As a frequent commuter on northern rail I am now fully aware of the incident that occured this morning. Around 7.15am on Wednesday the 19th November a man was killed by a train at the Mintholme level crossing in Gregson Lane, Hoghton. As a result of this services were cancelled throughout this area and other trains were delayed. On the 7:40am train to Manchester Airport from Blackpool North, arriving in Preston at 8.05am people were clearly getting agitated. The train had been delayed at the junction before the station for 40 minutes. Passengers were kindly told the reason for the delay being a broken point in front of the train.
The whole train then proceeded to develop into a rucus where impaitient passengers started heckling the driver. Naturally a debate about the state of the British railyway system had started with everyone in consenus that it is the worst in Europe.
However the mood quickly changed to a sombre note when a passenger in front of me received a phone-call recalling the earlier events of the day. Whether the delay of the train was in anyway connected to the death of the man I dont know but in my opinion it seemned everyone including myself felt they were in the wrong. At this point, it then preceded a deafening silence till the train eventually got into Preston station.
If the two incidents were connected was it right for the conductor to lie maybe? whats your thoughts?
Wednesday, 19 November 2008
Tuesday, 18 November 2008
GATSO
I recently did a background feature on speed cameras following the comment made by the Transport Minister. In a nutshell he said the current GATSO (fixed-speed) cameras that are used are "arbitary" and "unfair" to the public. He suggested that the new average-speed cameras should be used in their place.
Although I broadly agree with the Minister with them being unfair and that they are mostly a income generated tool for the council (3.4 million generated last year) I disagree with the alternative.
According to Andrew Andrew Head of Road Saftety for the AA he said that these cameras "are a different animal" to each other.
Whereas the GATSO camera compares two photographs, taking a half a second apart to calculate the speed. Average-speed cameras cover a six mile stretch of road and uses the time between the two cameras to work out the speed. Therefore forcing drivers to stick to the speed limit.
These new cameras are suitable for long stretches of roads (motorways) over 10 miles long.
They are not suitable for accident blackspots where the present fixed-speed cameras are located, because these blackspots don't cover the distance needed for average-speed cameras to work.
There is an argument posed by orgainisations like the Association for British Drivers that fixed-speed are a better option than average:
“Average-speed cameras create a constant nervous state on the drivers. They then put themselves on cruise control and then fall asleep, there are a very few places where they are justified.”
Although ABD is against any form of speed cameras they say: “fixed-cameras have some logic behind them, in that they could be used in specific accident blackspots to make dozy drivers think about what they were doing.”
However the AA disagrees with this statement:
Mr Howard argues that:
“they do work well on longer roads; there is a misconception that drivers are wrapped into moron mode, this is not true. They are aware of their surroundings.”
The AA believes that speed cameras of any-type work when they are placed in the right locations:
“With the amount of money they cost, road engineers take care in placing them at the right spots.”
John Davies project manger at the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety says:
“Speed cameras are effective at reducing road casualties in the areas that we have placed them.”
A survey conducted by the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety in September proved speed cameras were the most effective way of ensuring drivers stick to the limit. Roy Peters a spokesperson from the organisation said “we have no intention of scraping the fixed-speed camera’s for the new one’s, but it might be different tomorrow.”
Lancashire has 293 fixed-safety cameras with 30 of them within the city of Preston. We have the third highest number of cameras per population in the country.
Swindon was the first town to ditch speed cameras in October and places like Birmingam and Walsall are thinking of following suit. In my opnion for Preston to do this would be a terrible mistake. With the state of our roads overall I think speed cameras do work when they are used properly.
Unbalanced articles written by the Lancashire Evening Post on the 17th October do not add anything to the debate. By just swapping unsuited technology would be a mistake that could cost lives.
Although I broadly agree with the Minister with them being unfair and that they are mostly a income generated tool for the council (3.4 million generated last year) I disagree with the alternative.
According to Andrew Andrew Head of Road Saftety for the AA he said that these cameras "are a different animal" to each other.
Whereas the GATSO camera compares two photographs, taking a half a second apart to calculate the speed. Average-speed cameras cover a six mile stretch of road and uses the time between the two cameras to work out the speed. Therefore forcing drivers to stick to the speed limit.
These new cameras are suitable for long stretches of roads (motorways) over 10 miles long.
They are not suitable for accident blackspots where the present fixed-speed cameras are located, because these blackspots don't cover the distance needed for average-speed cameras to work.
There is an argument posed by orgainisations like the Association for British Drivers that fixed-speed are a better option than average:
“Average-speed cameras create a constant nervous state on the drivers. They then put themselves on cruise control and then fall asleep, there are a very few places where they are justified.”
Although ABD is against any form of speed cameras they say: “fixed-cameras have some logic behind them, in that they could be used in specific accident blackspots to make dozy drivers think about what they were doing.”
However the AA disagrees with this statement:
Mr Howard argues that:
“they do work well on longer roads; there is a misconception that drivers are wrapped into moron mode, this is not true. They are aware of their surroundings.”
The AA believes that speed cameras of any-type work when they are placed in the right locations:
“With the amount of money they cost, road engineers take care in placing them at the right spots.”
John Davies project manger at the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety says:
“Speed cameras are effective at reducing road casualties in the areas that we have placed them.”
A survey conducted by the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety in September proved speed cameras were the most effective way of ensuring drivers stick to the limit. Roy Peters a spokesperson from the organisation said “we have no intention of scraping the fixed-speed camera’s for the new one’s, but it might be different tomorrow.”
Lancashire has 293 fixed-safety cameras with 30 of them within the city of Preston. We have the third highest number of cameras per population in the country.
Swindon was the first town to ditch speed cameras in October and places like Birmingam and Walsall are thinking of following suit. In my opnion for Preston to do this would be a terrible mistake. With the state of our roads overall I think speed cameras do work when they are used properly.
Unbalanced articles written by the Lancashire Evening Post on the 17th October do not add anything to the debate. By just swapping unsuited technology would be a mistake that could cost lives.
Thursday, 6 November 2008
Overcowding
I have noticed on certain trains coming to and to fro-Preston that some trains are overcrowded not because their busy but because there are less carriages. On the otherhand trains that have been known to be quiet have been given extra carriages. My examples include the busy rout to Liverpool Limestreet containg only two carriages, where customers are forced to standup. On the otherhand the frequently quiet trains to Blcakpool North are practicalltically empty with an extra four carriages. This comes in light of the comment by Geoff Hoon that overcrowdwd trains are a good sign that more people are commuting. What do you think?
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