So who thought it was a bright idea? 4 crashes this week. Mainly in wet conditions with standing water. A three car pile up early this morning. A four car pile up tonight. And a five car pile up yesterday. Along with other delays every day this week for bumps including last night.

Speed kills....and IMO drivers round these parts are all in a Hurry .....but for what I don't know.

Too many folk taking out of the pot, and not putting anything in.
Easy cash saver for the council, even though it puts strain, and probably costs more for other services to tidy up.

MACCA wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 13, 2019 7:48 pm

Too many folk taking out of the pot, and not putting anything in.
Easy cash saver for the council, even though it puts strain, and probably costs more for other services to tidy up.

colne roads well Lit?

All down to bad driving. Too fast. Too close to the car in front. All cars have headlights. Cars in front have tail and brake lights. 2 second gap in the dry. 4 seconds in the wet. And you would have significantly fewer collisions.

tim_noone wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 13, 2019 7:52 pm

colne roads well Lit?

So is my cul-de-sac

Don't know about anybody else but if I'm driving along a road with less than adequate lighting then I slow down. "Only drive on what you can see" as was taught to me

Herts Clarets wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 13, 2019 8:00 pm

All down to bad driving. Too fast. Too close to the car in front. All cars have headlights. Cars in front have tail and brake lights. 2 second gap in the dry. 4 seconds in the wet. And you would have significantly fewer collisions.

I understand what you mean, drivers should just slow down when it's chucking it down and dark BUT since the new concrete centres have been installed there is a lot of standing water in the outside lanes and, without the lights, it does make it difficult to see. I think this has been a huge factor to the increase in accidents. People who don't know the motorway (well) think it's safe to keep at 70 then, suddenly, hit the water. The lack of lights has definitely increased the possibility of accidents and it's down to trying to save money by the government.

People should know better than drive with no lights on dark rainy nights

MACCA wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 13, 2019 8:04 pm

So is my cul-de-sac

To much information.

Bosscat wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 13, 2019 8:15 pm

People should know better than drive with no lights on dark rainy nights

I think you're misinterpreting. People aren't driving without headlights, but they're driving on a motorway which doesn't have street lights. and obviously huge patches of standing water can barely be seen with headlights because they are black water on black tarmac; if you have street lights, you can see the reflection of the puddle so you get more warning.

The M65 is a busy motorway with no lights and with too little drainage. Lethal in bad weather; and it's all very well to say drive at 20 mph on the M65 because you don't know where the puddles are, but that road shouldn't be so bad as to need it. If a motorway is only fit for 20 mph, then at least put speed limit signs up.

The queue off at Nelson hasn't been fixed either. There was a line of traffic half a mile backed onto the motorway on Thursday.

Torrential rain, poor visibility, standing water and yet the idiots still want to drive at 80mph+ . In said conditions on Tuesday heading towards Colne I had one guy tailgating me when I was driving at 50mph for obvious reasons. He then overtook me and pulled back in front taking away my stopping distance and exited about 100yards later at Barrowford junction. Moron.

I was stuck again in the jam due to the crash and lack of lights is a factor plus the tail back due to the work at the network 65 junction but there are some absolute idiots driving these days, there really needs to be more rigorous speed limit enforcements.

Herts Clarets wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 13, 2019 8:00 pm

All down to bad driving. Too fast. Too close to the car in front. All cars have headlights. Cars in front have tail and brake lights. 2 second gap in the dry. 4 seconds in the wet. And you would have significantly fewer collisions.

Also the drainage on the M65 at the Colne end is ridiculous,a lot of rain and it Floods.. Needs sorting out fast before someone is killed..

cricketfieldclarets wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 13, 2019 7:44 pm

So who thought it was a bright idea? 4 crashes this week. Mainly in wet conditions with standing water. A three car pile up early this morning. A four car pile up tonight. And a five car pile up yesterday. Along with other delays every day this week for bumps including last night.

Conservative cuts mate.

Apparently we cant afford to light the M65 at night. Austerity or something.

Luckily for us Boris will switch the lights back on now Burnley has voted tory.

Need them noon these conditions. Seem to be turned off on a lot of motorway sections currently. I can’t see so I slow down. Every time I go the 65 some idiots that join at Nelson and drive like maniacs chasing and tailgating their friends in the car in front. They nearly always have blacked out windows.

CopacabanaClaret wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 13, 2019 10:25 pm

Conservative cuts mate.

