Now surprisingly enough, in the year 2010, in one of the foremost economies of the world, there is still a section of two lane road connecting one of this countries major cities, (Norwich) with the rest of the country.
It is simply quite absurd and is a damning indictment of the total waste of time the last 12 years of Labour government has actually been.
Apart from the economic cost for the East Anglian area, this section of road between Barton Mills and Thetford, is a health hazard for everyone who travels on it.
As if the large quantities of heavy truck traffic, mixed with a liberal smattering of under experienced drivers, using under powered, light weight cars to pull over sized caravans, and a level of road user frustration verging on manic, were not bad enough, the most serious danger is the amount of wildlife wandering across this road. And especially so at night.
I have been traveling the A11 during the early hours of the morning for the past ten or so days, and most nights I see deer on the side of the road either contemplating when to cross, or simply grazing beside the road.
The consequences of quite a large mammal coming into contact with a 40-44 tonne truck traveling at 40 mph, are horrible to contemplate. Yet it seems there is little in the way of preventative measures to reduce the risk.
Imagine a truck meeting one of these deer in the road. The resulting impact not only destroys the steering, but also the balance of the truck and it veers into the path of a fully loaded coach with 50 passengers. Imagine the headlines in the paper the next day?
Here, as the time honoured expression explains, is a disaster waiting to happen. The image on the left here is one of a moose that has been hit by a car in Canada. You can clearly see what has happened to the moose. Not quite as clear is what happened to the car driver and any passengers!
Touch wood, I have never had any sort of contact with wildlife whilst driving a truck, despite seeing some quite horrendous accidents in Australia.
The image of the moose that has traveled "through" the car that hit it is one that I've seen quite a lot with kangaroos. And remember, a fully grown red kangaroo buck will stand nearly seven feet tall and weigh in the region of 240Kgs, or put another way, a quarter of a ton of scared, hurt muscle and bone, trying to get out of your car, as you're struggling to bring it to a halt, after a collision at 50 mph.... assuming you're still alive to try and do that.
I pray it never happens to me, but it just might on the A11 heading north to Norwich. Tell me who I should sue?
