Following the tragic news that two people died in a crash on the Alderley Edge bypass last week, dozens of motorists have taken to social media to call for improvements to make the road safer.
The fatal collision involving two vehicles occurred at approximately 4pm on Friday, 3rd November, and resulted in the death of an 85-year-old man and an 82-year-old woman from Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Just three weeks earlier there was a serious accident involving three vehicles on the A34 Melrose Way. Fire crews were at the scene for approximately 50 minutes on October 12th, they released one man who was trapped in an overturned vehicle and a second man who was trapped in a separate vehicle.
At the time a police spokesperson said "One sustained minor injuries, a 19-year-old man sustained serious injuries and a 37-year-old man sustained life threatening injuries. He is currently in a stable but critical condition."
In September 2013, 11-year-old Flynn Morrissey was tragically killed in a head on collision whilst travelling to school. A red Porsche crossed into the opposite carriageway on a bend in the road and into the path of a Ford Focus being driven by his mother Nicola Clifford.
Readers have contacted us by email as well as posting messages on the websites, Facebook and Twitter calling for action to be taken before there is another terrible accident. Below is a sample of the messages posted:
"This was designed as a dual carriageway originally so all.the sight lines are wrong for a single carriageway.... absolute negligence!!!"
"Awful bit of road, bad design that's costing lifes! Needs petitioning for better road markings or a centre barrier."
"Speed cameras have to be installed. Its only a matter of time before there is yet another crash on that stretch. So sad."
"What on earth is going on with this bypass ? Something has to be done to stop these terrible accidents! So sad."
"I hate this stretch of bypass it's really dangerous it's time something was done to make it safer."
"I think a lower speed limit and a couple of cameras may help as people go so fast along it..."
"This should have never been built without a central reservation. How many more people will lose their lives before something is done? I'll never drive on this road."
"Needs to be dual carriageway.... I've had a couple of near misses with cars overtaking slow moving traffic here. People need to stop crawling down this part of the bypass as it causes inpatient drivers to overtake and there's too many crests to check the road is clear properly."
"Should have been dual track all the way as people try overtaking and it's so blind in places would have been far safer as dual track all the way. So sad yet again another tragic accident on this stretch something needs to be done."
"I use this road countless times every single day as a taxi driver and thankfully have never had a problem. However despite driving at the speed limit I still get over taken by other cars doing inexcess of 80mph. Speed cameras are needed."
"Definitely negligence! It feels like a dual carriageway! It should be closed immediately and restructured!"
"This is the second bad accident now on this road so clearly there are serious issue with the design of the road. Wouldn't be surprised if it was due to cutting costs, shameful negligence."
"Such a badly designed road and it's costing precious lives. So sad."
"Speed cameras needed. Solid white line so no over taking. Lighting needs to addressed too. Such a sad story and could be avoided."
Others have commented that it is not the road which is dangerous but the way people drive on it.
"The problem is the idiotic drivers on the road not the road itself. Don't know why there's no speed cameras!"
"This is terrible news but why does everyone blame the road? Drive to the conditions, visibility etc and you will not crash (well, not on your own anyway)."
A spokesperson for Cheshire East Council said: "Investigations are ongoing to understand the cause of the collision and we will work with the police to determine if any further measures are required as a result.
"During the development stage of the Alderley Edge bypass scheme, predictions were made about the traffic likely to use the new road. This work established that the road would not be required to be built as a dual carriageway and recent traffic counts have confirmed that the road does not carry sufficient traffic for dual carriageway provision."
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
Just to add, anyone suggesting that lowering the speed limit would help is nuts. That will just cause more overtaking and more risk. The answer in this world of safer cars is a minimum speed limit. Get the slow drivers off the road. Lets face it, they are the ignorant ones and quite frankly, some of the slow speeds that they drive at are just rude. Re take our tests every 5-10 yrs to up the standard. Reduce the number of cars on the road and public transport would work better.
As has been stated elsewhere, for accidents categorised as serious, the road has actually had about half as many as the road through the middle of Alderley Edge during the same period and a lot less than many other nearby roads.
