intersection car crossing road

Updated: Ipley Cross | Why This Type Of Road Junction Will Keep Killing Cyclists

by 42

We posted this opinion piece last week and as well as proving immensely popular, it also prompted so interesting comments and questions. The writer of the original piece, Bez, has prepared an addendum which seeks to address some of the points raised.

If you’ve already read the original story you can jump straight to Bez’s addendum here.

Ipley Cross is a largely unremarkable place, an open plain where two roads cross: Beaulieu Road running north-to-south and Dibden Bottom running roughly east-to-west.

Yet it is a place of notoriety. For good reason.

Ipley Cross Junction: Two Deaths And A Lucky Escape

In August 2011 a 15 year old boy was cycling along Beaulieu Road when he was struck from his left by a driver who failed to see him and failed to give way at the junction. The boy was sent flying, but somehow escaped with only a broken collarbone.

In May 2012 a second, almost identical incident occurred. Mark Brummell was cycling along Beaulieu Road when he was struck from his left by Stephen Chard, who failed to see Brummell and failed to give way at the junction. Brummell was killed.

In December 2016 a third, almost identical incident occurred. Kieran Dix was cycling along Beaulieu Road when he was struck from his left by Viral Parekh, who failed to see Dix and failed to give way at the junction. Dix, too, was fatally injured.

Chard was charged with causing death by careless driving and pleaded guilty; Parekh was charged with causing death by dangerous driving and pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving, but was found not guilty of the more serious offence by a jury despite having driven through the junction’s “give way” line at 37mph without slowing.

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Two questions present themselves.

Firstly, why it that the same collision keeps occurring at this junction? And secondly, why is such a standard of driving considered only to be “careless” rather than “dangerous”?

As we shall see, the answers to both are closely related.

By understanding one of the most likely causes for “failure to see” collisions at this junction, not only can we answer those questions but we can offer surprisingly straightforward solutions.

The Existing Layout at Ipley Cross Junction

Ipley crossroads has a very simple layout: two straight sections of road cross at an angle of 69 degrees, with the north-south road (Beaulieu Road) having priority.

ipley cross junction crossroads
The innocuous, yet dangerous Ipley crossroads

Sight lines are good, although the rightward view from the easterly approach is affected somewhat by a gentle slope which rises to the northeast of the junction.

So, if it’s so easy to see, why is it apparently so easy to fail to see?

Hidden In Plain View

Far and away the most plausible answer is a phenomenon known as “constant bearing, decreasing range”, or CBDR. Originally noted by sailors, it is the phenomenon whereby two vessels, or vehicles, moving at steady speeds in straight lines towards a collision will maintain the same bearing.

If you’re a dab hand with basic trigonometry, you can probably figure the principles out for yourself, but if not then of course Wikipedia has an explanation.

CBDR is required knowledge in maritime and aviation, where ships and aircraft travel significant distances with constant speed and bearing, but it is rarely taught in the context of highways, where motion is generally less constant. But it is nonetheless important where two straight routes cross: not just two roads, but also where roads and railways cross at unsignalled level crossings (a design which is rarely if ever found in the UK but which is not uncommon in parts of the US).

Sailors and pilots are taught to detect ships and planes at a constant bearing and to take avoiding action. When it comes to drivers, however, things are very different, because almost all motor vehicles have a design flaw which means not only that a CBDR condition precedes a collision, but that unless (as we shall see) the driver does one of two things, the same condition means that the driver will never even see the phenomenon occurring.

That design flaw is the front ‘A’ pillar, at the edge of the windscreen.

The Pillar Shadow

Take a look at this plan view of a Vauxhall Zafira (as driven by Viral Parekh). When the driver looks towards the horizon, the front pillar will obscure some of the view. The red ellipse represents an approximate cross section at that point, with the shaded area beyond it being obscured as a result.

The driver’s blind spot in a Vauxhall Zafira.

Once you extrapolate that obscured area, the extent of its effect is obvious. Here’s the same set of lines drawn on the Zafira, scaled up and overlaid on Ipley Cross.

ipley cross junction
A projection of the driver’s blind spot.

At the position shown, approximately 100m from the Ipley Cross junction, the pillar obscures roughly 12m of Beaulieu road. That’s six bicycle lengths: enough to hide not just a cyclist but a small group of riders.

Of course, as the driver approaches that junction, that obscured section of road moves towards the junction with them. As does the cyclist.

