21 April 2014

What is your most dangerous stretch of road in Canberra?

21 April 2014 | jasmine

Hi.
I am interested in people’s thoughts about the most dangerous stretch of road/s in Canberra. For me it is the Hindmarsh Drive section running from the hospital to the turn off to the tip on Mugga Way.

As a shift worker I drive this piece of road in complete darkness or dimly lit (depending on daylight saving) in the early hours and late at night. There are no street lights on this major road which liken it to a dodgem circuit in an attempt to avoid kangaroos. It is a rare week that goes by without seeing a dead carcass on the road.

A few street lights along this stretch of Hindmarsh Drive would make it easier to see into the distance what the lay of the land is given one cannot always have high-beam on with oncoming traffic.

What is your experience of Canberra roads and what could be done to reduce the hazards?

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jasmine5:53 pm 03 May 14

Hi ACT Government
Please take note of some of the comments as far as risky hot spots.

It would be great in the interests of open government and transparency to reveal your priority list (if not already done so). Cheers

Jhoe10:57 am 28 Apr 14

Kuringa Drive. For some odd reason in the 80 zone between the Barton and Owen Dixon drive, most people drive at 60. And then as soon as it changes to 70 they all speed up to 80. Maybe the ones who feel confident doing the speed limit are getting frustrated, making the road dangerous .

montana9:50 am 28 Apr 14

I find any roads in Charnwood to be the most dangerous. Always remember to lock your doors as you drive around that suburb.

miz8:45 pm 25 Apr 14

To me, ‘bad roads’ are the places I refuse to drive along in the dark. These are Johnston Drive Calwell, and Long Gully Road. Both very poorly lit and lots of roos.

And I know lots of people use and are familiar with William Hovell, but it is truly terrifying at night – poorly lit and with crazy people going hell for leather up one’s proverbial. Really gives me the willies.

Most of these problems would be easily fixed with improved lighting.

Alderney8:18 am 25 Apr 14

Monomyth said :

My problem with Hindmarsh is the average speed cameras. Instead of motorists slowing down to 60 when they pass a speed camera place at one interval, they now slow down to 60 when they pass by each of the three.

Two average speed cameras.

The one on Yamba is a red light/speed camera.

Yes, I know that’s four posts in a row on the one thread. I’ll just go now.

Alderney8:16 am 25 Apr 14

VYBerlinaV8_is_back said :

Hindmarsh drive dangerous? Some people need to get out of Canberra more. It’s wide and multi-laned, well maintained and subject to relatively low speed limits. Try driving to the coast at night by way of comparison.

If you don’t feel you can do 80km’s over the hill at night, then slow down a bit. Driving below the limit is fine, just stick to the left hand lane.

You sound like you might be the voice of reason.

You wont be back here long will you..

Alderney8:14 am 25 Apr 14

thatsnotme said :

It probably to some extent depends on how ‘dangerous’ is being measured.

This is accurately summed up in the responses to this thread.

Everyone thinks their stretch of road is the most dangerous, because to them, it is.

Governments have only statistics (crash/injuries/deaths) by which to measure their ‘priority lists’.

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

Fancy having a different view than any of the constituents. Who’d be in government ay.

Alderney8:09 am 25 Apr 14

bundah said :

Yes from memory there were 5 St Eddies boys in the car which was being driven by the son of a Canberra cop who borrowed his fathers car. Apparently they were doing approx 160 km/h in the downhill stretch and as they were negotiating the left hand bend the driver mistook the govie ute, which was stopped just off the road, for an emergency vehicle and panicked losing control and sending the car sideways which then collided and rolled directly over the top of the ute seriously injuring the govie worker in the process.

So, nothing really to do with a ‘bad road’, and everything to do with atrocious driving.

bundah11:11 pm 23 Apr 14

Myles Peterson said :

KB1971 said :

bigred said :

Myles Peterson said :

“…one being three school students losing control at high speed…”

Hah! I was in that car. We were coming from Narrabundah College to Swinger Hill, traveling fast (but not speeding) to catch the lights. Then this pr$%k slowly turns left into our lane…

Driver locked up the car trying not to kill this guy. Our car skidded around the offending car, smashed the barrier and bounced back across three lanes of traffic to land in the medium strip. Was a total rightoff and the bonnet ended up staring me and the driver in the face. Back-seat passenger wasn’t wearing his seatbelt and got thrown around, but was relatively OK. We all came off with a few bumps and bruises.

And the pr$%k who caused it tried to drive off! Anyhoo, got a lovely bass guitar and new gaming PC with the compo. Thanks for the memory jog.

You have described the wrong crash!

Hehehe, I was going to ask if he was posting from the afterlife……

Ahhh, now I feel like poo for getting the event wrong. Other was tragic. Apologies.

Yes from memory there were 5 St Eddies boys in the car which was being driven by the son of a Canberra cop who borrowed his fathers car. Apparently they were doing approx 160 km/h in the downhill stretch and as they were negotiating the left hand bend the driver mistook the govie ute, which was stopped just off the road, for an emergency vehicle and panicked losing control and sending the car sideways which then collided and rolled directly over the top of the ute seriously injuring the govie worker in the process.

jgsma10:50 pm 23 Apr 14

The dangers on many roads seem to be caused by appalling road design. Some of these are ok for those who are familiar with particular areas but not very easy for the rest of us.

Some examples:
So many roundabouts with two lanes on the roundabout but “Form One Lane” as you exit the roundabout (there always seems to be some hoon trying to pass you on the roundabout) – Pialligo Ave near the airport and Gundaroo Drive are prime examples;

Junctions with so many signs that you cannot possibly take notice of all of them (eg outside Radford College, and the Belconnnen Way/Tuggers P’way intersection;

Three lane roads which tell you to “Form Two Lanes” but give no indication of which lane will be disappearing;

Old and obsolete road markings which are still visible in wet conditions or at dusk, and traffic control measures which are only by markings on the road which are not easily seen and are sometimes completely ignored;

Ridiculous road changes where the road looks as though it continues normally but the painted lines change the configuration of traffic flow, eg Southern Cross Drive lane marking which goes from three to two lanes and back to three for no apparent reason etc;

Bike lanes which suddenly appear or disappear – on Mouat St heading toward Dickson there is a sign which tells cyclists that the bike lane has ended but no modification to the kerb so I suppose a rider is expected to ‘jump’ over the kerb to reach the footpath.

I could go on…………….

I know most RiotAct-ers are youthful hotshots but there are some of us who venture to areas we don’t know or even occasionally find that there is such an overload of stimulation when driving that it’s really difficult to attend to everything – poor road planning just adds to road dangers.

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