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Just to add, anyone suggesting that lowering the speed limit would help is nuts. That will just cause more overtaking and more risk. The answer in this world of safer cars is a minimum speed limit. Get the slow drivers off the road. Lets face it, they are the ignorant ones and quite frankly, some of the slow speeds that they drive at are just rude. Re take our tests every 5-10 yrs to up the standard. Reduce the number of cars on the road and public transport would work better. "
Are you saying get tractors off the by-pass, as well as learner drivers, fully laden trucks, all drivers who want to get from A -B at 50 mph and you are calling them ignorant !
Sorry, but a 50mph is a must and white lines in the center of the road near brook lane bridge. A improvement to the roundabout and roads at the Wilmslow end is a MUST.
The bypass was built to get as much traffic out of AE village as possible, and it seems to do that. You can't then ban 'slow' vehicles travelling on it. We know the road is not as straight as it might have been because, for (significant) cost and time reasons, it was designed to skirt around the golf course and the tomato farm ie along the line of least resistance. The plans must, however, have met the criteria for highways safety when it was designed and built.
A simple solution may be double white lines, but highways engineers need to evaluate that based on the accident investigation results and possibly a further evaluation of the road.
One is that the speed limit is not clear. The only indication of speed is the national speed limit sign (white circle with black diagonal line), which most people don't have a clue what it means. It can mean a 70, 60 or 50 mph limit depending on the road or vehicle.
But which one is it here?
This confusion meas some think it's 50mph, so drive at 45mph "just to be safe". While others think it's 70mph and get frustrated driving behind those doing 45mph. They are then too eager to overtake, which is when accidents can happen.
The actual limit I believe is 60mph though, which is probably everyone's least obvious guess. So firstly, I would make the speed limit clear to everyone. Secondly, there are some blind bends and hills that are not safe to over take on regardless of the speed. These should have solid white lines indicating this.
Both these would help the situation and help drivers act safely. However, there is not much that can be done if they decide to act recklessly though.
On other roads like this where there's a switch from dual to single but otherwise similar-looking road you see large signs saying 'single carriageway'. That might be a cheap aid to safety. Along with double white lines where appropriate.
some drivers are too accelerator happy though, any vehicle going at a sensible speed is fodder for an overtaking move, and the driver overtaking often hasnt a long enough line of vision ahead to manage it safely.
drivers just dont help themselves sometimes, I was behind a car late on saturday night as I was coming home towards handforth from congleton, the car in front didnt have its lights on, IN AN UNLIT SECTION, I was flashing them from a safe distance behind, as were some oncoming traffic. They were just oblivious to the danger.
I’d also welcome the CP task force ‘big yellow van’ taking up position. I see them in and around Knutsford regularly, so why not here? Any twitter users can follow that @cptaskforce to see their successes.
I appreciate everybody's concern about the number and type of Road Traffic Collisions on this and other sections of the Handforth, Wilmslow, and Alderley Edge By passes (AKA A34)
My professional experience is as a design engineer in the Built Environment. My experience is mainly related to Buildings but I have also done some infrastructure work.
My professional experience tells me that when something goes wrong with a built environment, the uninformed generally jump to conclusions as to what happened; what went wrong; why; how; and in the majority of cases blame ”the design".
I don't know why there seems to be a higher than anticipated / expected number of RTC's on the A34 Bypass. Or whether it is higher than anticipated / expected. All I do know, is that there are numerous reasons why accidents happen and the most common is due to human failing.
This could be human failings of:
1) The designer
2) The installer
3) The maintainer
4) The user.
or a combination of all or any of the above.
Dave Smith.
It is a strategy that there are any accidents of this road, or on any other road. Just awful. We are in great danger of jumping to conclusions here (well, most correspondents), we have no facts avout what caused this accident at present. If someone's dangerous driving was to blame then it's their stupid and irresponsible decision to drive in an inappropriate way on a single carriageway bendy road. They probably drive as stupidly on all bendy roads - So, deal with them not the roads (Or lets get all Roman and make all our roads straight). And let's try to be objective and base our opinions on facts...
The NSL on this single carriageway is 60mph, in my opinion reducing the 'limit' to 50mph will not do a great deal in safety terms because too many users believe that speed limits do not apply to them anyway - and a combined closing speed of 100mph plus a head-on collision will kill you for sure.