Parekh’s car had a black box type device, which (contrary to his statements to police) recorded his approach to the junction at a steady speed of 37mph. At this speed it would have taken six seconds to cover the 100m to the collision, and the following image shows the approximate areas obscured by the Zafira’s pillar at six points in time representing each incremental second leading up to impact, with the red area showing the pillar shadow one second prior to impact.

ipley cross junction
The obscured section of road becomes smaller as the driver nears the intersection.

Although the obscured section of road becomes smaller as the driver approaches, it remains large enough to completely obscure a bicycle until less than a second prior to impact: too late for either party to react.

The light blue line in the following diagram represents the approximate length of a bicycle and fits comfortably within the pillar shadow at one second before impact.

The light blue line represents the cyclist.

Naturally, as per the conditions of a collision course being signalled by a constant bearing, for any speed of the approaching car there is a speed at which a cyclist will remain obscured by the front pillar almost until the point of impact. The angles of the triangles define a ratio of speeds, and with this geometry that ratio is a little over 3:1.

So, in the case of a vehicle moving at 37mph westwards along Dibden Bottom, the CBDR speed southbound along Beaulieu Road is roughly 13.5mph. A very plausible speed for a cyclist.

But such a degree of coincidence is actually not required.

Due to the width of the pillar and the extent shadow it casts, which is much larger than a bicycle until impact is inevitable, true CBDR is not even necessary: it would be perfectly possible for a cyclist to be moving at around 17.5mph and then hit the brakes two seconds prior to impact, without ever appearing in the driver’s view.

There’s a whole range of steady speeds at which someone could approach this junction from the north and remain obscured to a driver approaching at a steady speed from the east (and, likewise, also from the south and east respectively).

Crucially, for any likely speed of an approaching car, any speed in that range is a perfectly feasible speed for a cyclist.

But there’s one more thing about Ipley Cross that makes it especially dangerous.

Critical Angles

Keen triangle enthusiasts may have started thinking about this already, but there are of course three angles to consider here.

The first is the angle between the two approach paths, which is a constant value defined by the road. At Ipley Cross this is 69 degrees.

The second is the angle between the driver’s line of travel and the line from their eyes to the front pillar. This will vary depending on the vehicle and the driver, but the approximations above put the angle at around 17 degrees to the centre of the pillar.

The third is the angle between the cyclist’s line of travel and the line from their eyes to the vehicle which will hit them.

At this location, with this vehicle, it is 94 degrees.

A car which is on a collision course at Ipley Cross with a cyclist who is obscured from the driver’s view by the front pillar will approach the cyclist from behind.

Ipley Cross is constructed in such a way that not only is it possible for a careless driver to drive straight into a cyclist without seeing them until a fraction of a second before impact, but under the exact same circumstances it is also possible for that cyclist not to see the car that hits them until the same moment.

If anyone were to take a highway engineer to a wide open space and ask them to design a junction which would readily enable two road users to collide with neither of them ever seeing each other, I doubt any would be able to manage it.

Yet this is precisely what exists.

The exact numbers, of course, depend on the driver’s height and seating position, the geometry of their vehicle, and—if you wanted to apply this to other locations—the angle at which the roads meet. The 3:1 speed ratio will vary slightly according to all these factors, and it will not always be the case that the deadly vehicle will be so hard for its victim to see, but the angle between a driver’s line of travel and the line between their eyes and the pillar will always be such that it is the slower road user who is at risk of not being seen.

The point is this: given the design of almost every motor vehicle on the road, the crossing of two straight roads can make for a perfect storm when combined with typical speeds of drivers and cyclists. Ipley Cross represents possibly the most perfect of such storms.

These collisions are, therefore, inevitable—aren’t they?

Of course not.

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Human Error: The Eternal Excuse

“None of us are perfect drivers,” remarked Parekh’s defence barrister, attributing the whole affair to “human error”.

The human error in this case, and the other cases, may have been for the drivers to have maintained a constant speed (as we know Parekh did) without having physically moved their head either side of the pillar to rigorously scan the area ahead and to their right.

There are two very simple solutions to the very real risk of a driver-vs-cyclist CBDR collision.

Firstly, by slowing down significantly, any vehicle approaching from the right at a constant speed will move out of the obscured area and into view at the right of the windscreen.

And secondly, significant movement of the head will bring previously obscured sections of road into view.

It’s quite plausible that these simple strategies—either of them—could have prevented two fatalities at this one junction.

One of those strategies can, however, be easily enforced.

