Make sheppey bridge safe to cross


Guest

/ #346 A tragic loss that maybe could have been prevented

2014-07-09 14:32

A tragic loss I agree. And I for one do not know the circumstances. But I feel that people a far to quick to blame the road when in fact it is 99% the case that poor driving and decision making are the reasons.
Far to often it is a combination of a drivers speed, driving to close and poor decision making that causes accidents and near misses, as witnessed numerous times in passing over this bridge, when people are careless in their maneuvers when overtaking without properly looking in their mirrors to assess the traffic closing in on them.
Street lights would not have helped in this particular situation nor in the fog last year(it actually creates more of a glare),people turning on their vehicles fog lights may have helped, and keeping a safe distance and reducing to an appropriate speed maybe. And the reason there are no street lights is partly due to the fact that people at the time were more concerned about birds on the nature reserve not knowing what time of day it was! And if you really can't see then it is worrying that you're driving at all.
All of the reducing lanes and speed limits, would soon become a topic to moan about as it slows your journeys down to a crawl each day. There is a footpath each side of the bridge which can be used as a means of pulling to the edge of the carriageway almost out of the lane assuming your vehicle has the ability to get over there.
I agree that lorries should not be allowed to overtake over the bridge and that potentially an average speed camera for the bridge section only should be put in place as a deterrent, but this should not replace common sense and the overriding responsibility we all have as drivers.