Escape lanes on UK roads.

A419 / Cowcombe Hill into Stroud.

We have one one the A419 as you drop into the 5 valleys from Cirencester at the bottom of Cowcombe Hill, it’s overgrown but definitely there. Never seen it in use.

They may be a left over relic from overheating drum brakes in HGVs and the like?

A628, Barnsley Road

It’s a long descent off the moor heading east just before you come into a small village with some narrow roads. Used to be quite overgrown then a few years ago they did a thorough job of tidying it all up. It’s well signed from about 1 mile back!

There’s one between Foxholes and Scarborough on Willerby Hill. I passed it at the speed of light last year, clinging on to my drops for dear life! My frame had started shaking like mad as I came down the hill, how I stayed on the bike, I’ll never know…

B1249
https://maps.app.goo.gl/xx5zmwmjGx53conMA

Fish Hill, Broadway still has one.
Can get a good lick on down there.
Quite good going up too on the motorcycle.

The one I saw most recently was on the descent to Pendine Sands
https://goo.gl/maps/HiRpWSmBRpKorfsj8

A649 Birkby Lane has a decent one. Also happens to be one of the few places I’ve managed to get over 50mph on a bike 🙂

One near the bottom of Staxton Hill as you head towards Scarborough from Driffield…

https://goo.gl/maps/LyJTyHmNEddb1r8j9

A169 in North Yorkshire heading down from Fylingdales moor into Sleights has one.

Came here to say that.

Hands up who has ever been tempted to drive into one, just to see what it will feel like?

✋

Five up in a Fiat Panda coming down from Bwlch yr Groes from Bala it would have been useful. Likewise coming down the Col du Telegraph in the world’s worst Fiat Punto laden with camping, biking and kayaking gear.

Useful as in you ran out of road and ended up in a ditch/wall/field or useful as in you’d have felt more confident to find the limits of the car?

Do you need to get towed out of them ?

The only ones I could reliably place on a map were on the Heads of the Valleys road but sounds like they’re the ones that have gone.

The ones on Lynmouth Hill, Countisbury and Porlock Hill here in exmoor are all still there. Living at the bottom of Porlock hill, it seems most people prefer to plough into a wall or through hedges rather than use an escape lane!

There’s one between Foxholes and Scarborough on Willerby Hill. I passed it at the speed of light last year, clinging on to my drops for dear life! My frame had started shaking like mad as I came down the hill, how I stayed on the bike, I’ll never know…

Slight thread detour, but what causes that? I’ve had frame-wobble at speed on my 80’s racer.

the-muffin-man
Full Member

One near the bottom of Staxton Hill as you head towards Scarborough from Driffield…

I think that’s the same one I (incorrectly?) called Willerby Hill above. It certainly decends into Willerby 🙂

Slight thread detour, but what causes that? I’ve had frame-wobble at speed on my 80’s racer.

Detailed description here;

Speed wobbles: How they start and how to stop them

Ta!

Five up in a Fiat Panda coming down from Bwlch yr Groes from Bala it would have been useful. Likewise coming down the Col du Telegraph in the world’s worst Fiat Punto laden with camping, biking and kayaking gear.

Useful as in you ran out of road and ended up in a ditch/wall/field or useful as in you’d have felt more confident to find the limits of the car?

I had a mk 1 renault megane bitd. It also had woeful brakes and fully loaded with climbers and climbing/camping kit you’d be smoking the brakes on any steep hill. Yeah, had a few hairy moments on steep descents with it so always had one eye out for where the escape lanes were. I don’t actively look for them nowadays as brakes have got better, but it’s reassuring to know they are there, just in case. Old habits.

Do you need to get towed out of them ?

Most have a little exit road out the back or at least a soft verge you can bump over to rejoin the main road. If not for you to get out of, then for the tow truck to get to you!

Finding all of these is exactly the silly kind of things John of Auto Shenanigans would do.

