Educating the media

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orudge
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Re: Educating the media

Post by orudge »

Enceladus wrote: Mon Aug 23, 2021 12:00 In Ireland, it's common for the media - local papers in particular - to refer to new sections of DC as "motorway," mix up "N" and "M" road designations (very common!), exaggerate the potential effects of proposed new road schemes (thus engendering NMMBYism) whilst praising the new roads that are delivered as a "godsend," "boon" and "lifeline" to bypassed towns and villages.
I remember some years ago the Daily Post (North Wales) complaining about the plans for the "monstrous seven lane superhighway" (or words to that effect) proposed for the A494, and how hard shoulders would be quite unnecessary and so on, then not so long later, campaigning for the A55 further along in North Wales to be upgraded to 3 lanes with hard shoulders. :roll:
JRN
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Re: Educating the media

Post by JRN »

For some reason the terminology of single-carriageway and dual-carriageway confuses a lot of people, even those who grew up in this country and hold driving licences.
It's tempting to blame individuals, or the media.
Still I can't help but notice that the equivalent US terms undivided and divided highway are more widely understood.
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RichardA35
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Re: Educating the media

Post by RichardA35 »

JRN wrote: Tue Aug 24, 2021 23:08 For some reason the terminology of single-carriageway and dual-carriageway confuses a lot of people, even those who grew up in this country and hold driving licences.
It's tempting to blame individuals, or the media.
Still I can't help but notice that the equivalent US terms undivided and divided highway are more widely understood.
Not in the UK I would suggest - that's the first time I have seen those terms.
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the cheesecake man
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Re: Educating the media

Post by the cheesecake man »

JRN wrote: Tue Aug 24, 2021 23:08 For some reason the terminology of single-carriageway and dual-carriageway confuses a lot of people, even those who grew up in this country and hold driving licences.
It's tempting to blame individuals, or the media.
Still I can't help but notice that the equivalent US terms undivided and divided highway are more widely understood.
That's exactly what the tutors on a speed awareness course said. Their theory was that dual makes everyone think two and lanes are the most obvious thing there might be two of. And of course there nearly always are two lanes so the evidence seems to support the idea...
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Mark Hewitt
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Re: Educating the media

Post by Mark Hewitt »

the cheesecake man wrote:
JRN wrote: Tue Aug 24, 2021 23:08 For some reason the terminology of single-carriageway and dual-carriageway confuses a lot of people, even those who grew up in this country and hold driving licences.
It's tempting to blame individuals, or the media.
Still I can't help but notice that the equivalent US terms undivided and divided highway are more widely understood.
That's exactly what the tutors on a speed awareness course said. Their theory was that dual makes everyone think two and lanes are the most obvious thing there might be two of. And of course there nearly always are two lanes so the evidence seems to support the idea...
Indeed D3 (or even D1) is rare. In fact the only one that occurs to me is the A14 around Cambridge. That's if you ignore the A1 around Gateshead/Newcastle which is DcontinuouslyVariable
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Re: Educating the media

Post by Chris5156 »

Mark Hewitt wrote: Wed Aug 25, 2021 20:34
the cheesecake man wrote:
JRN wrote: Tue Aug 24, 2021 23:08 For some reason the terminology of single-carriageway and dual-carriageway confuses a lot of people, even those who grew up in this country and hold driving licences.
It's tempting to blame individuals, or the media.
Still I can't help but notice that the equivalent US terms undivided and divided highway are more widely understood.
That's exactly what the tutors on a speed awareness course said. Their theory was that dual makes everyone think two and lanes are the most obvious thing there might be two of. And of course there nearly always are two lanes so the evidence seems to support the idea...
Indeed D3 (or even D1) is rare. In fact the only one that occurs to me is the A14 around Cambridge. That's if you ignore the A1 around Gateshead/Newcastle which is DcontinuouslyVariable
It's more common in urban areas. Plus there are roads like the M1 which are dual carriageway throughout but not two lanes wide.
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Re: Educating the media

Post by BOH »

Mark Hewitt wrote: Wed Aug 25, 2021 20:34
the cheesecake man wrote:
JRN wrote: Tue Aug 24, 2021 23:08 For some reason the terminology of single-carriageway and dual-carriageway confuses a lot of people, even those who grew up in this country and hold driving licences.
It's tempting to blame individuals, or the media.
Still I can't help but notice that the equivalent US terms undivided and divided highway are more widely understood.
That's exactly what the tutors on a speed awareness course said. Their theory was that dual makes everyone think two and lanes are the most obvious thing there might be two of. And of course there nearly always are two lanes so the evidence seems to support the idea...
Indeed D3 (or even D1) is rare. In fact the only one that occurs to me is the A14 around Cambridge. That's if you ignore the A1 around Gateshead/Newcastle which is DcontinuouslyVariable
A14 Newmarket Bypass is 3 lane. So is the A3 Guildford to Tolworth
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solocle
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Re: Educating the media

Post by solocle »

Chris5156 wrote: Wed Aug 25, 2021 21:41
Mark Hewitt wrote: Wed Aug 25, 2021 20:34
the cheesecake man wrote:
That's exactly what the tutors on a speed awareness course said. Their theory was that dual makes everyone think two and lanes are the most obvious thing there might be two of. And of course there nearly always are two lanes so the evidence seems to support the idea...
Indeed D3 (or even D1) is rare. In fact the only one that occurs to me is the A14 around Cambridge. That's if you ignore the A1 around Gateshead/Newcastle which is DcontinuouslyVariable
It's more common in urban areas. Plus there are roads like the M1 which are dual carriageway throughout but not two lanes wide.
Yeah, but that just contributes to the myth that 3+ lanes = motorway.
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Re: Educating the media