By all means let's have some modest signage additions to take the guesswork out of knowing the speed limit; double white lines will reinforce the message - but we don't need an analysis, survey or big enquiry, all this can be done quickly and at a relatively low cost.
BUT don't be misled into thinking it will stop the idiot speeders and risk takers, and yes, the outright poor drivers tipping the balance of chance for further accidents and heaven forbid, more deaths.
The irony is a roundabout at the southern end of the by-pass (which, let's be honest, 'feels' like' a dual carriageway) bleeding off into the established tree lined single carriageway and THREE sets of traffic lights all in less than 1/3 of a mile - so what on earth is the sense of speeding; go figure Bentley/Beemer/Porsche/Audi man and mam!!
Making ProgressDriving well below the speed limit can be as dangerous as driving above it. Particularly if this causes frustration amongst other road users who may feel the need to overtake you when it is unsafe to do so.
Similarly being hesitant at junctions or when approaching hazards or when other road users are clearly giving way can result in dangers as you unexpectedly stop or unnecessarily slow down.
What your examiner is looking for
The examiner is expecting you to
Drive up to the speed limit if road, weather and traffic conditions permit or at a realistic speed if not
Approach hazards at a safe controlled speed without being over cautious or interfering with the progress of other traffic
Emerge from junctions without stopping at give way lines if it is safe to do so or emerge at the first safe opportunity to proceed.
Driving faults recorded
20 Progress
Appropriate speed:
Crawls along at slow speeds on clear roads.
Makes no attempt to achieve maximum speeds for the road when safe to do so.
Reduces speed excessively when the conditions do not merit doing so.
Makes slow progress through the gears in normal driving.
Undue hesitancy:
I have seen the various views on Melrose Way, there are two sides however ie the above from the Highway Code on passing a driving test. I travel on this road & am frustrated by drivers who drive at 30mph on a 60mph road, if they want to stick to what they feel comfortable with then they should avoid the bypass & stick to the 30mph roads, on the other hand there is an element of local drivers who think they own the road, I live in Wilmslow & if I had a £1 for every time they barge past even though they should give way, I would be very rich. I travel down the A34 bypass & they stick to the outside lane even though they are moving forward, I thought this was now outlawed! When this happens I slow down just to piss them off....I have the right to slow down when taking a right turn on the roundabout into Wilmslow!
Double white lines, average speed cameras are pointless, motorists ignore them every day. Many country lanes are NSL (60 - 70mph).
Most motorists are equipped with 2 Mk1 eyeballs and a lump of grey matter between the ears. Use them, or stop driving.
Different limits apply if you are driving a van, coach or truck.
Unless there is street lighting where the limit is automatically 30, unless signs indicate otherwise, the single carriage way is 60 mph. It’s in the Highway Code.
If the Bypass can't be converted to dual Carriageway, at a minimum a Central Barrier needs to be installed along with reducing the spped limit to no more than 50mph. Preferably, with numerous WORKING speed Camera's along the route.
After decades of car driving I took the Motorcycle riding test in early middle age after a great deal of excellent training (you won't survive long on a motorcycle if you are less than fully competent so the training is to a very high standard as is the test). The trainers, and the examiner, will expect that you ride TO the speed limit where conditions allow. Not to do so WILL result in a 'fail'. And rightly so.
I just read your post. It shocked me. So I did a little Google search on you and found this article http://bit.ly/1UcmBqk.
I presume this is about you and the picture is of your car? Forgive me for stereo-typing, but your car looks as if it's built for speed. I live in Alderley Edge, on the North side of the village, and when I walk my dogs in the fields, particularly at the weekends, the sound from the bypass make me think I may be walking near Le Mans, or Silverstone.
You say in your post that you avoid the Alderley Edge by-pass (which is just over 3 miles long) because drivers drive too slow for your liking, and chose to drive into Alderley Edge and take 'the old route' down Riley's lane (which is significantly longer than 3 miles to Chelford). Is this so you can drive faster, rather than get to your destination quicker?
I haven't read the comment you refer to in your post from a 'reverend', but I suspect what he meant was people who overtake due to impatience, putting not only their own lives, but other road users at risk, are 'dangerous and bad'. I'm sure all of the tragic fatalities on the by-pass to date have been as a result of some ignorant driver's impatience and poor judgement. Indeed, it is a crazy world.