Traffic Lights For Quarterbridge?

[BigDave]

The only one that annoys me is that people fail to understand that there are two lanes from Castletown road towards town and Onchan and that they go right round the first roundabout. The traffic in the left just carves you up on the roundabout if you're going towards town.

 

In terms of traffic flow, perhaps traffic lights just at peak times would be an idea. I work in Ramsey so never use QB at rush hour but I'm told certain junctions back up quite a bit.

[Donald]

Grumble read the post again.

 

It was early morning and he hadn't had a good night. He had been having one of his recurring nightmares of The Hell That Is Quarterbridge At Rush Hour.

 

Grumble was agitated. Something within the post had hit a nerve. Grumble was rumbled.

 

Grumble carried on revolving his finger up his nostril, a habit not enjoyed by the third person or indeed the second person. But Grumble enjoyed it and who was there to tell him otherwise?

 

He wiped the withered digit against the side of his nicotine stained computer, took a deep breath, counted to ten and rhythmically tapped on the grubby keys:

 

Disturbing use of the third person there Donny. Did 'he' then go home and pull the wings off his fly collection whilst imagining the dirty things those naughty supermodels in his mum's magazines do??

 

Grumble had done his deed for the day and made his presence in the world known. That should halt any of that third person shenanigans. And how dare a newbie attempt to belittle his pipe dream plans and his personal favourite raconteur subject of the roundabout hell that is the Quarterbridge.

 

"That should halt the bastard", sneered Grumble.

[Lonan3]

Manx drivers unable to suss out the QB roundabouts is not, unfortunately, an urban myth. As someone who uses them perhaps 10 -12 time during a working shift, I'd estimate 2 -3 of those occasions reveal someone driving on when they ought to stop, or stopping when they ought to drive on. Half the population don't appear to have grasped the idea that roundabouts are meant to help the flow of traffic, not hinder it.

As for the 'wicked witch of the west,' IMO she's just indulging in a bit of blatant electioneering by taking a known problem and using it to beat a drum for her constituents. She has, after all, been an MHK for 20 years - including some time as a member of the DoT - and I can't recall her making this proposal before.

[manxman8180]

Traffic lights would be an effing nightmare. Just think about how many sets and different sequences you would need. It would delay traffic far more than the current situation.

 

The delay from Peel is about 20 minutes maximum. If I am late setting off in the morning then I sometimes get stuck in it. But hey that's my own fault. If you travel earlier / later than between 8.20 / 8.50 you are normally pretty much OK.

 

Guess what, sometimes roads are busier than others, get used to it.

 

The wench is purely arguing that traffic from the Peel direction are adversely affected by the rule of the road (i.e. traffic from South having priority). Hang on, it wouldn't be an election year perhaps, would it.

 

Meanwhile, back in the real world..................

[Slim]

It's partly the fault of the roundabouts to be fair, they're simply too small, so the roundabout mechanic doesn't really work that well.

 

Worst scenario is three drivers arriving at the front of the line at teh same time who just sit looking at the guy to their right, then, after waiting, all three go at the same time. Nobodys fault, just a feature of a small roundabout that doesn't have cars currently going round due to size.

[manxman8180]

Well said Slim. Seconded.

[Albert Tatlock]

A Copper on point duty directing traffic at busy times would speed things up drastically at the QB, and works well in other countries at very busy times.

 

But IMHO the best solution would be to change the times that school starts. You must have noticed the difference in traffic jams during any school holidays? It's doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that if everyone on the island is trying to get somewhere all at the same time that traffic jams are inevitable.

[Ripsaw]

If I lived in Peel and worked in Douglas I'd use the 20 minute train service into the centre of Douglas that was built with money not used for city centre Car Parks*, traffic lights and re-engineered junctions.

 

I'd be the one waving to the hassled drivers as my carriage sped past them, smiling as I sipped my cappachino and relaxing ready for the day ahead.

 

 

* Reportedly, £8m to buy Peveril Buildings, millions more to demolish and replace with a multistory car park. Not exactly appearing to cut down the need for car journeys which would alleviate many of the traffic and road safety problems.

[Albert Tatlock]

If I lived in Peel and worked in Douglas I'd use the 20 minute train service into the centre of Douglas that was built with money not used for city centre Car Parks*, traffic lights and re-engineered junctions.

 

I'd be the one waving to the hassled drivers as my carriage sped past them, smiling as I sipped my cappachino and relaxing ready for the day ahead.

 

 

* Reportedly, £8m to buy Peveril Buildings, millions more to demolish and replace with a multistory car park. Not exactly appearing to cut down the need for car journeys which would alleviate many of the traffic and road safety problems.

The Steam Train goes from Castletown to Douglas but how many people would travel to work on that?

 

From recollection, I believe Liverpool's 11 mile tram system was expected to cost £325M (of that £250M for an 11-mile line).

 

I think a tram system sounds a good idea in principle (e.g. Estates in North Douglas, Onchan to central Douglas and along the Prom etc.) and would clear much of the jams for out of town traffic. But on the island such a scheme would likely cost >£200M.

[modey]

Manx drivers unable to suss out the QB roundabouts is not, unfortunately, an urban myth. As someone who uses them perhaps 10 -12 time during a working shift, I'd estimate 2 -3 of those occasions reveal someone driving on when they ought to stop, or stopping when they ought to drive on. Half the population don't appear to have grasped the idea that roundabouts are meant to help the flow of traffic, not hinder it.

 

agreed , i go through there about 10 times a day and come acroos these stupid people every day

[thebees]

LOL, The wicked of the west, it is funny even when I am coming in from the west I always think "Ha ha I'm coming from Peel direction, it MUST be my right of way"

[x-in-man]

Leave it as it is!

