A busy Friday afternoon and the usual problem of stop-n-go traffic crawling up Barrow's Abbey road with it's multitude of traffic lights. But all of a sudden things started to move a lot smoother and as I moved up the road I soon found out why. The traffic lights at what they say is one of the busiest junctions in Cumbria
This lasted for an hour or two until I was coming down Abbey Road
But when I got closer to the junction I saw that the lights weren't back working at all. The local boys in blue must have been informed and they had arrived in force to sort the supposed problem out. Now you would have thought that a lone policeman would have taken up point duty and would be calmly directing the traffic. But no, when I got close up there was not one, not two but three of them sharing the job. All three two policemen and a policewoman danced about the road in the pouring rain, gesticulating like a trio of Italian chefs blaming each other for burning the pizza.
This went on for most of the afternoon causing chaos on surrounding roads. As I went through the junction a few more times I could see the doubt and confusion in drivers faces as they were given conflicting confusing signals.
Don't they teach them point duty at Police College
9 comments:
Don't they teach learners how to deal with junctions with no traffic lights working? The whole process of learning to drive these days seems so difficult that i thought they would have to learn every possible scenario to pass. Abbey road is getting worse every day for traffic, where is everyone coming from or going to!
The last place I saw a junction controlled by a policeman was in Hull when I lived there in the late eighties. The notorious and very busy three-way junction of Spring Bank, Spring Bank West and Princes Avenue had a black-and-white box in the middle of it which in the rush hour was occupied by a policeman officially engaged on point duty. Of course, as you say they aren't trained now but then it was a delight to watch, almost balletic.
Down in London, in Kensington High Street they have removed all the traffic lights, pedestrian crossings, safety barriers and so on, so that pedestrains and traffic are left to negotiate with each other. I gather it works just fine!
Just where is Crazy Horse Coprner please
brianna:No they don't, like everyone else they are taught to rely on the often unreliable technology used in traffic control. Where are they going to or from? well in my experience usually shopping!
Rosilind: Yes I remember when cops could do point duty, seems a bit quaint nowadays I suppose. I have been reading about the road sharing experiments and really like the idea. The only rule is that you must give way to the right, whether it be pedestrian car bike or horse. I would like to see this tried in Barrow, I think it might just work.
malcalm: Crazy Horse Corner is the junction which used to be called Astra lights. The Astra cinema is no more, in it's place stands a building called Emlyn Hughes house. His nickname was Crazy horse hence Crazy Horse Corner.
As a retired cop they just don't go to Police College any more its all on the job training,from memory there are only 4 roads there so one bobby should have been suffice
just not the same these days
le xplod: That's what I thought myself, three just made for confusion.
Good Job! :)
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