Apparently we cant afford to light the M65 at night. Austerity or something.

Luckily for us Boris will switch the lights back on now Burnley has voted tory.

It wasn't to do with just saving money - if it had been, they would have just switched the lights off. What they actually did (and I think it was the Labour council, but I'm not 100%) was to dig up all the old street lights and replace them with a huge concrete crash barrier. It was deliberate plicy to take down the lights and replace them with a new and improved crash barrier, because they thought it would be safer.

The puddles, I presume, are just down to incompetence, not deliberate policy. But the lights being off is because they think it's safer that way.

dsr wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 13, 2019 8:40 pm

I think you're misinterpreting. People aren't driving without headlights, but they're driving on a motorway which doesn't have street lights. and obviously huge patches of standing water can barely be seen with headlights because they are black water on black tarmac; if you have street lights, you can see the reflection of the puddle so you get more warning.

The M65 is a busy motorway with no lights and with too little drainage. Lethal in bad weather; and it's all very well to say drive at 20 mph on the M65 because you don't know where the puddles are, but that road shouldn't be so bad as to need it. If a motorway is only fit for 20 mph, then at least put speed limit signs up.

The queue off at Nelson hasn't been fixed either. There was a line of traffic half a mile backed onto the motorway on Thursday.

Twasn't meant to be take seriously ffs

Don't disagree on the point of tailgaters and aggressive drivers. But that is a separate issue.

This is interesting as someone above has said that the M65 is a busy motorway. Genuine question but how do you judge that? The reason I ask is that when I travel up to Burnley/Padiham I always think that it is reasonably quiet on the M65 and used to comment that the stretch of A3 from Guildford up to Wandsworth is wider and much busier. The M3 from Fleet is also much busier in whichever direction you choose to travel.

I saw a horrible crash on my way up to Scotland on Tuesday, car went straight up the embankment and hit a tree side on, the water on the road was literally ankle deep and my car slowed down to about 20mph on its own. Knocked me sick but it was that dangerous there was no way I was stopping 200m up the road and walking back. Still wish I had though

Whilst it is poor that the lights aren't on, and that it floods all to easily, one thing stays the same.... "Only a c*nt hits the car in front".

When it rains A huge pool of rainwater forms just as you drive down onto the motorway at Gannow top heading toward Accrington. In the dark even with headlights on you cannot see it until it’s too late. The pool is huge, swamping the kerbside lane making some drivers swerve out or plough through it. It’s been like that for years. Lights wouldn’t cure it but at least you would see it. A crazy idea to take the lights off here.

dsr wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 13, 2019 11:30 pm

It wasn't to do with just saving money - if it had been, they would have just switched the lights off. What they actually did (and I think it was the Labour council, but I'm not 100%) was to dig up all the old street lights and replace them with a huge concrete crash barrier. It was deliberate plicy to take down the lights and replace them with a new and improved crash barrier, because they thought it would be safer.

The puddles, I presume, are just down to incompetence, not deliberate policy. But the lights being off is because they think it's safer that way.

Switching off the lights to save money is exactly what they did in 2011. Tories cut the budget and the council had to save money.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-l ... e-14731829

They weren't removed until 2015.

Corky wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 14, 2019 7:44 am

This is interesting as someone above has said that the M65 is a busy motorway. Genuine question but how do you judge that? The reason I ask is that when I travel up to Burnley/Padiham I always think that it is reasonably quiet on the M65 and used to comment that the stretch of A3 from Guildford up to Wandsworth is wider and much busier. The M3 from Fleet is also much busier in whichever direction you choose to travel.

AADT stats. Average Annual daily Traffic.

M65 has around 55,000 vehicles a day around Gannow.

A3 has about 90,000 in Surrey.

Roadtrafficstats.uk

Totally agree with the safety advice posted on here, but surely cricketfieldsclaret makes a good point regarding the rationing of motorway lighting. The M66 also has the lights switched off from just beyond Heap Bridge to Edenfield and driving just seems so much more relaxed when the lighting is restored. Just a thought, the roads are lit by LED's and these consume approx 10% of the former halogen lighting and even less when compared to the old sodium vapour road lighting. I would,willingly, pay an extra £10 a year to keep the lights on.

Definitely. And it can be draining mentally too. You have to focus / squint so much more. As well as factoring in other peoples driving. You can drive as carefuly and sensibly as you want but you cant control other dickheads that dont drive to conditions or their or the cars ability, undertaking, driving on phones, tailgating etc. Ive seen it all this week and do every week.

