Thetownend.com

At Birdlip...another three deaths there over the weekend,shocking that for years people have been saying that area needs being made into dual carriageway where the accidents happen on a regular basis.
Why does it need deaths on a regular basis for action to be looked at.

Get it sorted and quick whatever the cost.

Which stretch??

Heard on t'radio this morning that the hill was closed between the Air Balloon and Brockworth this morning.

Didn't realise it was that much of an accident black spot.

Presumably Nettledon Bottom? edit: THE A417 at Crickley Hill and between the Air Balloon and Cowley roundabout. So not really the bit I thought.

The first person my age from school that died, did so at Crickley Hill. Just after leaving school too. Its a lot better with the dual carriageway going up the hill these days, was single carriageway back then.

One crash (I think) was between the Air Balloon roundabout and the single carriageway, windy stretch off towards the A40. Right off the roundabout if you are coming from Swindon. It doesn't sound as if other vehicles were involved.

The other was going down the hill towards the M5 turn off, at 3am, when a car hit a lorry coming up the hill.

It's a accident hot spot (in my non expert opinion) because you've stretches of road where you need to really think and concentrate, surrounded by easy motorway and dual carriageway, so it is possible people simply fail to adjust their speed. I'd question what adjustments can really be made to combat that.

The 'missing link' of dualc arriageway should be built.

Not sure about the first of these two though, not sure how its possible for a head on crash on the hill these days unless someone is on the wrong side of the road. I could understand it in the old days as card tried to overtake slow HGV on the single carriageway up.

Bad day though :(

Its the junction at the pub Batch....if a car stops there to try and pull into the pub its carnage....trouble is lorries have to move a fair pace to get up the hill...and unlike the dual carriageway there is no where to go if a car/lorry stops suddenly.

Had to go to Cirencester this afternoon, came out on Burford Road to get on the A417/A419 to Swindon and the Gloucester-bound carriageways were shut and all traffic diverted off into Cirencester!!  That was about 3 pm.  Don't know if it was the same accident as this morning or another?

3 deaths in 2 separate accidents according to the local news

But this one was a head on at 3am :


But in any case I don't quite see your point, its dual carriageway up the hill and the pub entrance is right before the roundabout from that direction.

Didn't they want to build a tunnel at some point in the past?

I think the pub (not the air balloon) at the bottom of the hill has been hit a few times.

Got caught up the delays this morning en route to taking the mil to Glos R I.
Ended up going off at Birdlip and down Birdlip hill to Brockworth.
Can remember when the only d/c section of the A417 was a short stretch nr the Spine rd jct @ Latton.
Roads dont cause accidents ,its the people that drive on them .
Condolences to anyone involved btw.

It is not a dual carriageway up or down the hill.
Its two lanes up,one down,separated by  double unbroken white lines.

 :nod, and having to drive through Brockworth and up the old Birdlip Hill from Gloucester.

Oh OK , not a proper dual carriageway up but still 2 lanes. So unless someone pulls over the single carriageway (in a dangerous way) on the way up to enter the pub car park I don't see the issue on the hill these days.

Popular misconception: a dual carriageway is not a road with more than one lane travelling in either direction.  It's a road with two separated carriageways and some form of physical barrier between them.  Technically, a motorway is a type of dual carriageway...as is a two lane road like this (http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1594392) one.

This is relevant around the Air Balloon.  Neither of the A417 approaches (from Birdlip and from Brockworth) are dual carriageway, and both would benefit enormously from being so.  There have been plans in the background for years, as this (http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5115) forum discussion from over 10 years ago shows.

Crickley Hill is not dual carriageway. It's 3 lane (2 up 1 down) with no barrier between the carriageways from the Air Baloon roundabout and the start of the dual carriageway at the bottom of the hill, where the first accident happened. I believe the second accident was at the junction of the 417 and the road to Birdlip village on the single carriageway just before you reach the Air Balloon roundabout. That junction has always been a death trap for anyone turning right from either direction.

Anyone else....

