Having spent a large majority of the last two days stuck in traffic jams on British roads, mainly on the M6, I thought that it was about time that we took a look at the other options that are available to us when travelling, rather than using the car and what strategies can be employed to reduce the congestion.

I have done many journeys this year, travelling here and there to different places, including Warwick, Bracknell and Devon.  On each of these occasions I have managed to find myself stuck in a traffic jam.  I don’t mean a 10 minute wait while you crawl along at 30 mph instead of 70mph, I mean sat on the motorway moving slowly or not at all for a period of hours not minutes.  I am probably writing this post now because of the horrendous journey down to Devon that I suffered on Thursday afternoon.

The cause of most of these delays is simply due to accidents taking place which then shuts the motorway or reduces the number of lanes that are open.  This then causes traffic congestion on the roads which delays people.  I  think that there are probably accidents taking place more often because of the sheer volume of traffic on the roads.  This in itself means that the traffic slows to a stand still at time even though there may not be an accident.  In fact the Science Blog suggests that if there are more than 15 vehicles per kilometre then events such as a lorry pulling out and slowing traffic can have a knock on effect of causing traffic to become a stand still.  Even someone breaking heavily because they are slow to react to a situation on the road can cause a traffic jam several miles back due to the knock on effect of people braking.

What is needed is new radical thinking about how to ease these pressures on our roads.  The first thing to think about is people taking other forms of transport instead of using their cars and filling up the motorways.  Great idea, but in practice this is harder than you think.  Take my journey down to Devon these past two days.  If I had gone on the train it would have cost me £38 and I would have had to have changed trains 5 times.  I couldn’t have travelled by coach between the two destinations and therefore would have been left with using a coach to somewhere nearby and then perhaps a cab, which would have been rather difficult.  Taking a plane was not an option as would have been to expensive and taken a long time with checking in and out etc.  Therefore these options are poor.  Travelling by car cost me £34 and also you have added benefit of door to door travel.

So what are the other possible solutions?  Congestion charges have been used in London for a while now, but do we really want to get to the point were we are charging people to use the motorways in the hope that some would decide not to, which would then ease the congestion?  Maybe, maybe not, we all have our own opinions on that one.  But what else is there on offer to solve the problems?  Around Birmingham on the M40 and M42 the hard shoulder is used to ease congestion.  This seems to work well as it gives an extra lane to ease the traffic congestion.  Whether you are allowed to use the hard shoulder at the time is controlled by the matrix system of lights and notices.  With today’s delay where there was an accident that caused tremendous jams, so why couldn’t the hard shoulder be used to clear the extra traffic that had backed up on the motorway?  Opening this extra lane for 30 minutes would have greatly assisted in clearing the extra traffic once the accident had been cleared.  Obviously when emergency vehicles are needed to hard shoulder needs to be opened but once cleared this lane is no longer needed for this purpose.

The other thing is the traffic announcements that we receive over the radio etc.  How many times have you hit a traffic jam only to hear on the radio 10 minutes later about it with them telling you to avoid the area?  More time that I can count.  What there needs is warning before you hit the area.  Not only warnings but alternative routes suggested.  This would work by taking people away from the black spots, but it would have to be selective and not allow everyone the alternative route or else the jam would just occur elsewhere.  How about linking traffic updates with TomTom SatNav’s and therefore the Sat Nav would just automatically change your route when the traffic builds up?  What about a dedicated traffic radio station for the entire UK?

Whatever is decided it needs to thought out.  I hate using this phrase but we need to think ‘outside the box’ about how we are going to make travelling on Britain’s roads better.

Any suggestions are welcome in the comments section!

On Thursday and Friday of this week went down to Devon. It was a 274 mile (according to the AA Route Planner) journey down the southern county of Devon staying in two hotels.

The journey was going to be long, we knew that and with our track record in journeys we thought that it would take a while. We were right. Setting off at 1330 we got onto the M6. No sooner had we hit junction 27 than the queues started. A lorry had jack knifed into the central reservation and the whole motorway was shut. The only way through was to get passed on the hard shoulder. The police were waving people through but it was very slow.

Once we were passed this we had about 10 minutes of normal speed driving until we hit the next junction. Then it was stop start all the way to Birmingham, with a little rest in the middle were the traffic eased. We managed to travel 67.8 miles in 4 hours. By this time we were desperate for the toilet and so stopped at Sandbach for a toilet stop.

We were back on the road by 1715 and then we made are way down to the M5. Once we were on the M5 the conditions were good and the traffic was light. We eventually found our Travel Lodge at 2115 when we checked in. We ate our butties and watched TV for while before finally going to sleep with a very aching right foot!

The Saunton Sands Hotel was the venue for the next stop off of the journey. Arriving at the hotel we checked in and instantly realized that the hotel was ‘rather posh’, in a good way. It was a ‘propper’ hotel were you are meeted and greeted and the porter takes your bags to your room for you. Really good service and the rooms and food were great.

The journey back was less of a problem however we did get held up once again for around 45 minutes when we hit the M6. Britain’s roads really do need sorting out!. All in all it was an excellent short break and it was great to see the fantastic views of Saunton Sands from the hotel car park.

Today was a different day as I was travelling on a train. I say I am a train virgin although this is not quite true. I can only remember 3 train journey’s. Once when I was very young to Scotland, the second about 4 years ago from Hamilton to Glasgow and the thirds today.

The journey was from Leyland to Manchester. The journey to Manchester was very civilised. We managed to get a seat and it was relaxing not to be at the wheel for a change. However the journey back was a bit stressed. There was not a seat on the train and we had to stand for three quarters of the way home. This got me thinking about public transport.