Post by KeithW »

Mark Hewitt wrote: Wed Aug 25, 2021 20:34 Indeed D3 (or even D1) is rare. In fact the only one that occurs to me is the A14 around Cambridge. That's if you ignore the A1 around Gateshead/Newcastle which is DcontinuouslyVariable
The A19 between Norton and Wynard is being upgraded to D3 right now and is expected to open this Autumn. Next in the pipeline is the upgrading of the A19 Tees Flyover to D3 and the building of the third Tees Crossing.
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Re: Educating the media

Post by Gareth Thomas »

Runwell wrote: Mon Aug 23, 2021 01:05 It's a Reach plc publication, so I wouldn't expect them to have researched it. Most of the journalists probably weren't born until at least a decade after the whole thing finally opened.

This just looks like one of their cheap little clickbait articles they like to regurgitate every few months, dressed up as 'new' content. A sad stain on what were once decent local publications.
I occasionally look at their Kent news website and articles from months ago are still featured prominently on the main page. KentLive have only just stopped featuring an article about why their reporter had to leave Primark in Bluewater as it was so busy - when the shops had reopened. In April.

Sigh.

One thing I would like the media to learn is that the Dartford Crossing is not the M25! It annoys me whenever I hear traffic reports such as "queues on the M25 at Junction 1a" - nope, it's the A282! Although I know they use "M25" as most people would recognise that over "some random A road".
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Re: Educating the media

Post by Micro The Maniac »

Mark Hewitt wrote: Wed Aug 25, 2021 20:34 Indeed D3 (or even D1) is rare. In fact the only one that occurs to me is the A14 around Cambridge. That's if you ignore the A1 around Gateshead/Newcastle which is DcontinuouslyVariable
There are a few about... including
  • The A3 is D3 from Guildford to Kingston (some parts even D3HS) and some is to become D4 as part of the M25/J10 modification
  • The A316 is D3 for a mile or so before it becomes the M3
  • etc
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Re: Educating the media

Post by c2R »

Bit of a plug for Steven in this week's Hertfordshire Mercury: https://www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk/ ... m1-4554612
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Re: Educating the media

Post by Micro The Maniac »

c2R wrote: Mon Sep 13, 2021 13:20 Bit of a plug for Steven in this week's Hertfordshire Mercury: https://www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk/ ... m1-4554612
At least one person from the Hertfordshire Mercury has followed up my comment on the original post then :-)
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Re: Educating the media

Post by haymansafc »

orudge wrote: Mon Aug 23, 2021 13:10 I remember some years ago the Daily Post (North Wales) complaining about the plans for the "monstrous seven lane superhighway" (or words to that effect) proposed for the A494, and how hard shoulders would be quite unnecessary and so on, then not so long later, campaigning for the A55 further along in North Wales to be upgraded to 3 lanes with hard shoulders. :roll:
I remember that one... I'm fairly sure another local online source (possibly deeside.com if memory serves me correctly) ran the same or similar story, where typically the reporter/editor was only willing to tell one side of the story - and even then it was factually inaccurate. I'm sure I did see the term 'motorway' used also. How adding a lane to each carriageway, plus hard shoulder, could make it a 'superhighway' as it was described is anyone's guess. All that was planned was upgrading it to make the A494 the same as it was immediately to the east, at Deeside Industrial Estate. I don't recall that ever being described as a 'superhighway' at the time that was upgraded. A sad sign of the times, I suppose...
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Re: Educating the media

Post by booshank »

the cheesecake man wrote: Wed Aug 25, 2021 20:17
JRN wrote: Tue Aug 24, 2021 23:08 For some reason the terminology of single-carriageway and dual-carriageway confuses a lot of people, even those who grew up in this country and hold driving licences.
It's tempting to blame individuals, or the media.
Still I can't help but notice that the equivalent US terms undivided and divided highway are more widely understood.
That's exactly what the tutors on a speed awareness course said. Their theory was that dual makes everyone think two and lanes are the most obvious thing there might be two of. And of course there nearly always are two lanes so the evidence seems to support the idea...
The term "carriageway" seems to be dropping out of use in the media, especially in traffic reports, which may reflect the confusion over what it means. Possibly reports dropping it because they think it will confuse listeners. Or maybe they themselves are confused. Instead they usually refer to "side" eg "two lanes closed on the M1 southbound side".
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Re: Educating the media

Post by Peter350 »

Now Sussex Live are at it…

https://www.sussexlive.co.uk/news/susse ... n=sharebar

I repeat again, you do NOT need a motorway to run parallel to the A24 for it to be called M24
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Re: Educating the media

Post by trickstat »

Peter350 wrote: Fri Dec 10, 2021 15:26 Now Sussex Live are at it…

https://www.sussexlive.co.uk/news/susse ... n=sharebar

I repeat again, you do NOT need a motorway to run parallel to the A24 for it to be called M24
A bit of a West Sussex bias there - what about the M21 to Hastings and the M22 to Eastbourne? :roll:
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