Thats the stretch i mean...though sadly the two older ladies were killed where you are talking about Batch....another motorist died in a seperate incident in which Sir Pissalot mentions.

That is a horrible junction.  Look at it.

Birdlip turn on the A417 (http://goo.gl/maps/dJtVY)

Reminds me of this one not far from where we live.

A30/A327 junction (http://goo.gl/maps/ynNFd)

Deathtraps...both of them.

Sorry.  This can happen when lots of posts are being made at the same time.

I was only joking, done it loads myself.

That right turn, that is horrific. The road is so busy its inevitable someone will take more of a chance than they should.

Not a laughing matter, but I can't help but see this modification once made to the signpost:

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_f98opUNuVXc/S-C8p5GoqNI/AAAAAAAAPNY/r7E_lZkQ62E/s400/Birdlip+dogging.jpg)

(actually not sure it is that junction but...)

Ditto

OK.  No problem.

I use this road regularly and have seen lots of near misses at that junction.  It's a horrible set up.

1. The junction: It is a shame that when they widened the road going up past the Air Balloon they didn't keep the old road and join it to the Air Balloon roundabout. With a bit of thought they could have got rid of the 'dogging' area and the dangerous turning off the A417.

2. I find it quite unnerving overtaking lorries when driving up from Brockworth to the Air Balloon. You have to rely on other motorists knowing not to overtake coming down the hill. Although its clearly signed and the appropriate lines are marked on the road, I don't like relying on the skill of others! A barrier between the two sides of the road is a minimum requirement for such a fast road imho.

I agree....I drive up there so often and am always unnerved when overtaking, and then there are the idiots in BMWs(!!!) who come up on your tail ignoring the fact that it is a 60mph limit, not 80mph, and want to get onto the roundabout and up the hill beyond before anyone else, overtaking vitually up to the beginning of the island for the Birdlip junction, knowing that is then slow (officially in part) up to the next roundabout..... And then there is the opposite problem of rush hour queues all the way along that section to the Air Balloon...  urgent work needed, but unlikely!!!  I thought when there were all those roadworks a couple of months ago that they might actually be doing something there, but nothing of note.

Sad.

http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/10784839.Purton_woman__91__dies_in_car_crash_on_A417/

Where is nettleton bottom? Maybe driver error? I always worry when the older generation are driving.

It's the dip in the road between the end of the dual carriageway and Birdlip, just here (http://goo.gl/maps/iPasY).

Nettledon Bottom is where the dual carriage way ends and becomes single carriageway by the Golden Heart.

Things I've learned lately: Ardiles loves a Google map link.

It's true.  I cannot deny it.

This one is pretty special, assuming he holds Google earth in as high regard

http://www.snopes.com/photos/airplane/flight772.asp

That road always gets the extremes of weather, be that blazing sun, rain, fog or snow etc. That said if people drive properly then there shouldn't be problems. Trouble is when idiots overtake, Speed or doddery oldies veer all over the place or drive on the wrong side of the road, Also truckers getting their sandwiches out or fucking about with their phones is when trouble usually happens.
Accidents are usually not accidents at all, they are driver errors in one way or another. It's when idiots kill others by their stupidity that pisses me off. They should be jailed for many years and never allowed to get behind the wheel again. OAP's should not be on the road in their 80's and 90's and many not even in their 70's either.

 I'm not sure if this should go in the trivial things which annoy thread, start a new one, or belong here...but it's always annoyed me slightly that the A419 Ermine Street Roman Road morphs into the A417 at Corinium, even though it is clearly the same road, whereas the 419 then veers off to Stroud, even though it is obviously a continuation of the 417 from Lechlade via Fairford. Mad or what?

Its where the locals deviously imported some rare newt (or something akin) in order to stop the A417 (which maybe should be the A419) being made dual carriageway the whole way between Swindon and Glos (or at least Birdlip)

Hence the reason they are no longer called RTAs ( road traffic accidents ) but now RTCs ( road traffic collisions ) as in the eyes of plod no such thing as an accident
Always someone/thing to blame