A Simple Solution

In 2015, nearly three years after the death of Mark Brummell, a local resident sent a pencil sketch to councillor David Harrison, which he passed on to Hampshire County Council. It was a simple plan of Ipley Cross, with one modification: the western approach now had a short kink at its meeting with Beaulieu Road, making the junction offset.

Before, and a potential after.

With this design, no longer would it be reasonably possible for any driver to simply blow through the junction. Drivers would have to come almost to a stop.

This design would, very simply, force the slowing down that eliminates the problem of CBDR.

The image above is, of course, a mock-up. The junction was never altered.

Two years after that simple sketch was handed to the authority responsible for the junction, Kieran Dix was dead.

Is This Not Dangerous?

And, lest we forget: what of the criminal proceedings against Parekh? Why is it not deemed “dangerous” to approach this junction at 37mph without slowing?

We must note that there are two parts to the definition of dangerous driving. Firstly the standard of driving must be “far below what would be expected of a competent and careful driver”, and secondly it must be “obvious to a competent and careful driver that driving in that way would be dangerous”.

People are often drawn to the term “far below”, which offers only a vague difference from “below” as used in the definition of careless driving, but generally the problematic clause is more likely the latter: it simply doesn’t matter how dangerous the driving is if it’s not obvious that it’s dangerous.

If we don’t teach people that to approach a junction at a constant speed is inherently dangerous, and if we don’t offer a basic explanation as to why, then it is surely not obvious to most people.

“Human error” may be real, but so are techniques to mitigate or eliminate its effects—and driver training is poor when it comes to equipping people with those techniques, let alone habituating them. (And let alone reviewing knowledge of those techniques every few years.)

It would appear from media reports that Parekh’s defence was simply that he did not see Dix; the implied logic being that since he saw no other vehicles he felt no compulsion to slow down. The jury’s acquittal equally implies that they agree with this logic: it was not obvious to them that failing to see another vehicle is anything other than unavoidable.

Yet, once the nature of a collision course is explained, the need to slow down becomes obvious.

The truly contemptible human error is not in a single person carelessly failing to see. It is in our failure to continually improve the training and licensing system so as to render the need to slow down obvious; it is in our incessant support of a system which cries “human error” as an excuse to do nothing, rather than as a stimulus to understand that error in order to create a solution.

Constant Bearing, Reducing Distance

So we can easily answer both of our original questions: why the same collision keeps occurring at this junction, and why driving straight through it at a steady 37mph is not deemed “dangerous” by law.

The question we still can’t answer is that of why, when clear solutions to both problems exist, no-one ever does anything about it.

We remain on the same bearing, heading for the next collision.

More road safety articles from Bez


Addendum

It is worth addressing a few points which have arisen in discussions resulting from the original article.

Let’s start with one which was fairly inevitable.

“These collisions are probably the cyclists’ fault.”

Yeah. There’s a reason why I don’t use Facebook. However, this remark is easy to dismiss. The police record “contributory factors” in their reports and, for the seven pedal cycle related collisions at this junction between 2005 and 2015 (which are the years for which I have contributory factor data) only one factor was attributed to a cyclist (in a slight injury collision) while ten were attributed to the drivers who collided with them.

In every single collision, “failed to look properly” was recorded against the driver. In the majority of collisions it was the only factor recorded.

It is very odd to assume the cyclist to be at fault when someone drives into them when they have clear priority. In terms of priority and duty of care it’s equivalent to someone walking across a zebra crossing and being hit. Now, if a cyclist were to ride into someone on a zebra crossing would you casually state that it was probably the pedestrian’s fault? Didn’t think so.

“We shouldn’t be fixing this junction just because some people can’t drive well enough, we should be taking bad drivers off the roads.”

The two are, of course, not mutually exclusive. But to use this as a reason to leave roads unchanged is deeply flawed. To detect someone driving across this junction without looking, it is necessary for someone else to be injured or killed: the way these crashes come about is by large numbers of people habitually driving in the same careless fashion, almost always with no consequence. You could drive through Ipley Cross dozens of times failing to look properly and never collide with anyone. Until the one time you do.

So a reactive process of taking away people’s driving licences in response has two problems: firstly it has a very low detection rate, and secondly it requires death and injury in order to work.

Certainly we should do a better pro-active job of training drivers about things like how to habitually deal with CBDR, pillar blind spots and other phenomena such as saccadic masking. And we should also reassess that training periodically rather than let people walk away from a driving test and never see them again. But there will always remain a large range of human imperfections—conscious and subconscious—which mean we do not behave perfectly all the time. Engineering is a way in which these imperfections can be prevented from causing harm.

