Crazy Horse Chaos

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, “Crazy Horse Corner” had gone kaput and not one of its many lights was working. This didn't really seem to be causing too many problems; drivers just slowed right down and crawled through the junction with caution. Heck! I even saw boy racers and white van men giving way and waving other motorists through.

 This lasted for an hour or two until I was coming down Abbey Road a while later. Yep it seemed to be back to normal, big queues of standing motors with frustrated drivers crammed the road ahead as far as the eye could see. 

 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 nowadays then?

Chaos

Tempers are getting more and more frayed as Barrow's busiest Junction at Abbey Road and Rawlinson Street remains nowhere near finished and is controlled by badly setup temporary traffic lights. After all these months it really has gone beyond a joke now, I find that we taxi drivers just can't win, if we go round to save the frustrating wait we are moaned at about the extra on the fare, and if we brave the chaos and get stuck we get moaned at because of the extra charge for the waiting time. I think as a public service our local newspaper( the Evening Mail) should find and publish the names and phone numbers of the people who are in charge of this fiasco. Maybe if we had the home phone number of the boss of the Penrith based construction company, we could ring him whilst he's having breakfast and tell him exactly how many of his workers are actually working and just how many are stood around watching them.

Locked Out

Barrow's taxi drivers are gnashing their teeth and cursing this week, and not just because of the closure of Hindpool Road which is one of Barrow's main routes. This is causing stress and chaos enough, but the thing causing the most upset is the loss of one of our traditional rat runs. One of our best little traffic avoiding back street short cuts has fallen victim to the alley gates scheme. The back street between Greengate St and Harrison St known as Field St has been used for years to gain access to the end of Dalton Rd our main shopping street. This is a favorite dropping of point for our passengers and will now cost more to get too and take longer to reach. But as usual we are the last to know and are never consulted, so it's like it or lump it.

Progress

We have been treated to a sneak preview this week of what the future holds for us here in Barrow after the much dreaded new Walney Road traffic scheme is complete. Temporary traffic lights were set up not too far from the actual site of the new permanent sets of lights which will shortly be installed at the junctions of Ironworks Road. The result of course was predictably chaos with long delays and traffic dangerously cutting through the Asda supermarket car park to avoid the huge tail back. Add this together with the multitude of traffic light controlled pedestrian crossings being installed and it should be really interesting when finished. Ahh well such is progress eh!

Sat-Nav Sign

'Don't trust sat-nav', new signs warn

A council has put up a sign warning lorry drivers to ignore their satellite navigation systems after faulty sat-nav directions caused traffic chaos.
Vale of Glamorgan Council in South Wales is the first in the UK to use visual signs warning drivers not to believe sat-nav advice after once peaceful villages were reduced to bedlam when heavy-goods lorries got stuck in tiny country lanes.
Now a sign aimed largely at foreign drivers has been put up on the outskirts of the village of St Hilary.
"The proliferation of satellite navigation aids used in heavy goods vehicles, and their over-reliance, especially by overseas drivers, has presented itself as a problem within the Vale of Glamorgan," a spokesman for the council's highways department said.
They are continuing with their journey only to find, after travelling some distance, they cannot proceed any further.
"Manoeuvring becomes difficult and the vehicle eventually blocks the road for a significant period of time."
In a bid to overcome the problem, a county engineer designed a pictorial sign aimed at foreign lorry drivers.
The sign was later approved by the Welsh Assembly and has now been put up outside the village for a trial period.
"There have been numerous situations where HGVs have become lost and stuck in the village of St Hilary, even though there are signs at the junction of the A48 informing such drivers that the route is unsuitable.
"If the signs prove successful following the trial period, then they will be used at other locations throughout Wales."