Labour should tackle this in the next manifesto - a free chauffeur for everyone- road safety and unemployment, 2 for the price of one!!

This has just been shared on my TL

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/ ... ey?bucket=

Get used to it. There'll be no lights on anywhere in England in a couple of years time, unless the Chinese can be persuaded to provide energy for free ...

I hate the M65 and will attempt to make any trips on it during the day.

My biggest worry with driving is the LED lights, not just the ones on the vehicles, but the main lighting for roads in general.
The headlights are akin to people driving with full beam on, and the streetlights give off so little light I struggle to walk the dog in the evenings. They're like points of light in the sky. And maybe it's just me, but the light they give off make lines on the road much more difficult to see, they just seem to blur the road in front of me, especially in wet weather.
I'm considering giving up driving tbh, it terrifies me at times.

wilks_bfc wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 14, 2019 9:57 am

This has just been shared on my TL

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/ ... ey?bucket=

Interesting....But cars still need to slow down accordingly.

Herts Clarets wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 13, 2019 8:00 pm

All down to bad driving. Too fast. Too close to the car in front. All cars have headlights. Cars in front have tail and brake lights. 2 second gap in the dry. 4 seconds in the wet. And you would have significantly fewer collisions.

Sound thinking herts, but alas no political agenda, so your argument, as reasoned and sensible as it is, will fall on deaf ears.

CopacabanaClaret wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 13, 2019 10:25 pm

Conservative cuts mate.

Apparently we cant afford to light the M65 at night. Austerity or something.

Luckily for us Boris will switch the lights back on now Burnley has voted tory.

Why did we need cuts?

Pop your head back in the sand.... hopefully, next time you pull it out, we will all be living in a socialist eutopia, where everything -including the internet- is free, and we are all enjoying a three day weekend.

Things need to be paid for, by other means than just borrowing. Fortunately, we now have a chance of getting our **** back together, and who knows, maybe the lights will come back on once we are well and truly back in the black. That wouldn’t have happened had things gone differently on Thursday...

Corky wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 14, 2019 7:44 am

This is interesting as someone above has said that the M65 is a busy motorway. Genuine question but how do you judge that? The reason I ask is that when I travel up to Burnley/Padiham I always think that it is reasonably quiet on the M65 and used to comment that the stretch of A3 from Guildford up to Wandsworth is wider and much busier. The M3 from Fleet is also much busier in whichever direction you choose to travel.

Purely by driving on it. It isn't busy all the time, and for all I know the average daily stats may say it isn't all that busy on average. But I promise you, when you are driving home at 5.30 on a weekday, it is busy. Busy enough that the fast lane is often below 70 mph even in good conditions, busy enough that the near side lane reasonably often comes to a complete standstill because the traffic leaving the motorway at Nelson has filled the slip road and is backed up onto the motorway.

I drive the M4 everyday and everyone drives fast
On the M65 people often pullout without indicators or checking if there's room to do so
They then drive off at 50 mph
The standard of driving in East Lancs is poor and its no surprise theres shunts
The lights need turning on asap

bobinho wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 14, 2019 7:51 pm

Why did we need cuts?

Pop your head back in the sand.... hopefully, next time you pull it out, we will all be living in a socialist eutopia, where everything -including the internet- is free, and we are all enjoying a three day weekend.

Things need to be paid for, by other means than just borrowing. Fortunately, we now have a chance of getting our **** back together, and who knows, maybe the lights will come back on once we are well and truly back in the black. That wouldn’t have happened had things gone differently on Thursday...

Ive think ive seen Tory bots on Twitter who have more independent thought than you. They've really got you good

Spellchecker. Or school. You choose... or consult twatter...

bobinho wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 14, 2019 7:51 pm

Why did we need cuts?

Pop your head back in the sand.... hopefully, next time you pull it out, we will all be living in a socialist eutopia, where everything -including the internet- is free, and we are all enjoying a three day weekend.

Things need to be paid for, by other means than just borrowing. Fortunately, we now have a chance of getting our **** back together, and who knows, maybe the lights will come back on once we are well and truly back in the black. That wouldn’t have happened had things gone differently on Thursday...

Why did we need cuts?

Good question. I have a view on that but I doubt you'll pay much attention to it. So instead here is a quote from your lord and saviour Boris Johnson in Spectator magazine a few weeks ago.