So, on that matter of engineering, let’s review the alternative options which people raised.

“Converting the ‘give way’ to ‘stop’ would fix it.”

Absolutely not. As it happens, this is what Hampshire County Council did in 2017 (you may have noticed that the aerial photography on Google shows “stop” markings, while the older Streetview imagery shows “give way”, as was in place when both fatal collisions occurred).

Some people have suggested that a stop sign would, whilst not preventing collisions, at least provide greater culpability and mean that failing to stop would qualify as dangerous driving rather than merely careless driving. Sadly, they’re wrong. Take the examples of Russel Graham and Steven Conlan, both of whom killed when they violated stop signs and both of whom were charged only with causing death by careless driving.

I’ll return to the use of stop signs below, but first let’s review the other possibilities.

“Cycle lanes would help.”

The addition of cycle lanes does not address the described problem at all. What’s more, since it would require widening of the roads, it introduces us to a problem which is particular to the New Forest.

Not only is land loss in the forest is a highly sensitive issue, but the New Forest Verderers (who strongly oppose any land loss) have a unique legal powers. Any solution has to be meet their approval, and unfortunately this means that any solution involving loss of land is at an immediate disadvantage.

“What about speed bumps?”

Speed bumps are a reasonable idea in terms of being a low-cost intervention, but regulations permit their use only under street lighting, so they cannot be used here.

“Traffic lights would be better.”

Traffic lights are inappropriate at this junction for a number of reasons. At most times it is a lightly-trafficked junction and lights at this secluded location would thus invite abuse, especially given that the carriageway itself would still support passing through at speed.

The problem of the junction not being overlooked could be addressed with camera supervision, but this adds significant expense to an already costly change. Additionally, the intrusion on the land required by the installation of the lighting (which would require extensive works to provide electrical power from a considerable distance away) would meet strong objection. Fundamentally, lights would still not make it impossible to speed through the junction, and plenty of casualties are caused at light-controlled junctions by people wilfully or carelessly disobeying the signals.

“Obstructing people’s view would make them slow down.”

Another suggestion is the use of high fencing at either side of each approach to obstruct the sight lines, meaning drivers would be encouraged to slow down in order to check for anything approaching from either side. However, this also has a major intrusion on the environment (especially given the length of fencing which would likely be required—see the image below) and it adds its own dangers: is there a significant associated risk that drivers would look only briefly, perhaps if they had not seen anything enter the fenced section earlier in their approach, and fail to see narrow vehicles as a result?

ipley cross junction crossroads fatal blind spot

“The Dutch would build a proper cycle roundabout.”

A roundabout would, if designed correctly, solve the problem of being able to pass through the junction without slowing (although roundabouts are not without their own issues). However, it would be hugely expensive and would have major impact on the land, and would meet extremely strong objection for both reasons.

The offset junction is an estimated £100k change (allowing for modifications to both east and west entry points in order to achieve perpendicular junctions in both cases) and involves a net land cost of practically zero. It achieves the aim of requiring drivers to slow down, and as such it forces behaviour which reduces the causes of casualties rather than optimistically relying on drivers’ compliance with signage.

The local authority’s response

Hampshire County Council’s response to the second death at this junction was to convert the signage from “give way” to “stop” and to modify the road surface.

They tweeted the news as follows:

This is an extremely weak intervention: it does not solve any of the problems documented above. This junction is not overlooked by anyone or anything, and the sort of driver who approaches such a junction with little inclination to slow down as a matter of caution is unlikely to be the sort of driver who behaves differently just because the sign has changed.

The carriageway itself still invites passing through at speed, and the disincentives to this are negligibly different. It is disappointing that Hampshire County Council considers this a worthwhile change: any rational view of human behaviour says otherwise, and those who use the junction agreeRepeatedly. (Or, if you prefer a video…)

This type of junction is a prime example of why paint is not engineering: it does not prevent anyone doing anything.

Hampshire County Council’s statement appears to be one of an authority in panic, trying desperately to do something with no clue as to whether it will work, and with no more clue as to what will.

But this neither a difficult nor a novel problem. Many other junctions in this country and others have already been converted to offset junctions. It is disturbing that a highway authority is “trialling” such an obviously ineffective approach to a well known and extremely serious problem while they “explore what can be done”.

The fact that Hampshire Council sign off with a promise to add more paint to the road surface is simply depressing: this is throwing good money after bad on an ill-considered response, undermining the estimated £100k budget required for a tried and tested solution.

The right answers are out there. It’s inexplicable that the local authority wants to “trial” such wrong ones.


Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 43 total)
  • Updated: Ipley Cross | Why This Type Of Road Junction Will Keep Killing Cyclists
  • pyranha
    Full Member

    The pictures show a Stop line at that junction, rather than a Give Way. Firstly, this suggests that the Highways Agency (or Local Authority, depending on who is responsible) already recognise it as problematic, but it, surely, also implies that not stopping is, of itself, failing to obey road signs?

    Sandwich
    Full Member

    IF you go to Bez’ first link to Google Street View, both marked lines and signage are for Give Way. The implied Stop is supplied by a Google overlay to show which road has priority.
    Stop lines would be a cheap, first improvement by local highways. The responsible highways engineer that didn’t take the suggested improvement scheme further should be subject to some sanction for failing to mitigate risk to the best of his/her ability

    Bez
    Full Member

    Stop lines are cheap but naive. It’s far too easy for people not to stop, especially those who have used the junction for years without ever being unlucky enough to have had a collision.

    Bez
    Full Member

    In other words, the presence of stop signs might—*might*—qualify a collision of this type as “dangerous”. But they’re a weak tool for preventing the collision in the first place.

    robertajobb
    Full Member

    I’d certainly agree that driver training and licencing is poor. Would you allow people to drive trains or fly aeroplanes with such a low level of skill to get a licence and then zero supervision and zero re-assessment afterwards ? Bearing in mind a mondern chelsea tractor isnt much different in weight to a light aircraft and can go 50% faster ?

    epicyclo
    Full Member

    The large A pillar is for the safety of the occupants of the car, namely the driver, and as we see it is at the expense of any vulnerable human coming from the drivers side.
    Perhaps we can start by eliminating that.
    The wrap around windscreens that were popular in the late 1950s to 60s gave much better side vision.
    I’ve often thought that a car licence should be preceded by 2-3 years on a motorbike. You quickly learn on a motorbike never to rely on the predictability of car drivers – at least those that survive the motorbike do. You also learn to scan the peripheries continuously.

    Bez
    Full Member

    Indeed. Just another of many car features which protect car occupants at the expense of anyone outside. It’s NRA logic, the arms race of the roads.

    Seat belts: another look at the data

    maxtorque
    Full Member

    sorry, but it’s got f-all to do with “sight lines” or “blind spots” or similar. The driver simply wasn’t paying (enough) attention. You could arrive at that junction at 150mph and still stop for it if you were paying attention. For years we have had “speed kills” rammed down our necks, and now we are seeing the results. (people who drive along, not exceeding the speed limit, but not paying any attention to their surroundings)

    Two things would change that (ime):

    1) Proper driver training and licencing (get people who can’t drive very well off our roads) and for people who can, get them checked every so often (say every 10 years)
    2) Massively ramp up the penalties for dangerous or in-appropriate driving, or perhaps, even having an accident where someone is injured?

    big_n_daft
    Free Member

    not just cyclists worried about them.

    http://www.safespeed.org.uk/bike005.pdf

    funkrodent
    Full Member

    Good article and pretty much agree with all the points raised. Seems odd to not mention Saccadic masking however, as I suspect this is common to most, if not all, smidsys and to me should be a compulsory part of any driving test

    dr2chase
    Free Member

    CBDR is something I use all the time biking around pedestrians. But I spent a fair amount of time as a kid messing around in boats.

    Thank you, I have leant something from this. My driving and riding will be a litle bit safer.

    MrOvershoot
    Full Member

    Just realised my mum lived about a mile from that junction till 1998 probably rode across that junction about 50 times, though I was mostly on a mountain bike in very vivid Lycra that gave most car drivers a headache 😮

    shaneforan
    Free Member

    Ok one issue here would appear to be excessive visibility at the junction. This might be counter intuitive but it is known to be contributory factor in crashes at priority junctions. My observations are based on the following sources. (It’s also a cut and paste so the same phrasing will show up in other locations)

    1. Layout and Design Factors Affecting Cycle Safety at T-Junctions, R. Henson and N. Whelan, Traffic Engineering and Control, pp. 548-551, October 1992.
    2. TD 42/95, Design Manual for Roads and Bridges, Part 6, Geometric Design of Major Minor Priority Junctions
    3. Accidents at Three Arm Priority Junctions on Urban Single Carriageway Roads, I. Summersgill, J.V. Kennedy and D. Baynes TRL Report 184, Transport Research Laboratory, Crowethorne, 1996.

