Closed
Unclear signs for A40(W) vs Barton exit
Reported in the Road Markings category anonymously at 16:48, Mon 25 February 2019
Sent to Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council 2 minutes later
I am a Barton resident and I use the Green Road Roundabout daily. In doing so I (green arrow) often risk being hit by other vehicles wanting to take the A40(W) exit coming from the middle lane (red arrow).
Based on the new road marking and signs, in order to exit at Bayswater and immediately turn onto North Way, cars ought to be in the leftmost lane when waiting at the London Road lights (green arrow). Drivers who want to proceed straight in Bayswater could also stop in the middle lane, then find themselves in the rightmost lane at the Bayswater exit (red arrow).
Google Earth (in the satellite picture) still shows the old marking in which drivers in the middle lane (red arrow) are allowed to take the A40(W) exit.
I urge the council to: 1. make the markings clearer so drivers are less likely to make mistakes 2. enforce the traffic regulations so that violators can be educated
Council ref: ENQ19827567
Updates
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Thank you for your enquiry. This issue has been passed onto the relevant team for investigation.
State changed to: Investigating
Posted by Oxfordshire County Council at 16:50, Mon 25 February 2019
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Thank you for your report - during the planning application for Barton Park, transport modelling was undertaken to show the operation of Headington Roundabout before and after the Barton Park development is fully occupied. This showed that without the mitigation of changing the road markings the development would have a detrimental impact on the operation of the roundabout and the local highway network. There was also a high number of collisions on the roundabout in the 4 years leading up to the planning application.
The changes to the road markings were made to better utilise the lanes to improve movement towards London and into Barton. This has significantly helped the length of the queue on the A4142 Eastern Bypass for cars turning onto the A40 East towards London. In regard to movement into Barton, at this stage whilst the Barton Park development is still under construction it is not known the full extent of the impact the mitigation will have. It is not considered sensible to redo the markings when the reason they were changed has not yet been tested and therefore it is recommended from a planning perspective that the changes remain in place until the Barton Park development is fully occupied.
The changes to the road markings were completed at the end of October 2017. In September 2018 two lane board traffic signs were erected on the A4142 Eastern Bypass approach to the roundabout to improve lane discipline. Amendments to the destinations on these lane boards were made in June 2019 in an attempt to further improve the situation.
Interrogating the OCC / Thames Valley Police personal injury collision database there were five slight injury collisions on the west side of Headington Roundabout between when the road markings were changed in October 2017 and the end of December 2019 (our most recent data). During a similar 26 month period leading up to the road markings being changed there were one serious and seven slight injury collisions in the same area of the roundabout.
Notwithstanding the above, the council is aware of the on-going concerns to which you have referred and as such we continue to monitor the site. Further reviews of the roundabout operation will be undertaken as necessary.
State changed to: Investigation complete
Posted by Oxfordshire County Council at 07:51, Mon 23 March 2020
This report is now closed to updates from the public. You can make a new report in the same location.