'Deathtrap' trucks caught on film
Page 20
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• A video of trucks creating potential deathtraps for motor ists by U-turning across the central reservation of one of Britain's busiest stretches of road — the Al in Cambridgeshire — will be seen by transport minister Peter Bottomley.
The lorries, and other vehicles, are forced to make the dangerous manoeuveres because of badly-designed crossing points, too few flyovers and a lack of deceleration lanes for drivers turning right, says Cambridge County Council's transportation department — which made the video secretly to show Bottomley how easily an accident could happen.
The department wants him to press for drastic improvements to the road, which it says is out of date.
Lorries and agricultural vehicles are the biggest danger, says the council. In one scene in the video, a drawbar truck pulls out of a transport cafe and staddles two lanes as it tries to cross to the other carriageway. The council trans port department says these incidents are rarely the fault of drivers but are caused by the bad design of the central reservation. Because of the lack of extra lanes near crossing gaps, vehicles use the outside lane to slow down and then accelerate again on the other carriageway.
In other scenes, farm trucks emerge from side roads and trundle across one busy carriageway to join the other.
The video was filmed on a 35km stretch of the Al in Cambridgeshire between Alconbury and Stamford, where 40 people have died in 500 accidents in three years.