    While visibility should be enough for entering drivers to assess the immediate junction conditions it is long known that excessive visibility can encourage excessive entry speeds and discourage entering motorists from yielding to main road traffic including cyclists. In 1992 Henson and Whelan reported sightlines along the major road of greater than 25m as being associated with increased risk of car/bicycle collision (distance was measured from 9m back on minor road).

    (The last time I checked it) UK guidance (DMRB TD 42/95) has been to specify minimum and maximum visibility parameters for priority junctions. In addition, a separate visibility envelope is specified for the immediate area of the junction. Maximum (not to be exceeded) visibility parameters are set out because long sight distances are associated with excessive entry speeds and consequently with increased risk of collisions. In the UK, a “Desirable Minimum Stopping Sight Distance” to the junction is provided to allow “drivers time to slow down safely at the junction, or stop, if this is necessary”. However, UK guidance expressly cautions that “increased visibility shall not be provided to increase the capacities of various turning movements”.

    TRL Report 184, “Accidents at Three Arm Priority Junctions”, identified length of stopping sight distance on all arms as a multiplying factor for several types of accidentsi:
    1) On major left arm, increased accident risk for right turn from the major with major left to right accidents;
    2) On major right arm, increased risk for right turn from the minor with major right to left accidents;
    3) On the minor arm, increased risk for two types of accidents: right turn from the minor with major left to right accidents and for left turn from the minor with major right to left accidents.

    So yes realigning the junction is a good suggestion for improving safety. However a quick fix might be to put up something (plant hedging etc) so that entering motorists can’t see what’s coming and need to slow down and look before moving off. I should point out that the same issue arises at roundabouts – “good” visibility can be bad for safety. Regards Shane Foran -Galway Cycling Campaign

    shaneforan
    Free Member

    PS I accept that this is not a 3-arm junction but the same principle likely applies.

    robertajobb
    Full Member

    Shaneforan’s comment explains why a bimber of roundabouts near to me have exactly these ‘sight limiting’ (added in the past few years) to force cats etc to slow down arriving at a junction, and have to near-stop before being able to see what is already on tje roundabout.

    Cougar
    Full Member

    If you blast through any Give Way at 37mph then you need your licence taking away from you even if it ‘looks’ clear, no?

    The problem with that road is clearly obvious and it’s bog all to do with A pillars and relative speeds of crossing traffic. It’s a nice big straight road with a Give Way in the middle of it, and it needs breaking up. Speed bumps, traffic lights, a roundabout, anything that says “hey, wait!”

    prettygreenparrot
    Full Member

    Why not make these junctions ‘stop’ junctions? With forced stop and wait procedures rather than give way/yield markings. While they’re weird to encounter, I’ve found these work well when I’ve come across them in the USA. You see the stop sign. You slow down. You stop. You look. And you proceed if clear.

    prettygreenparrot
    Full Member

    @dannyh. Excellent observation of the ‘slow speeders’. I find it perplexing when these folks zoom through villages and danger zones with 30mph and sometimes 20mph limits only to stay at ~40mph in the adjacent 50mph and national speed limit areas.

    billyboy
    Free Member

    Good article.

    Apart from the drivers having a disconnect from the reality of the danger they pose to other people every second they are out there driving which has already been covered, there is another disconnect involved here. And that is a jury’s inability to see through the guff they are fed by some silken-tongued QC.

    Bez
    Full Member

    I can’t add to the article above but I’ve added an addendum to the version on my site which discusses the alternative interventions that people have mentioned here and on Twitter.

    Collision Course

    DezB
    Free Member

    Fascinating stuff. What baffles me though, is, yes, there’s a well researched and written article on a mountain bike site, there was a suggestion sent to the council, now someone else has died. So why aren’t the council taking immediate action to prevent another death? Are they doing their own investigations, as, or more, in depth that Bez’s? Is the DoT investigating these cases? Or is it “oh well, another cyclist, less of them on the road the better”..?