“I remember having conversations with colleagues in the government that came in in 2010 saying I thought austerity was just not the right way forward for the UK.”

There you have it. Although to be fair, while Cameron and Osborne were embarking on a vicious, targeted (yes targeted, do you think the street lights were switched off in Witney, Oxfordshire?) programme of cuts to council budgets, your man Boris Johnson was busy maxing out the credit card in London paying for replacements to bendy buses and Garden Bridges. Then again he was a pro European centrist back then so austerity wasnt his thing.

And if you expect this government to deal with the fallout from whichever type of brexit we end up having without borrowing any money I've got some magic beans to sell you.

Definitely been more accidents on the M65 since they turned the lights off and the Accrington road Road works is not helping the situation.
Perhaps we should ask the new Conservative MP for Burnley to look at this issue.

Lancashire Police are reporting of a man killed on the M65 westbound at 10:10pm on Sunday night.
https://www.lancs.live/news/lancashire- ... r-17425591

I'll back up most of what's been said on here. Yes it is down to drivers driving to the conditions rather than how good they 'think' they are as drivers (too many inflated egos in that respect) but I have commented for a while now that unlit motorways are a danger without a shadow of a doubt and local government should be held accountable for accidents - that might make them 'find the money' to light them again (I'm certain it would).

Zom Zom wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 14, 2019 11:42 am

I hate the M65 and will attempt to make any trips on it during the day.

My biggest worry with driving is the LED lights, not just the ones on the vehicles, but the main lighting for roads in general.
The headlights are akin to people driving with full beam on, and the streetlights give off so little light I struggle to walk the dog in the evenings. They're like points of light in the sky. And maybe it's just me, but the light they give off make lines on the road much more difficult to see, they just seem to blur the road in front of me, especially in wet weather.
I'm considering giving up driving tbh, it terrifies me at times.

Absolutely agree with this. LED lights are a bloody menace and should be outlawed, they are far too bright for oncoming drivers. How did they become legal in the first place. My son-in-law (who has them and we do have 'discussions' about them) says there are various levels and some are indeed illegal but I think that we should just get rid of the damn things. I don't care who may argue the benefits in one way or another they are absolutely a danger to oncoming traffic.

Incidentally I recently had a cataract operation (best thing I have ever had done) but just prior to that I had virtually given up driving at night because of these bloody things partially blinding me every time I encountered one. I'm perfect now and don't even wear glasses (except for reading and computer work) but I still believe LED's are not the way forward.

I seem to recall that the concrete barriers were put in place as this was regulatory when removing the motorway lighting . Saying the lights should be switched back on is not that simple as the lighting stanchions have been removed.

As motorists we pay a fortune into the treasury coffers , yet we are still driving around on roads that are unlit and in places only passable in a 4x4 due to the number of potholes and shambolic repairs to the carriageway. Couple that with poor, erratic driving by some people and it has made a once pleasurable pastime a real chore these days.

It is odd that as a relatively wealthy country we can't even afford to light or repair our more dangerous roads properly.

Woodleyclaret wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 14, 2019 9:33 pm

I drive the M4 everyday and everyone drives fast
On the M65 people often pullout without indicators or checking if there's room to do so
They then drive off at 50 mph
The standard of driving in East Lancs is poor and its no surprise theres shunts
The lights need turning on asap

The general standard of driving in the UK is very poor. I regularly travel to work on the M5 and M42. Sections of these routes are 4 lane. And yet people still cruise in the middle lane’s seemingly oblivious to the illuminated signs to stay left unless overtaking.

RE: the M65. I agree about the lights. It’s even more so dangerous when you’re entering unlit sections from a lit section, eyes take a while to adjust to the almost pitch black.

Why can’t every other light be switched on? In addition to LED lighting?

And road drainage is another area which only receives attention when it’s too late. There should be no excuse for pooling water on any motorway, absolutely none.

Engineers should be in charge of these sorts of decisions

Something that I only found out last week is that Lancashire County Council only maintains J10-J14
The rest is by Highways England

A question to Clarets fans living beyond the M65.
Are the motorway lights turned off in your area?

There are no excuses for roads flooding. Bad planning and workmanship.
All roads should have a slant/run off for surface water and drains big enough to accept it.

mikeS wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 16, 2019 10:42 am

A question to Clarets fans living beyond the M65.
Are the motorway lights turned off in your area?

I was on the M6 yesterday afternoon and all the lights were switched off