The islands and barriers make it better to get out into traffic. If people can see along the road they tend to stop dead because they can see a car pulling out of the garage/macs/coming down the hill/getting off the boat and they just sit and wait.

 

They also stop those coming from the south cutting over the junction and diving infront of those going west.

[Manxman27]

What’s all this about Manx drivers?

 

The problem with the standard of driving over here isn’t the Manx drivers.

 

The driving test standard is supposedly harder over here, than it is in the UK and every Manx driver I know has had many lessons and passed a driving test in the Isle of Man.

 

The problem I think is the drivers from around the world who have come to the Isle of Man.

 

They can pitch up here and exchange their licence for a Manx licence entitling them to drive over here without ever having taken a driving test here, driven on our side of the road, or even looked at our highway code!!!

 

I know some research gets done to see if the driving test requirements are of a similar standard to our own, but that is only current standards, how can you tell what the requirements were if someone passed their test 15 years ago?

 

I have heard that there are some countries that have not cooperated with licence exchange negotiations, but MHKs have forced through the licence exchange agreement anyway. i.e. Polish licences.

 

Perhaps it is these drivers who are lowering the standards of driving on the Island, saying it is Manx drivers is a racist copout. We don’t have an extra head or anything how can you look at a driver and say if they are Manx or not, there are only 20% of us left anyway aren’t there?

 

Since we now have too many driving instructors why not put them to use and introduce a driving competency test for drivers wishing to exchange their license for a Manx one. Why not get them running five yearly driving assessments for all drivers, driving is not a right, you should be a competent driver otherwise you are risking the lives of other people.

 

 

Also about the roundabout thing, the main problem I see is that people are insistant on giving way to their right, but if there is a car coming from the other direction who is going to block the person on your right, you can go. So don't just look to your right look to their right as well, to see if they are having to give way, allowing you to go.

[lisner]

Next time you are travelling behind an 'R' plate driver look at the wing mirrors. The chances are that they are pointed to the pavement, to check out the talent. The main mirror is probably set to talk to their mates in the back seat.

 

I would not complain at having to pay for some sort of refresher test. Yes, it would be an inconvenience but what price Road Safety.

 

Times change, we change, cars change. It is not good enough to say "I am an experienced driver who passed my test 10/20/30 years ago". So.......new drivers to the IoM should have to take an assessment test. Us existing drivers take an assessment/refresher test every 10 years.

 

I say again, what price Road Safety and raise the standard of driving on this Island?

[Ripsaw]

The Steam Train goes from Castletown to Douglas but how many people would travel to work on that?

 

From recollection, I believe Liverpool's 11 mile tram system was expected to cost £325M (of that £250M for an 11-mile line).

 

I think a tram system sounds a good idea in principle (e.g. Estates in North Douglas, Onchan to central Douglas and along the Prom etc.) and would clear much of the jams for out of town traffic. But on the island such a scheme would likely cost >£200M.

Nobody would travel on a steam train for commuting purpose.

 

Let's imagine for a minute that it is 15 miles from the South into Douglas and that your car returns 30MPG through the traffic at £4.50 per gallon. Let's then imagine that it costs a further £5.00 per day to park your car (assuming that your don't get fined for moving your parking disk on every 1 hour 55 minutes).

 

That is a daily expense of £9.50. Compare that over 12 months with a £5 or £6 return train fare.

 

Add to your costs the wear and tear on your vehicle, the stresses that you suffer from other incompetant drivers (which I believe this and other threads relate to), and of course the inconvenience suffered during times such as TT Road Closures and more.

 

The railway line refered to (Douglas to the South) has already been relaid, (alledgedly, perhaps debatably) to a standard that would permit the running of "modern, fast and efficient" commuter trains. The old manned crossing gates have been or are being phased out and replaced by elecric gates and lights.

 

This means that as far as costs are concerned, the major investment would be in the new rolling stock.

 

One failing of the railway is it's terminus and I can explain why I dislike how our Government thinks, plans and impliments...

 

North Quay has been dug up and relaid at considerable expense as have the roundabouts close to the Millenium Bridge previously. I believe that when artists impressions of North Quay first appeared, they showed lines to represent a railway track through the redeveloped area, this welcome addition didn't however materialise.

 

The former Lord Street Bus Station site is yet to be developed as is also (as we are now lead to believe) the Peveral Buildings side of the adjacent road which means that if the track had branched out of it's current terminus and along North Quay, it could now be extended as far as the Sea Terminal. It would have required little further disrupton to extend it the last 30 yards to join what is currently the Horse Tram tracks.

 

While Minister for Transport, Tony Brown expressed the already know information that the entire length of Douglas Promenade would "in the near future" require it's road surface to be replaced.

 

At that time, it would be a good idea to consider a redesign of the promenade layout and include in the project the liftingof the horse tram tracks and moving them to one or the other sides of the road and coming to an agreement to allow their use for the early morning and tea time commuters.

 

The idea of Commuter trains is an old one which has consistantly been pushed aside, scorned or simply treated to apathy. In the meantime traffic levels have increased, road safety stategies have come and gone and million upon million of pounds have been spent "making life easier" for the car users entering and moving within the capital without the one simple question being asked "How can we reduce dependence on cars?" .

 

As far as spending over £300m or even £200m on introducing a Light Railway is concerned, no way (unless the consultant's charges have gone up again ) Most of the infrastructure is already in place, most new trackwork and engineering could be incorporated within planned schemes (with the exception of the already completed North Quay), and it would reduce/remove the "need" for excesive spending on more car parks and other interuptions to the road network.

 

(p.s. This is my edited version )