    DezB
    Free Member

    Christ, just seen the amendment. A Stop sign. Brilliant.
    Why don’t they just put a “cyclist dismount” sign up? That’s what we have round here to stop us killing people..

    tandemonium
    Free Member

    There is something else that could be done to counter act the CBDR on this junction without changing the road layout…… plant some trees to the NE & SW of the junction to obscure the view as you approach the junction, this would cause the driver approaching to slow. This is exactly what is being done on the approach to a lot of motorway /large roundabouts where screens are being installed to block your view approaching the roundabout & thus stopping people approaching * joining them at speed when there is another car coming around with very similar approach angles to the junction above. Plant trees – good for reducing CO2 too 🙂

    tandemonium
    Free Member

    Ah, just read shaneforan’s last paragraph… as he says 🙂

    seadog101
    Full Member

    I agree that blind spots, CBDR, stop signs, give way signs, junction designs are part of the problem, here and at similar junctions. The real problem though is the way people who drive a vehicle and kill someone else are allowed to simply hang their head and say sorry, opps, slap my wrist, give me a fine, possibly even stop me driving for a wee while, maybe lock me up if I’ve very very naughty.
    Maybe some properly scary punishments, like lifetime driving bans, jail terms similar to manslaughter?

    mikeyp
    Full Member

    great thoughtful piece as ever bez.

    40mpg
    Full Member

    That’s interesting and frankly terrifying reading. I live a couple of miles from Ipley and go through there pretty much every time I get on my road bike. I know the history, and am very cautious of cars approaching. Note- the council have recently installed improvements – some yellow bump strips approaching the junction which are enough to make a tumble in your car or nearly have you off your bike. Thanks Hampsire Highways.

    40mpg
    Full Member

    *tumble = rumble

    portsmouthrider
    Free Member

    A “STOP” sign, as opposed to the current “Give Way” signs, would actually be against the Highway Engineering rules ….. see page 11 of https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/223943/traffic-signs-manual-chapter-03.pdf …… because visibility is TOO GOOD!!!!!!!!!

    HoratioHufnagel
    Free Member

    FWIW, I work in the automotive industry and they are working to address the issues with A-pillar blind spots. I work with cameras and algorithms, so only know about that stuff, but I think companies are also trying to reduce the width of the A-pillar.

    As for the Algo stuff, there’s lots of stuff in the pipeline, but the most likely solution is cameras looking out for this and putting the brakes on automatically. Called “crossing traffic alert” here. Also works when people (especially children) walk behind cars as they reverse out of car park spaces in supermarkets etc, which is especially problematic for SUVs.

    Better training for drivers would also help, but I’ve yet to see a government who will force 30 million drivers to go and take a re-test.

    markgraylish
    Free Member

    Many, many years ago I nearly took a cyclist out when I was driving. It was a classic case of SMIDSY as he was obscured by the A pillar of my car as I approached a large, open roundabout.
    Luckily for both he and I, my passenger spotted him and called out and I jumped on the brakes and we didn’t collide.
    Since then, as a cyclist, Ive always been aware of how vulnerable I would be in those situations and I must subconsciously do the “closing distance” calculations as im covering the brakes and looking for a safe swerve spot when I see vehicles closing in on junctions even if I have right-of-way…

    Bez
    Full Member

    Bez suggests that sometimes a steady driver can be the most dangerous driver – now with added content responding to comments and questions you raised

    By bez

    Get the full story on our front page at:

    Updated: Ipley Cross | Why This Type Of Road Junction Will Keep Killing Cyclists

    Support us from less than £0.06/day and help us keep the content flowing by becoming a full member.

    crazyjenkins01
    Full Member

    A perfect example of why driving behaviours need to change and mandatory re-tests are required.i have to ‘retake’ my IPAF licence every 5 years to update on operation and safety issues. Why not for driving?
    This added to the, quite frankly, stupid idea of having a ‘jury of peers’ (who would most likely do exactly what the defendant in most cases is charged with, would do) for motoring offences, is the reason this will NEVER stop happening.

    keithb
    Full Member

    Sadly this is indicative of the standard of highways departments across the country when it comes to understanding and assessing risks to cyclists. Derbyshire have a similar inability to realise that white paint incorrectly applied is worse than doing nothing. I pushed my case all the way to the local government ombudsman who,despite derbyshire acknowledging that they had no assessment or justification for sub standard cycle lane, still refused to find against the council!

    So not only are the highway authorities incompetent, but the appeals process is rigged against the complainant!

    Which reminds me,I’ve another complaint to make to them! Once I’ve cost them enough money, they may actually fix the problems rather than seeing the user’s as the problem!

    fanatik
    Free Member

    Bez,

    Thanks for this article. Kieran was my cycling buddy and long time friend, it was a sad loss.

