A week ago I joined the roundabout travelling westbound on the A303. A fast-moving police 4x4 joined from the northbound A360, turning west onto the A303. For some reason, he drifted way over to the left - too far left to use the right hand of the two A303 exit lanes, then discovered that he was undertaking a car that was in the correct exit lane and almost rear-ending the car ahead of him. If Wiltshire's Finest can't handle Longbarrow Roundabout...???????
Yesterday evening, those dangers got very personal and very real. My wife was involved in a nasty little accident when a car travelling at high-speed westbound on the A303, left that road and collided with two stationary cars waiting to join the A303 from the northbound A360
This is how it unfolded. My wife was travelling north on the A360 and had stopped in the left-hand lane at Longbarrow Roundabout, handbrake on and well behind the white dotted line, waiting for a gap in the traffic so she could pull out, turn left and head down the A303 to Winterbourne Stoke and home.
A silver Skoda estate was also waiting to pull out onto the roundabout in the lane to her right; presumably to either turn right towards Andover or to head up towards Airman's Cross. Again, as with my wife, he was well behind the white line.
It was at this point that a young chap in a 2012-registered VW Golf careened on to Longbarrow Roundabout from the A303, travelling westwards from Andover and seemingly intent on carrying on along the A303 westwards. Whether through poor roundabout design, excessive speed, piss-poor driving or a combination of all three, the westbound driver lost control of his car, which left the A303 and struck the central reservation of the A360. It bounced over the central reservation and hit the Skoda in the drivers door.
The impact was so great that the Skoda spun round through 90 degrees and its nose struck the Yaris, being driven by my wife, just behind the drivers door. A few inches further forward and it could have been so much worse. The cause of the accident bounced back into the centre of the three westbound lanes, causing chaos on the westbound carriageway at the height of the evening rush hour.
My wife did the obvious thing and called Wiltshire Police whilst still trapped in the car - as was the Skoda driver. Let me be charitable, whoever took the call was a complete waste of space. When my wife said she wasn't obviously injured, the person to whom she was speaking said the police weren't interested and didn't need to be informed. That might strictly be the case, but anyone who suggests that emergency services aren't needed to deal with a multi-vehicle smash, on a major trunk road, blocking a roundabout at an accident blackspot, after dusk, is seriously in need of a trip to the job centre to find an occupation more befitting someone of their limited mental capacity.
COMMENT: It seems that it is Wiltshire Police Policy to not get involved in "non-injury" accidents. I have to say that relying on crash victims, who may be in shock, who may have underlying medical complaints like heart conditions, or who may feel themselves to be in reasonable condition but to have life threatening injuries, to decide if they, or other accident victims have been injured is crass in the extreme.
My wife and the Skoda driver managed to get out of their vehicles on the passengers side. Battered, a bit bruised perhaps and, in my wife's case, with a nasty friction burn from the seat-belt across her throat, but thankfully no major injuries.
Eventually, wiser council prevailed and all three emergency services attended the scene. My wife was checked over by a passing hospital consultant, a paramedic and an ambulance was also called up. The Fire Brigade were also needed to check for fuel spills, but also to check the cars to see if the air-bags were in danger of functioning spontaneously - odd things sometimes happen to them in side impacts. They told my wife her car was unsafe to drive. Finally Wiltshire Police turned up and established the chain of events; if not the absolute cause. Thanks though to the policeman who brought my wife home - it made up for the nonsense in the control room!
...at least it didn't get rammed through the drivers door. It's not clear whether this is repairable or not. The consensus last night was that it was likely to be a total loss given the age of the car, location of the damage, etc. But it would be nice if it was repairable - we really don't want to have to buy another car this month! Still, at the end of the day it is only metal.
But, I end with a question. How many more completely avoidable accidents must there be before the Highways Agency get of their idle backsides and get this junction sorted out? Even if the go-ahead is given to dual the A303 past Stonehenge tomorrow, we are going to have to deal with this mess at Longbarrow Roundabout for a further 6 -10 years.
As a STAG member observed last night: "A campaigning journalist could have a field day with what's gone on here. " Not only what went on yesterday evening, but what goes on nearly every day of the week at Longbarrow Roundabout. I really don't want to be writing about a fatality there in a day, a week, a month or a year's time with bugger-all having been done.
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