Closed
Headington Rounderbout markings causing danger
Reported in the Road Markings category anonymously at 12:55, Fri 15 November 2019
Sent to Oxfordshire County Council 5 minutes later
Approaching the Headington roundabout from the A4142 Eastern Bypass, traffic to Barton is signed to go in to the left hand lane which then takes you to Barton via the gyratory without changing lane. However, cars from other entries to the gyratory need to cross over this lane in order to exit onto the A40 westbound. This means a high volume of cars needing to cross this lane, many of which may be in the "incorrect" lane to do so.
Since refurbishment, the roundabout appears to have additional "guide" markings for these drivers, showing where cars might change lane if they indicate to do so in the usual way. Due to the poor state of many road markings nationally, many drivers see these intermittent guide markings as being the actual road markings (they assume the broken line is just wear) and end up cutting across the lane to Barton without realising they do not have priority. This is particularly the case in poor weather when the main markings might have additional visibility issues.
Today I was hit on the roundabout by one such driver who luckily was a friendly chap and we realised what appeared to have happened. As a driver heading to Barton, there now appears to be no safe way to negotiate this roundabout without this risk, as it is impossible to indicate intentions as to do so would imply changing lanes. In addition, drivers heading to the A40 westbound exit appear to have an expectation that cars in the left hand lane will turn left, even if they are in lane and not indicating to do so. The confusing guide markings on the road therefore take these vehicles directly into a collision path.
It would appear therefore that these additional guide markings are causing a s
Council ref: ENQ19847784
Updates
-
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 13:00, Fri 15 November 2019
-
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 07:52, Mon 23 March 2020
This report is now closed to updates from the public. You can make a new report in the same location.