In message , Graham Harrison
writes
"Ian Jackson" wrote in message
...
In message , Mr Pounder
writes
"bod" wrote in message
...
On 09/11/2010 11:17, d wrote:
Can someone explain to me why those retards with blue lights on their
heads had to close off 4 out of 5 lanes on the westbound A406 at the M1
turn
off just because a 7.5 tonner had got stuck on a crash barrier? The
traffic
jams were epic and all they used the closed off lanes for was to park
their
plodmobiles in and stand around looking useless until presumably a
recovery truck turned up.
****ing morons.
B2003
On the face of it, that does appear to be very ott of the plod.
Years ago the police said that they would take drastic action on the
roads.
This being to teach us all a lesson in being more careful.
While there may have been a good reason for it, it does seem to be
increasingly common practice to close roads (often completely) for
several hours in order to carry out an investigation into the cause
of an accident. Sometimes the reason given is that they are waiting
for the crash barriers to be repaired, or for the road to be resurfaced.
Yesterday, I believe that the whole of the M26 was closed for quite a
lot of the day because of a fatal lorry accident. Similarly, last
week, the M1 was closed around the junction for Luton Airport (not
sure if fatal). And the previous week, the M4 was closed between
Slough and Langley. As I said, the police may have legitimate reasons
for doing this, but you can't help but feel that there is an element
of 'just because we can' in some instances.
-- Ian
The investigation of "accidents" sometimes seems to be very
unpredictable. One will cause the closure and resulting chaos described
here and yet others, also resulting in deaths, will be swept away very
quickly and subsequent investigation marginalised. I wonder what
criteria they use to decide?
Might it be influenced by the availability of the local Accident
Investigation Team? If they are sitting around, kicking their heels, you
might as well give them some work to do. If they are already out on
another job, it might be decided that, unless something really serious
has occurred, a thorough investigation may not really be necessary.
--
Ian