch of the northbound A34 sliproad at Tufton is at least ten times that required to trigger an investigation. The Scoping Report states that '...the A34 in its entirety was below the criteria for any speed reduction measures' - however we are not talking about the A34 70MPH dual carriageway. We are talking about a single-lane off-camber sliproad with successive blind corners approaching an intersection, that cannot be safely negotiated in a normal car at more than 35-40MPH.

Therefore the first thing I would like to know is:

1) what is the per-100 million km collision rate for the 500m stretch of the northbound A34 sliproad


Wrong-way driving onto sliproad

We have investigated potential options that might reduce the potential for driver error which includes going the wrong way up the on slip. However, any funding towards a scheme would require evidence that it would reduce recorded accidents.
 

The issue here is that there have been no recorded collisions due to vehicles entering the sliproad in the wrong direction. Locals are telling our elected representatives they have witnessed wrong-way driving by cars, vans and HGV's, going onto and off of the sliproad, but no actual crashes. The Scoping Report acknowledges "if funded, some remedial works may alleviate the anecdotal problem of vehicles heading the wrong way up the slip road".


I would therefore also like to know:

2) Is it the HA's policy to acknowledge the anecdotal evidence from locals having witnessed vehicles driving the wrong way up the sliproad, the possibility for what would inevitably be a serious or fatal head-on collision at speed, then state that because no actual collision has occurred to date, no justification can be made for works to prevent an actual crash occurring? How can this possibly be an acceptable outcome for the community?


Political accountability

A question for Cllr Thacker & Sir George: 

3) Given the number of locals who have witnessed driving on the wrong side of the road at this intersection, in both directions, and the fact that you have been made aware of this on numerous occasions, and that the Highways Agency itself has acknowledged this as an issue in their Scoping Report, are you happy to wait until a crash does occur? If/when a collision does occur, what liability as elected representatives will you accept for the lack of action on the Highways Agency's behalf?


A question for the Highways Agency staff: 

4) likewise you are very well aware of this problem. If/when a collision, injury or death occurs, what personal or professional liability will you or the Highways Agency accept?


Regards etc etc



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Resident's replies:

To george.young.mp, tom.thacker:

Dear All,

How very grateful many people are to Mike for continuing to put forward the absolute need for this intersection, junction to be made safe.

On a daily basis the layout of this intersection causes drivers to not drive safely and we residents often hear of near misses or cars/trucks being disorientated by the layout and lack of clarity in terms of lane reduction, two way change, no north bound on ramp etc etc etc.

At approximately 930am todayI so wish I had had a camera available to photograph a car proceeding up the off ramp, ie facing me, head on, as I was driving off the A34 off ramp.

Thank fully I had my headlights on, was driving as always on this off ramp, very cautiously, and so there was no accident.   The driver was so shocked to see me heading towards them they managed to do a "U" turn and scurry away.  

So yet again, very dangerous situation occurred due to this badly designed intersection, and no accident or fatality or evidence entirely due to my cautious driving and local knowledge.

I am a mother, wife, sister, daughter, granddaughter, niece, cousin and there is no monetary value that could buy my life back this morning had the outcome been different.   I would simply have ended up just another tragic story that would fade in the council's eyes, and be filed.

Please would you mind addressing this situation urgently  before someone does die.

Many thanks,

...

Dear Sir George

Please excuse my taking up of your time, however having lived in Tufton for over 10 years with my family, I am now so concerned about a particular situation and the relative lack of material change that has been described as unavoidable due to costs to request your assistance at the highest level necessary.

I will refrain from going in to detail which I believe has already been provided.  However in short I share with others a real concern about the road safety associated with the A34 underpass and northbound slip road which proceeds it.

On many occasions when driving from Whitchurch I have encountered cars travelling on the wrong side of the road underneath the A34, narrowly missing what would inevitably be at least a net 60 miles an hour head-on collision, this based on both cars travelling at 30mph which I am sure you appreciate is a gross underestimate.

It is apparent from communications with the Highways Agency that such an issue is recognised and that potential solutions are available.  Indeed I drew this conclusion myself on the basis that an arrow was sprayed on to the road under the A34 a few years ago - regretfully this is in the shadows of the bridge and I would suggest evidently too late on the road to have any material benefit and therefore of little assistance. 

However it is commented that available measures to address the issue are implemented on the basis of addressing likely future catastrophes assessed with reference to how many have occurred in the past rather than the simple prevention of an issue ever coming about.  Whilst I can appreciate the economic logic (there is only so much money to go around), I find it regrettable if not distasteful that as residents of our small community we are being used as bait to justify the implementation of preventative measures.  It seems that if we have a number of accidents, of varying levels of severity, over the next week or so, we may indeed be granted prevention measures.  I'm afraid gates and horses bolting spring to mind.

I would therefore be most grateful for your support and influence to help address the situation that we face - it would be more than a great shame if an accident was to occur in the future and we had done nothing to prevent it occurring other than accept that finances got in the way.  There are so many horror stories in the press that I feel compelled to try to avoid another one, on a more personal level close to home.

I very much look forward to hearing how you can assist us.

Kind regards


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