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[rg]

There was another horrific car accident this afternoon at the bottom of Cunningham Avenue at the roundabout with Albatross Way.
A speeding car driven by a female student failed to take the corner, lost control and rolled, smashing into the lamppost and leaving it at a 45 degree angle.
The driver was badly injured and from what I saw of the remains of the car was extremely lucky. I hope she recovers fully from her injuries.

Also lucky is the fact that no one was walking or cycling on the pavement and cycle path at the time of the accident as they would not have stood a chance.

This is the third serious car accident I know about in the last 4 years at the exact same spot. All 3 have involved excessive speed, student drivers and have left 2 lamp posts smashed and demolished 2 sets of railings. One of the accidents resulted in the car leaving the road, flying through the air across the hedging and pavement and landing with its front car wheels 10 feet in the air against the lamppost in a residents front garden. I have no doubt that there have been other incidents and near misses at this spot. I used to live in Cunningham Avenue, (before being forced out by the students) and regularly heard screeching tyres as drivers struggled to keep control around the junction.

So far no one has been killed but how long will it be before someone is?
There is no speed limit along Albatross Way as the roads are unadopted. It is regularly used as a drag circuit due to it being a long straight stretch and it is very rarely monitored by the police for dangerous driving. A mini roundabout was installed sometime last year but this hasn't prevented the accidents.

I regularly use this path to walk with my wife and 6 year old daughter to the Ellenbrook Park, but until something is done to reign in these idiots who have no regard for the safety of others, I am loathe to do so.

POLICE....please, please, please wake up to this threat. It is clearly a blackspot and needs to be dealt with swiftly and firmly. We need you to take serious and tangible action NOW before a child dies. Don't put this off until it is too late.

[jonmorris]

Nobody will be interested until someone is killed along there.

I am not aware of any major accidents on Campion Road, but people like to race along and drive on the wrong side of the islands - and nobody seems to care about a roundabout meaning you go round them (and when you do, you go CLOCKWISE). That said, a police car did stop someone outside our house a few nights ago - but only because it had presumably been following the driver from somewhere else.

If this is what people drive like in their own streets, I can't imagine what they're like when they get off the business park and start mixing with other vehicles.

[pretty girl]

All we hear about, is the poor hard up students, and the debts they incur whilst styudying at University.  How on earth do they manage to run cars, forget about the price of petrol, I do know that insurance for anyone under the age of 25 is exhorbitant.


I witnessed students in a car some weeks back, turned "right" at the end of the Common in Hatfield, when it is "left" turn only, just missing a mother and her three kids as the driver manouvered around the island which is in place to prevent righthand turns.

[eumelus]

i live up near the school and you see all kinds of stupid people driving on the wrong side of the road, cutting corners and generally braking a dozen highway code rules and road laws but untill the roads are handed over to highways nothing will be done except the present speed restrictions.

Unfortunately as has been said, untill someone dies we will all have to take our lives in our hands crossing the roads while walking arouns Salisbury village,

[jonmorris]

The quality of driving on the roads is never going to improve because just about every police division has reduced its traffic division to virtually nothing; relying on clever technology such as ANPR and speed cameras.

Each of these do their job. ANPR is particularly good for detecting things like no insurance, no MOT etc - but by getting rid of routine patrols in any significant numbers, people just know they have almost no chance of being stopped.

And ANPR is great if everyone has the right number plate. The police and other people know that there are a significant number of vehicles driving around with false plates (cloned from an idential car so not to arouse suspicion) to avoid detection.

[eumelus]

perhaps the only answer is to wait untill the roads are handed over and then get every resident on the site to sign a petition for speed cameras, its not the best idea in the world but it may stop soem of the speeding that goes on.

[jonmorris]

Speed cameras are pointless in my opinion. If you erected a camera, and people want to race, slowing down and flooring it by the camera will become part of the fun.

And, a speed camera doesn't actually stop speeding - at best it records the speeding offence, which is rather pointless if the car is wrapped around a tree having taken local residents with it.

What needs to happen is the police routinely patrol the area and catch motorists and do them with driving without due care - which is a more serious offence than speeding. Knowing the police are around is the best deterrant of all - and will hopefully stop people driving like loons in the first place.

[Richy]

I think she should at the very least be done for driving without due care and attention.  Shes not a victim and should be punished, her stupidity might have resulted in loss of life of innocent people passing by.

[rg]

Here is the News article from the St Albans & Harpenden Review:
Young driver cut from car 5:09pm Saturday 4th April 2009

A YOUNG driver had to be freed from her car today after colliding with a lamppost in Hatfield.
Firefighters from Hatfield and St Albans were called to Cunningham Avenue shortly before 2pm after a car had come off the roundabout and struck a post.
On their arrival the car was on its roof and an 18-year-old girl was stuck inside.
Fire crews used cutting equipment to remove the car doors and free the driver.
A St Albans ambulance and a Welwyn Garden City fast response care were at the scene as was the air ambulance.
East of England Ambulance Service spokesman Gary Sanderson said the driver had suffered abdominal and pelvic injuries but are condition was not life threatening.
She was then taken to the QEII Hospital.
 

[rg]

Adding details of another accident:
http://dhra.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=centralbit&action=display&thread=357&page=1