Came here to say that.

Hands up who has ever been tempted to drive into one, just to see what it will feel like?

✋

Someone else has been listening to the Smith and Sniff podcast where Mr Porter contemplates doing just that to the one outside Bath in his Range Rover Sport 🤣

One on the A66 somewhere??

Google –

full list here.

https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Escape_lane

They may be a left over relic from overheating drum brakes in HGVs and the like?

This.
If any vehicle ends up in one now, the vehicle will likely be getting inspected to find out why it ended up in the gravel.

Modern* brakes should not fail under normal use, unlike the brakes of 30+years ago that were often incapable of stopping fully loaded vehicles on anything resembling a descent.

*unless you happen to be in the US, where they are still using that same technology from 30 years ago, as brake discs and electronic braking are works of the devil, and to be avoided at all cost as they’re too complicated/not as good/more expensive/<insert other (generally invalid) excuse to justify avoidance of safety improvements>

Dartmouth, Devon, main road into town, 600ft to sea level in not very far at all

A35 near Bridport

unless you happen to be in the US,

It’s all about the Jake brake. Best sounding brake.

I’m driving back from Plymouth to Ammanford on Sunday. I’m tempted to go via Exmoor and then the Heads of the Valleys A465 route. In a laden Berlingo that looks like an old truck but seems to have brakes that work.

There’s one on the descent from crowcombe park gate on the Quantocks too. A chap I know drove into it to entertain his sons who were in the back seat then got fully stuck and had to ring someone with a tractor to pull them out.

I thought that there was one on the A36 somewhere around Charmouth/Chideock area (haven’t been there for years though) and as I think Spooky b329 mentioned, there is a very overgrown one on the A259 heading into Eastbourne which looks more like one of those water saving drought gardens than an escape road.

There one on the A380 Telegraph Hill heading towards Kennford/A38. Always seemed to catch unsuspecting mk1 Ford Escorts trying to turn off the dual carriageway for the petrol station back in the day.

Ah, the 70’s when cars were a bit dire, cross-ply tyres, vague steering and drum brakes were std fit and escape roads were required to capture the occasional Hillman Avenger and trailer combo. Obviously nowadays my Shadenfreude fix can be gained by the joy of seeing a spanking new BMW M5 or McLaren P1 up to its wheel arches in a gravel trap at a track day…

Definitely a few still around. I do wonder how often they have ever been used – I mean you’d have to lose control at just the right time, and not completely because you’ve still got to be enough in control to steer down at just the right time.
I’d be interested to know how many documented reports there are of one saving someone’s skin.

The escape lane I posted in High Wycombe has been there for 40+ years. This is the last incident I’m aware of on that hill. Problem is it ends in a sharp 90° left turn so any brake failure results in smashing into offices resulting in deaths.

The issue is the escape lane is about 1/2 mile up the hill, so if brakes fail after that you’re buggered.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/jun/15/vikramdodd

Hands up who has ever been tempted to drive into one, just to see what it will feel like?

I imagine it feels like airbag

reluctantjumper

Someone else has been listening to the Smith and Sniff podcast where Mr Porter contemplates doing just that to the one outside Bath in his Range Rover Sport 🤣

Indeed & it was me that told Mr Porter the 2 storys of my father in law’s involvement with that very escape road!

I spoke to him at the Bentley podcast recording about it and then the next week was featured on the podcast 🙂

Point of order Mr Porter has a full size RR L322 not a chavtastic Spoooooooortttt

Annoyingly I knew that but all of their “Sppporrrtaaaaa” mentions meant I doubted myself 🤣 Shouldn’t have really as I’ve seen him driving it round Bath!

Definitely a few in north devon there is one on the road that takes you to Lynton it’s overgrown and looks likes it used for gravel dumping

Purely randomly (or is it?) this cropped up on my FB feed just now

https://fb.watch/i-yT_9c1Fj/