Escape Lanes on A35 between Axminster and Bridport

[multiraider2]

We've got a wiki article on them remember, which contains a list;

https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/ind ... scape_lane

Please add to it, if you know of another.

[RossNicol]

We've got a wiki article on them remember, which contains a list;

https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/ind ... scape_lane

Please add to it, if you know of another.

Just added the one on the A817 Haul Road as it descends to meet the A82 on Loch Lomond side.

From the state of it (very overgrown) I doubt it's usable at all!

[roadtester]

Escape lane from the westbound A66 at the Brough exit, Cumbria:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.52427 ... 312!8i6656

A bit half-hearted with just an offside wheel trap.

Plus the bizarre signs.

I noticed this one for the first time on the A66 today. Very odd - you have to turn off on the slip road and the escape lane is off the slip road. I’d have thought a runaway truck might have difficulty staying stable without tipping over or squashing a few cars negotiating that one on the way to the escape lane proper!

[Berk]

I’ve checked it out... there doesn’t seem to be a “proper” escape lane. It just seems to be an invitation to use the verge??

It looks like the verge would be up to the job, but even so, it just seems a bit wrong somehow??

[roadtester]

I’m not really sure - I was just going by the signage and what I could see from the A66 mainline at 70 mph.

[Herned]

Just added this [gmap]https://www.google.com/maps/@51.1237268 ... 312!8i6656[/gmap] one in Somerset to the list on the wiki. There can't be many escape lanes on unclassified roads!

[rhyds]

I’ve checked it out... there doesn’t seem to be a “proper” escape lane. It just seems to be an invitation to use the verge??

It looks like the verge would be up to the job, but even so, it just seems a bit wrong somehow??

That "verge" will be an arrestor bed and would slow down a truck reasonably well I bet.

[Bryn666]

Photos here:

https://twitter.com/ShowMeASignBryn/sta ... 48998?s=19

There is a small strip of gravel but you'd have to be damn good to line up with it in an emergency.

I wouldn't want to be waiting to turn right.

[roadtester]

I’ve checked it out... there doesn’t seem to be a “proper” escape lane. It just seems to be an invitation to use the verge??

It looks like the verge would be up to the job, but even so, it just seems a bit wrong somehow??

That "verge" will be an arrestor bed and would slow down a truck reasonably well I bet.

Yes - now had a chance for a closer look on GSV. While narrow, it does look like it is quite well maintained and has a decent amount of stopping ballast or whatever the correct term is.

On the other hand, I’d worry about the stability of a large, already out of control vehicle which is only getting the stopping power of the escape lane/verge on one side.

Also, how many panicky preoccupied drivers will have the presence of mind even to realise that the narrow bit of gravel or whatever at the side of the road is supposed to be the escape lane. I suspect most of them would go ploughing through the junction at the end of the slip road still wondering to themselves “where’s that escape lane then?”

[tompatt]

Added B3234 Lynmouth Hill

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.228776, ... 384!8i8192

[A320Driver]

This is how they do things in the USA:

Runaway truck ramp

[Berk]

I’ve checked it out... there doesn’t seem to be a “proper” escape lane. It just seems to be an invitation to use the verge??

It looks like the verge would be up to the job, but even so, it just seems a bit wrong somehow??

That "verge" will be an arrestor bed and would slow down a truck reasonably well I bet.

Yes - now had a chance for a closer look on GSV. While narrow, it does look like it is quite well maintained and has a decent amount of stopping ballast or whatever the correct term is.

On the other hand, I’d worry about the stability of a large, already out of control vehicle which is only getting the stopping power of the escape lane/verge on one side.

Also, how many panicky preoccupied drivers will have the presence of mind even to realise that the narrow bit of gravel or whatever at the side of the road is supposed to be the escape lane. I suspect most of them would go ploughing through the junction at the end of the slip road still wondering to themselves “where’s that escape lane then?”

Crashing into whatever happens to be passing at the same time...

[J N Winkler]

Photos here:

https://twitter.com/ShowMeASignBryn/sta ... 48998?s=19

There is a small strip of gravel but you'd have to be damn good to line up with it in an emergency.

I wouldn't want to be waiting to turn right.

