Traffic flow / deployment of scarce resources

Capri

Friday's incident on the Quays http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/man-trapped-under-40ft-lorry-in-city-centre-during-rush-hour-34137218.html Man trapped at 6.50 , freed at 7am (according to story ), they why did it take until 11am to open the area again. Tying up ** personnel and equipment for hours, not to mention clogging up the city in that area and nobody directing traffic through red traffic lights to relieve the flow around the area (is Traffic directing not on the syllabus in Templemore since O'Connell bridge got traffic lights in 197*, and whistles seem to be gone altogether :rolleyes: )
You'd get the feeling that someone in command doesn't give a xxxx , and do the Forensic Collision lads need so much time/space or is there a case for speeding up the re-opening of accident scenes - like they do in the UK/US ??
Same for the M50 at Ballyogan the day before, closed off and traffic left to fend for itself.

timmywex

Capri wrote: »

Friday's incident on the Quays http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/man-trapped-under-40ft-lorry-in-city-centre-during-rush-hour-34137218.html Man trapped at 6.50 , freed at 7am (according to story ), they why did it take until 11am to open the area again. Tying up ** personnel and equipment for hours, not to mention clogging up the city in that area and nobody directing traffic through red traffic lights to relieve the flow around the area (is Traffic directing not on the syllabus in Templemore since O'Connell bridge got traffic lights in 197*, and whistles seem to be gone altogether :rolleyes: )
You'd get the feeling that someone in command doesn't give a xxxx , and do the Forensic Collision lads need so much time/space or is there a case for speeding up the re-opening of accident scenes - like they do in the UK/US ??
Same for the M50 at Ballyogan the day before, closed off and traffic left to fend for itself.

If its a serious injury, life changing injury or death the minor inconvenience of having a road closed for a few hours shouldn't be any hassle.

I say give the forensic lads all the time they need to work without rushing them, its essential for road safety to understand possible reasons beyond the incident and maybe even criminal charges in some cases.

Little CuChulainn

Capri wrote: »

do the Forensic Collision lads need so much time/space

Yes.

Capri wrote: »

Friday's incident on the Quays http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/man-trapped-under-40ft-lorry-in-city-centre-during-rush-hour-34137218.html Man trapped at 6.50 , freed at 7am (according to story ), they why did it take until 11am to open the area again. Tying up ** personnel and equipment for hours, not to mention clogging up the city in that area and nobody directing traffic through red traffic lights to relieve the flow around the area (is Traffic directing not on the syllabus in Templemore since O'Connell bridge got traffic lights in 197*, and whistles seem to be gone altogether :rolleyes: )
You'd get the feeling that someone in command doesn't give a xxxx , and do the Forensic Collision lads need so much time/space or is there a case for speeding up the re-opening of accident scenes - like they do in the UK/US ??
Same for the M50 at Ballyogan the day before, closed off and traffic left to fend for itself.

It's a essentially a crime scene and is held as such until investigated by the Forensic Collision investigator. They need to photograph, map and survey the scene to build up exactly what happened and why. That takes time.

Re the M50 incident, do you want every Garda in the DMR sent over there to man every junction until people can rejoin the road?

There is no resources to do what you want, if people end up delayed, so what? at least they'll still reach their destination unlike some of the people in the collisions who go to hospital.

And it could be worse, how many stories do you see in the UK of people being stuck on motorways for several hours? We don't have it that bad here.

Shield

foreign wrote: »

And it could be worse, how many stories do you see in the UK of people being stuck on motorways for several hours? We don't have it that bad here.

Precisely.

There are frequent accidents on the M6 in England that result in the motorway being closed for hours at a time. My friends over there tell me that people always call 999 when they see an accident - not to report the accident, but to request that police are tasked to turn cars around, and direct them up the nearest on-ramp (yes, up an on-ramp), using the hard shoulder as an impromptu contra-flow lane to facilitate their suggestion.

The reasons given include: "I need to pick up my kids", "I have medication to take", and of course, everyone's favourite, "I'm paying your wages".

It gets better when the retort to "I'm afraid someone has died Sir" results in "Well that's not my fault is it?".

-Shield.

Bosh

Shield wrote: »

The reasons given include: "I need to pick up my kids", "I have medication to take", and of course, everyone's favourite, "I'm paying your wages".


-Shield.

To which I usually reply.."Well, what about a raise then?"

discus

Shield wrote: »

There are frequent accidents on the M6 in England that result in the motorway being closed for hours at a time.

On a damn weekly basis through... I can understand why people get a bit neurotic. Driving home for the weekend, you can never plan your evening until you are past the M6 - could be 45 mins stationary, could be 3 hours. But I would never advocate calling 999 for those crazy reasons!

Capri

Just looking at the Indo pic about an accident in Wales http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/irishman-killed-in-horror-road-crash-on-welsh-motorway-34285931.html . Ok, there were jams for a few hours but see the 'anti-rubbernecker' screens they put up while they get on with the forensics and at least one lane is functioning, maybe those should be used here ?

Capri wrote: »

Just looking at the Indo pic about an accident in Wales http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/irishman-killed-in-horror-road-crash-on-welsh-motorway-34285931.html . Ok, there were jams for a few hours but see the 'anti-rubbernecker' screens they put up while they get on with the forensics and at least one lane is functioning, maybe those should be used here ?

They would have their uses at some incidents, that case not much to be gained by full road closure as the lad was changing a tyre.

And they would not help with initial stages of an incident as Fire Brigade will be the ones initially closing a road to create a safe work space. (Again depends on nature of incident)

When road closed by Gardaí again this creates a safe working space for the forensic examiner and stops the scene becoming further contaminated. There might be debris/skid marks/gouges/poor road conditions in lanes beside the ones that vehicles/persons end up in.

And don't be fooled, the UK police do close motorways, both directions in this case;

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/police-describe-christmas-day-m6-motorway-crash-as-unimaginably-tragic-8431489.html

And one from today.

http://www.surrey.police.uk/News/News-Stories/Full-news-story/Article/12210/A3-closed-in-both-directions-at-Esher-following-serious-collision