Long Job

If a builder or tradesman doing a job for you had caused chaos and then took four or five months longer than they should to finish the job would you use them again? Now it can't be denied that when Barrows Astra lights junction was "improved" recently this is exactly what happened. Most of us would use our common sense and stay well clear of any outfit that performed like this wouldn't we?. The contractors, most sensible folk would agree should never be seen in this town again. But imagine my surprise when I saw who was starting work on the latest controversial £2.4m road scheme. Yes, you guessed it, the exact same firm and with the exact same crew. Work they say is expected to last "about" five months. But some would say that maybe some of the young guys on this crew might just stretch this one out until they reach retirement age.

Sign of The Times

I picked lots of noisy kids up this week, it's the week before the schools go back and so it's the last minute rush for school uniforms. One woman was totally oblivious to her three unruly brats in the back, she just seemed to go into a trance looking at her phone as her kids fought screamed, and then rolled both back windows down and started to throw things out including the taxi firms business cards. Still, she just stared at the darn phone deaf and blind to the chaos in the rear. That was when I braked and pulled over and without saying a word got out rolled up the back windows and placed my new sign that I bought a while back from Lancaster Castle, onto the dash, then I just looked at them for a minute without saying a word. They looked at me and then at the sign and that was it not a peep out of them for the rest of the journey. Funny thing was the mother never said a word, but she gave me a good tip with the fare.

Carnival Chaos

Dalton was a no go area for us Taxi's for most of Saturday. The annual carnival brought its usual road closures, but more roads seemed to be closed and for longer. We just had to leave some folk who were ringing up to be picked up by taxi marooned in Dalton. Just why all the roads have to be closed a full hour before the start of the parade is anyone’s guess, what's wrong with closing the roads as the parade reaches them? Hundreds of drivers were stuck in queues on Abbey Rd waiting for cars in front to make a pointless three point turn, all because of unclear and badly placed road signs. Some folk were asking the PCSO s the way in and were being given duff information, simply because the PCSOs didn't know themselves. Maybe they could have a whip round for some proper signs and some printed instructions for the PCSOs next year.

The Long and Winding Road

Last weekend saw the annual Keswick to Barrow Walk. Now if you've never heard of this, it is a gruelling 40 mile sponsored walk raising money for charities whilst taking in some of the Lake Districts breathtaking scenary.


For us taxi drivers, we had to go and pick a few people up from the finishing post as they were too lame to walk anymore but the problem with any event like this is the amount of road closures. Actually, not so much the closures but more the parking and waiting restrictions meaning complete chaos if we went to the designated pick up point and the customer was too tired to walk to it.




Even so, it would have been a great day out for many and thousands of pounds would have been raised for various charities so well done to everyone who took part. The walk was open to everyone including disabled people and its good to see so many taking part as all proceeds will be split between many local charities.



I`ve only ever done the Keswick to Barrow once..... and that was in the car... Ho Hum...

School Punch Up

The talking point locally for the last few months or so has been Cumbria County Council plans to shut Thorncliffe, Alfred Barrow and Parkview schools and replace them with a single 1,200-pupil academy. Even when the plans were first made public most local folk I talked to about it were dead set against the idea. But just as predicted by a lot of my passengers, and despite strong public opposition, the authority’s cabinet unanimously backed the plans and agreed it should proceed with a process to shut the secondary schools in August 2009. The council says it wants to transform the secondary system to improve standards and buildings. But most local folk remain unimpressed and the feeling is as one of my passengers put it “it’s just like a factory really, and the bigger the factory the cheaper the processing cost per; unit produced.” Unfortunately in this case the units in question happen to be our local schoolchildren. Others fares point out the traffic chaos near the proposed site at school starting and leaving times already, and predict total gridlock and an increase in traffic accidents. Some parents tell me that they will struggle to find the cash to fund the expensive new school uniform that will no doubt be required, especially those with several kids. But the last word goes to some of the older kids I take to and from the affected schools. They tell me that all the schools involved have always had a fierce rivalry towards each other, and as one put it “we all fight out of school, so when they mix us all together in one school it will be one big constant punch up.”