People are always saying that we should all be using public transport. I have to say that I support this. However I have to say that both trains were very full and especially the one home. The return journey train was only 3 carriages long, and for a peak time train I thought that wasn’t very many. For people like me who do not travel on trains that much this puts me off a bit in that I can’t get a seat.

That said using the train is not as bad as I perhaps thought, which subconsciously is perhaps the reason why I haven’t used then all that much.

Early this week we took a day out to the lakes. We were holding on all last week for the weather, and today seemed OK and so we set out on our travels up the M6. How wrong could we have been about the weather?

We arrived in the lakes to see some relatives about 1100 and the weather was steadily getting worse, even though there was blue skies back at home. Whilst drinking our coffee and cappuccino the heavens opened and the rains came down. However as we left our first port of call the rain stopped and it became a bit brighter.

With new enthusiasm that the weather would remain fine we decided to go over Kirkstone Pass which is a hilly road through the hills to Ullswater. Getting half way up we could see the weather changing. We stopped in a layby and ate our butties whilst the clouds rolled in.

The heavens then opened again and the rain started pouring down. After a quick stop at another relatives for a coffee we decided to call it a day and headed home.

Well it has been a long year at work but finally the holidays are here. Six weeks of free time to travel, have fun and enjoy myself. Yippeeee!

People always say that us teachers have it easy with all the holidays that we get. Maybe they are right, as I have never done another, different full time job. However I will say this. Teaching is not the job that everybody thinks it is. I am fairly certain that there are not many that could do it. Only today someone mentioned that they had go through some of the training and then dropped out. It is surprising how many people couldn’t make it through. I am not having a go at them or anything as it wasn’t for them.

Teaching has changed so much even in the half a decade that I have been involved in the job. The best way that I can describe it to people is that it is 100mph and then stop, and then 100mph again and then stop, and so on. The workload that teachers are subjected to is crazy at the moment.

I am glad of the holidays however I will have to spend a lot of time over the break working. Teaching is such a dynamic profession that things change all the time. New courses, new ideas and new people all mean that new things need to planned in order to keep the school ticking over, and keeping up with the latest ideas and developments.

Anyway whether you think I have the good life or the bad life being a teacher I intend the enjoy the 6 week break and take the maximum benefit from the time that we have. As our Head said today “Teaching is not a job it is a way of life”. He is spot on and fortunately for teachers part of that way of life is plenty of holidays!

The Lake District is a lovely place even in winter and so today with the weather finely OK, I was in Bowness for the day. Even though it was with work I had a little more relaxing time.

The journey was trouble free and we arrived at about 10:30 in the morning. After wandering around for about 30 minutes it was time for coffee (or in my case hot chocolate) and cakes. I choose a rather nice scone with some Jam and cream. Very nice.

After that we wandered the shops for a while, when the pupils that we took were completing some questionnaires. Bowness has lots of little shops here and there and it has a good mix of tourist and local facilities. I always enjoy a nosy around the outdoor shops to see how expensive a Bergaus jacket is and to remind myself that I cannot afford one!

It was then time to read the paper. I bought a Express and my colleague purchased the Mail. We found a suitable bench down by the lakeside and then read for around half an hour which was very relaxing.

Lunch was a pub lunch today. I choose Jacket Potato with coleslaw which I struggled to finish actually while others has BLTs and jacket potatoes. The weather was still fair and after lunch there was time for a quick stroll along the lakeside before setting off at 13:30.

The journey home was good even though it was tiring. I don’t know why it was tiring, but I was almost falling asleep all the way home. A read of the other paper managed to keep me awake. A good relaxing day out and a destination recommended to you all.

Today I drove to work just like any other day of the week, however it was only at the very start of my journey that it begun to develop into a nightmare.

At around 0600 hours on the morning of the 2nd July some chemical drums at a storage facility on the Red Scar Industrial Estate, Fullwood, Preston exploded and caused fumes, smoke and flames to extend across the carriageway of the M6 motorway. This resulted in the M6 being closed between junctions 31a and 32.

Back in bed I was just awakening at around 0630 and because I was travelling to work along this morning I did not put the TV on as not to wake the wife. I washed, dressed and had a coffee and immediately left for work without putting on the TV which my wife normally does. I then called for petrol and joined the M6 motorway.

I decided that I would listen to a CD, a compilation made up from my iTunes library instead of listening to the radio (Century FM) which is usually my chosen station over the air waves. This was a crucial incident which could have saved me from the problems I encountered.

Having just passed junction 29 of the M6 I saw slowing traffic ahead. The weather was very wet and therefore I assumed that the traffic was slowing for the rain and the spray that was quite bad. How wrong was I? The closure of the motorway ahead meant that I was sat on the motorway for around 4.5 hours. I wouldn’t bother but I only travel 2 junctions down the motorway which is around 4 miles!

It was amusing sat there on the motorway absolutely stationary for around 4 hours. The things that you see. After a while the hum of engines dies down and everyone decides to switch their engines off, which is good news for the environment. They people, including me start to get out of their cars for a stretch of legs, but perhaps more amusing is that there were around 10 people that were desperate for the toilet and had to scale the hard shoulder barrier and descend on the bushes for a number one. I was fortunate in that I managed to hold on until I eventually got to work around 11.25. However just before work to annoy me even more there was a Tesco lorry blocking the route. Everyone was turning round and taking a detour around the local village adding an extra 15 minutes to the journey time.

All in all it was a frustrating morning and I am one of those people that when your day starts off bad it gets worse. I never really got the day back on track and what with the crappy weather too, I am off to bed for a good nights sleep and to wake in the morning to start a new day.

–
Chemical Fire Under Control
[Video] Footage of the Chemical Fire