I would not want to be waiting to turn left either--I would expect a high likelihood that the one-sided deceleration would result in a fully loaded lorry tipping over to the left and flattening vehicles in the left lane.

This is how they do things in the USA:

Runaway truck ramp

The latest tech is based on the arrestor nets used on aircraft carriers.

US 44 near Avon Mountain, Connecticut

SR 431 approaching SR 28 near Incline Village, Nevada

The SR 431 ramp was installed after an incident where a truck driver who had to use the old ramp (which had a traditional pea gravel arrestor bed) died when his load shifted, crushing him.

Traditionally, runaway truck ramps have been sited on rising grades, but Oregon DOT successfully pioneered ramps on falling grades on I-5 at Siskiyou Pass in 1977. Colorado is, by several measures, the most mountainous of US states, but has just 12 runaway truck ramps statewide, one of which (located, if memory serves, on I-70 near Idaho Springs) sees more use than the other 11 combined.

I suspect the UK has far more escape lanes per driver than the US and this is largely the result of behavioral factors (low topographical relief = far less opportunity for passenger car drivers to practice hill descents relying on engine braking only) and the much higher modal share of road freight.

Have hill descent map signs been attempted anywhere in Britain?

[rhyds]

The US "tech" arrestor systems look very effective. My only concerns would be the cost of building such a lane (there seems to be a lot of concrete and engineering involved) as well as how quickly and easily the lane can be re-set after a truck has used it

[IanRB]

Photos here:

https://twitter.com/ShowMeASignBryn/sta ... 48998?s=19

There is a small strip of gravel but you'd have to be damn good to line up with it in an emergency.

I wouldn't want to be waiting to turn right.

I would not want to be waiting to turn left either--I would expect a high likelihood that the one-sided deceleration would result in a fully loaded lorry tipping over to the left and flattening vehicles in the left lane.

This is how they do things in the USA:

Runaway truck ramp

The latest tech is based on the arrestor nets used on aircraft carriers.

US 44 near Avon Mountain, Connecticut

SR 431 approaching SR 28 near Incline Village, Nevada

The SR 431 ramp was installed after an incident where a truck driver who had to use the old ramp (which had a traditional pea gravel arrestor bed) died when his load shifted, crushing him.

Traditionally, runaway truck ramps have been sited on rising grades, but Oregon DOT successfully pioneered ramps on falling grades on I-5 at Siskiyou Pass in 1977. Colorado is, by several measures, the most mountainous of US states, but has just 12 runaway truck ramps statewide, one of which (located, if memory serves, on I-70 near Idaho Springs) sees more use than the other 11 combined.

I suspect the UK has far more escape lanes per driver than the US and this is largely the result of behavioral factors (low topographical relief = far less opportunity for passenger car drivers to practice hill descents relying on engine braking only) and the much higher modal share of road freight.

Have hill descent map signs been attempted anywhere in Britain?

Here's a picture of one of those arrestor systems in use.

[J N Winkler]

The US "tech" arrestor systems look very effective. My only concerns would be the cost of building such a lane (there seems to be a lot of concrete and engineering involved) as well as how quickly and easily the lane can be re-set after a truck has used it

The SR 431 ramp cost about $4 million. I don't have cost data for ramps with pea gravel arrestor beds, but suspect they are much cheaper. There are, however, some factors which tend to offset the disparity in first cost. Netting improves the ability to stop an errant vehicle before it runs into the end of the bed or launches into whatever is beyond, both of which happened with the old SR 431 ramp (killing the driver in both cases, and destroying a house in the latter). A paved deck also creates the ability to provide underfloor heating so the ramp remains effective in icy conditions (both SR 431 and US 44 have it). Pea gravel is not maintenance-free--it loses its stopping power when silt fills up the voids between the stones; Colorado DOT has had problems with runaway vehicles overrunning arrestor beds for this reason.

Here's a picture of one of those arrestor systems in use.

(Attachment snip)

This is the Thibeault Hill runaway truck ramp on southbound Hwy. 11 headed into North Bay, Ontario. Its test in 2009 (source, I think, of the still you posted) has become Internet-famous (complete with YouTube video).