The Newton Road between Penn Inn and Scott's Bridge is a single carriageway two lane road which at most times is full to overflowing. Traffic is slow along this road and a bye pass is urgently needed but it would seem we have as much chance of getting one as Labour have of winning the next election. At this time of year lots of motor cycles head down this road to Torbay in the same fashion as northern motorcyclists head for Blackpool. Now we have had a fair share of these motor cycles sliding along the roadway instead of riding along said road. In an admirable attempt to reduce the accident rate involving bikers the local council, Devon County Council have erected several notices along this road. The notice read as follows:-
Dear Bikers, we have noticed that some of you (not all) ride your bikes along this road at speeds that can only be described as excessive, some even make it to over 80 mph. This is not a good idea as it takes at least 400 feet to stop from this speed unless you hit a solid object, in which case you will stop in about 2 inches. Well your pride and joy will, you will tend to fly through the air with the greatest of ease which can, briefly be fun. But gravity will win in the end and the roadway is very hard. We have also noticed that some of you engage in the exciting hobby of overtaking, usually completely on the wrong side of the road and usually at speed that suggests a death wish, on one or more of the several blind bends that adorn this road. Again not a good idea as you stand a good chance of coming face to face with something bigger than you, namely a quarry truck, a double decker bus or a car towing a caravan driven by a driver on his way home after an exhausting holiday in the bay.
We also note that many of you seem to have the wrong idea about double white lines that appear now and then in the middle of the road. We, at the highways department, have put these lines there because we believe at these sections of road it is extremely advisable NOT to go over the centre of the road. We aren't the only ones. The Department for Transport actually brought out a law many years ago, probably before most of you were born, which probably explains why you seem not to have heard of it. Just in case you haven't, here it is; You may not cross any double white lines in the middle of the road. While we are here, these double white lines are not, as legend appears to have amongst bikers, super thin motor cycle lanes. And while we are on about biker legends, now and then, almost always just before side roads on the right we have put in an extra lane in the centre of the road. It's the one with a couple of arrows marked out in the roadway pointing to the right. They are for cars and other vehicles to move into when they want to turn right. They are NOT motor cycle acceleration lanes. If any old biker tells you they are, don't believe them because biker accelerating and car moving into the same space is usually not a pretty thing to see. In fact the only thing we haven't noticed you doing is using your mobile phone while riding but given the size of the helmets you wear even that would be easy for us to miss.
Now you may have guessed by now that Devon County Council actually haven't put this notice up. For one thing it would be bigger than the Bayuex Tapestry and cost a fortune. There would be more crashes than it would save as people ran off the road while trying to read the big words and no one would be able to move for wrecked cars.
So what notice did DCC put up. The one they always put up. The one directed at the people not to blame.
3 comments:
Of course, when I intend to slow down quickly, or change direction I use mirrors. What DCC are asking you to do is look at nothing BUT your mirror.
At the rate and speed bikers appear behind you on that road, it is not possible to constantly watch them.
Further up the A38 (which goes between motorway and single lane road all the way from Plymouth to the North somewhere), we have traffic islands at the start of turning lanes. Solves any dodgy overtaking problems..and it's cheap too.
I find the best method on roads like this is just to make sure you don't go too far to the right...or the left, and to leave ample room infront incase a biker nips in while you are not looking.
That said....what's going to win a fight? A ten tonne truck or a flimsy bike?
If the ten tonne truck kills the rider of the flimsy bike who's going to win the fight? That's right, the court with the power to imprison. The long and the short of it is that there are idiots on 4 wheels just as much as there are idiots on 2. An incident early on in your driving "career" can influence the way you feel about other sub-groups of road users, however fair-minded you might consider yourself to be. As a motorcycle rider since the late seventies and with a four-wheel driving history from the eighties, the last proportion as a professional driver of large vehicles, I've seen life on the roads from all viewpoints. Many car drivers just don't like the freedom of manouverability that bikers have and I regularly see riders deliberately baulked by car drivers whilst legitimately moving to the front of queueing traffic. Basically, bad driving is a way of life. It's just as likely to be carried out on 4 wheels as it is on 2.
I started riding motor bikes in 1959 and have no real problems with motorcyclist. It's just the mad things that they do on this stretch of road that I mentioned, if some one wants to overtake on a clear straight piece of road I will move over and let them, it's when I'm going round a bend and a motor bike appears going the other way 4 or 5 feet over the centre of the road and I don't have chance to move over that bothers me.
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