OT: Today in South Yorkshire

[Biggles]

Travis are a Scottish band, and real ale is thriving in Scotland.

Ridiculously expensive keg beer is all over the place in England (and Scotland to be fair) masquerading as "Craft".

[Bill Wright]

At 8am on Friday 7th June there was a fatal accident on the M1 at j34 (Tinsley). The northbound was closed and remained so for most of the day. Shortly after that accident there was another one, this time on the A1(M) near Doncaster, between j36 (Marr) and j37 (Warmsworth). Both accidents closed both carriageways. In both cases the northbound stayed closed for most of the day. Traffic on the M1 northbound was soon queuing back to M18 j1. Traffic on the A1 (M) was also queuing back to the M18, in this case to j2 (Wadworth). Many drivers on the M1N approaching j32 diverted onto the M18, so soon the whole stretch of the M18 between j1 and j2 was slow moving or stationary. The A1(M) tailback soon reached Blyth. Drivers there left the A1 and headed north on the A614, which soon had a queue from the Bawtry traffic lights all the way back to Blyth. Some of the traffic heading for the east left Bawtry on the A614 so there was severe congestion at Hatfield Woodhouse. Most of the Bawtry traffic headed north towards Doncaster. Traffic was also leaving the A1(M) at Warmsworth and either heading through Sprotborough, which soon became very congested, or into Doncaster. By 4pm Doncaster was virtually gridlocked. To the north of Doncaster the A19 and the A638 were very congested. As soon as the queue on the M18 had reached j1 traffic started to leave the motorway there. Some went along the East Bawtry Road towards the town, so that road became very congested. Some of the M18 traffic followed the satnav through the Hellaby Industrial Estate. There was then a queue a mile long to leave the estate at the northern end. That traffic then found various routes through the lanes, causing congestion and damage to trees and walls.

Bill

[Woody]

Tell me about it Bill. It took us just over two hours to get from Norton in Sheffield to Lakeside yesterday mid afternoon. As ever the travel news on R Shfd was next to useless - they never mentioned the delays (20mph) on the M18 from 3 to 5. I bet you were fed up with all the traffic going past your gate?

The worst bit was that whilst they were hammering on about the M1 the news about the A1 was given minority status and sometimes not even mentioned!

And at risk of life and limb, you got the junction names on the A1 reversed.

I'll get my coat..................

[Jim GM4DHJ ...]

come to Scotland...there is nobody here....tee hee

[Brian Gaff]

Yes in this age of communication this sort of knock on effect is common. Earlier in the year problems on the M3 and the M25 and some other minor incidents resulted in people simply abandoning their cars and walking to railway stations. of course then when the problems ended they had cars all over the roads and some people had elected to sleep overnight in their cars. I would have thought by now we could estimate that problems were escalating more than the services could cope with and all non essential travel could be stopped before it became such an issue. Brian

[alan_m]

<snip>

I do wonder at times if the chaos is little to do with the accident and more to do with the way the Police investigate it, especially if a death is involved.

Around my way in Essex if a fatal accident occurs at, say, 1am the road will be closed to midday, or longer. It's speculated that the staff investigating fatal accidents only work 9 to 5 and often cannot get to the scene because the road closure has caused gridlock during the rush hour period. I could understand long road closures if the road surface had been damaged but after commuting the same roads for 30+ years many of the fatal accidents could have had the road cleared within minutes of the casualty being removed from the scene.

[Graeme]

In message <qdfnim$82b$ [e-mail], Jim GM4DHJ ... [e-mail] writes

Here in rural Aberdeenshire, three cars form a major traffic jam :-)

[Ian Jackson]

Several years ago, when the M5 was closed for a protracted period, I heard one police spokesman say that fatal accidents require the road to be closed as a mark of respect. Also, all accidents and incidents could potentially involve some form of criminal behaviour, so get treated as crime scenes until the reason for the accident has been thoroughly investigated.

[Jim GM4DHJ ...]

totly

[Dave Plowman (News)]

And likely one will have gone off the road and hit a tree for no apparent reason. ;-)

[newshound]

I have been quite impressed though by the way live updates from Google data on both Maps and some other apps do route traffic around holdups, sometimes in quite imaginative ways.

[Bill Wright]

So I did. I was a bit hypnotised due to watch the traffic come past...

Bill

[Jim GM4DHJ ...]

have to say country roads are the most dangerous....every bugger just has to overtake.......

[Bill Wright]

That's because it's shit. Cold, rainy, windy, midgey, keg beer, Scots...

Bill

[Bill Wright]

The best bet is to ignore the suggested diversion and go further out.

Bill

[Jim GM4DHJ ...]

that is why nobody is here speshly the immigrants who like it nice and warm down south....tee hee

[ARW]

It only took me an hour to get back from Rotherham to Doncaster:-(

I used the back roads through Old Denaby.

[alan_m]

That's because the best roads in Scotland are those out of it.

[Jim GM4DHJ ...]

the same ones that bring you home ......

[Java Jive]

But it does have the overwhelming advantage that there are far fewer irrational right-wing bigots such as yourself, and, unlike England, its politics is not up shit-creek without a paddle. Of course, we are still shackled to the corpse that is England, but that may yet change.