    In December A few other friends and I did a ride that way to finish off the ride he had set out to do, but not completed. I now ride with a Fly6 light/camera on my bike, and in the few seconds it took to ride past that junction, my camera captured this, which I uploaded to youtube:

    It simply shows 5 cars just driving across it without a care in the world.

    willpen
    Free Member

    I was knocked off at this junction Feb 2014.
    Saw this article as it had been re-posted on Core 77 a design forum website.
    Accident happened exactly as described, both Police and Ambulance attended the scene but I guess it was not added to official records as I did not press charges on driver.
    I was approaching junction as described 8:15am commuting to work in Beaulieu. Junction is at the top of a slight incline and into the prevailing SW winds so was not going very fast and had my head down a bit. This junction has always worried me as cars cross without stopping (it was Give Way junction), so as I always did I was keeping track of what was approaching the junction, at what speed, from peripheral vision.
    It had seemed like the car (approaching from direction shown on map) had seen me and was moderating speed to let me go through first. With maybe 2 seconds (???) to go I realised car was not stopping, or slowing sufficiently to go behind me. Only option I had was to brace and put everything I had through pedals to try to get through junction before car (no time even to stand on pedals).
    Car hit my back wheel at somewhere between 20 and 30mph, i did a somersault and landed 5m down the road on the wrong side, my bike did “endo’s” down the road for what felt like forever.
    Driver claimed she just did not see me ( I was wearing yellow hi-vis jacket), she was distraught and phoned me every day for the next week to check I was OK.
    I believed she did not see me hence not pressing charges. I have always wondered/worried whether this was right decision or not in terms of initiating changes to junction. As described brilliantly in article it is a design fault in road, although one thing to point out most junctions in UK have more evolved over the centuries rather than being designed. But still when there is a obvious problem something should be done about it.
    I was definitely lucky! I have replayed it in my mind many times and I must have been 0.2 secs away from some pretty serious injuries minimum. As it was I got away with cuts and bruises, a bad back for a while and a month or so after a spate of labyrinthitus which apparently can be caused by heavy impacts (who knew).
    I still cycle to work when I can, but I am definitely more nervous of traffic joining from the side!

    willpen
    Free Member

    I was knocked off at this junction Feb 2014.
    Saw this article as it had been re-posted on Core 77 a design forum website.
    Accident happened exactly as described, both Police and Ambulance attended the scene but I guess it was not added to official records as I did not press charges on driver.
    I was approaching junction as described 8:15am commuting to work in Beaulieu. Junction is at the top of a slight incline and into the prevailing SW winds so was not going very fast and had my head down a bit. This junction has always worried me as cars cross without stopping (it was Give Way junction), so as I always did I was keeping track of what was approaching the junction, at what speed, from peripheral vision.
    It had seemed like the car (approaching from direction shown on map) had seen me and was moderating speed to let me go through first. With maybe 2 seconds (???) to go I realised car was not stopping, or slowing sufficiently to go behind me. Only option I had was to brace and put everything I had through pedals to try to get through junction before car (no time even to stand on pedals).
    Car hit my back wheel at somewhere between 20 and 30mph, i did a somersault and landed 5m down the road on the wrong side, my bike did “endo’s” down the road for what felt like forever.
    Driver claimed she just did not see me ( I was wearing yellow hi-vis jacket), she was distraught and phoned me every day for the next week to check I was OK.
    I believed she did not see me hence not pressing charges. I have always wondered/worried whether this was right decision or not in terms of initiating changes to junction. As described brilliantly in article it is a design fault in road, although one thing to point out most junctions in UK have more evolved over the centuries rather than being designed. But still when there is a obvious problem something should be done about it.
    I was definitely lucky! I have replayed it in my mind many times and I must have been 0.2 secs away from some pretty serious injuries minimum. As it was I got away with cuts and bruises, a bad back for a while and a month or so after a spate of labyrinthitus which apparently can be caused by heavy impacts (who knew).
    I still cycle to work when I can, but I am definitely more nervous of traffic joining from the side!

    mudfish
    Full Member

    Bez,
    would you be able to put his excellent & clear explanation into succinct enough terms to succeed as a petition to “persuade” Hampshire CC to make a staggered junction.
    Your obvious expertise here and grasp of plain English explanation has a great value in this. Those door pillars have always concerned me but I’d never realised its quite this serious..
    £100K is a small cost to save lives and I believe only 10K signatures are needed to prompt a Parliamentary discussion.
    Can “we” realistically achieve that?
    38 degrees seems to work for many as a petition vehicle.

    Apparently 38 Degrees takes its name from “the angle at which snowflakes come together to form an avalanche”, nice.

    frogstomp
    Full Member

    Some interesting follow-up discussion from Wired (referencing this article): https://www.wired.com/story/the-physics-of-the-69-degree-intersection-that-kills-cyclists/

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