Shutup

Picked lots of noisy kids up this week, it's the week before the schools go back and so it's the last minute rush for school uniforms. One woman was totally oblivious to her three unruly brats in the back, she just seemed to go into a trance as her kids fought screamed , and then rolled both windows down and started to throw things out including the taxi firms business cards. Still she just stared ahead deaf and blind to the chaos in the rear. That was when I braked and pulled over and without saying a word got out rolled up the back windows and placed my new sign that I bought a while back from Lancaster Castle, onto the dash, then I just looked at them for a minute without saying a word. They looked at me and then at the sign and that was it not a peep out of them for the rest of the journey. Funny thing was the mother never said a word, but she gave me a good tip with the fare.

Circles

As our new Walney Road one way system moves ever nearer to its disastrous completion drivers are biting their fingernails in dread of the coming chaos. But when this monumental waste of time and £2.5m in cash is finally completed what can we look forward to next on Barrow's roads. Surely the planners and well padded committee members from the grim and distant far north of the county must have some other fiendish road delay schemes in the pipeline. But of course we won't have to worry about that because just as in the past we won't be consulted or asked about how our taxes are spent on our behalf. Perhaps it's all part of some devilish plan to divert us into driving round in circles whilst they get on with taking all the government funding and the best jobs for the top part of the county. But I would say that instead of dreaming up ever more silly road “improvement" schemes that a look should be taken at some of our older one way systems. For instance we have a one way system on Barrow Island which was designed many, many years ago to prevent the streets being used as rat runs by the hordes of workers leaving the nearby shipyard gates. But the lords and masters up in Carlisle won't be aware that this, as any local will tell you is now just a dim and distant memory. Most of the nearby shipyard gates are long sealed and pedestrian only, and the dwindled workforce is now based away from the island at the Devonshire Dock Hall. So how much longer should we have to suffer driving round in silly little circles causing needless pollution and wasting expensive fuel. Let’s have a comprehensive review of our older traffic systems before we adopt any more madcap schemes, after all times and traffic have changed eh!

The Uno

It looks like a motorcycle that has been in a nasty accident, but the inventor of this electric bike believes it is the answer to urban traffic chaos and pollution.
Although it resembles a unicycle, the Uno has two wheels side by side and uses gyroscopic technology to stay upright. Check out the full story here.

Halloween weekend chaos

Tonight started out as a very busy night and continued that way well into the early hours. The difference being is that after 11pm you deal with a different class of human being. so tonight I witnessed the following:

• Numerous fights all over the town usually by young sad pathetic knob rotting low life scum of the earth chavs who have half a pint of luke warm lager and think they can take on the world.

• At least 4 cars driving with a combination of no lights, swearing all over the road, driving at 10mph in a 30 zone and one of them coming down a one way street the wrong way with no lights on at all.

• A police car that pulled out in front of me giving no indication at all and then he proceeded to raise his hand whilst in his vehicle as to say STOP and this was after he pulled out on me and did a U turn.

• Loads of drunk people that can't seem to grasp the context of road safety and just walk out in front of you regardless of what's coming towards them

• I also saw the aftermath of 3 accidents, cars with windows smashed, no front wheel and no front end

• Another Police vehicle that had driven down a pedestrianised area (Dalton Road) and failed to stop at the Jcn of Buccleuch street as I was driving past and if I hadn't had slammed the brakes on he would have gone straight into the side of me.

Thats quite a lot for one night but I get the impression that the Police should certainly abide by the rules of the road if the rest of us have to and there was no sirens or blue lights illuminated so it doesn't give them any more right than a normal driver.

I know the Police are overstretched as they couldn't be everywhere and with so much going on in the town I expect there would have been more incidents as the night progresses

Why cant people learn that its not big and its not clever to drink and drive or to start fighting and acting like idiots under the influence of drink. They should be able to go out and enjoy themselves, know their limit and go home safely.

No wonder a lot of people who are sensible don't like going into town at night and from a Taxi Drivers point of view we are the ones doing the job of the police by getting them off the streets and taking them home. That's if they remember where they live or have the means to pay the fare,.