Closed
Poorly signage on Headington roundabout/accident waiting to happen
Reported in the Road Markings category by Rob leigh at 15:37, Sat 16 November 2019
Sent to Oxfordshire County Council 3 minutes later
I have seen several near misses and at least three accidents here as the signage is all set up incorrectly. As you approch the roundabout in the 2 lane section of the Eastern By-Pass A4142 the signage is correct and easy to understand, but the issues start when you come to the three lane section upon entering the roundabout.
The left hand lane states that you can go left to Headington, straight on for A40W AND Barton. The middle lane on most roundabouts encountered would then allow traffic to go A40W, AND Barton, but on this roundabout it states Barton and A40E not west! which is very confusing as most would use two lanes (left and middle) to enter a two lane section of road (A40W). The right hand lane when leaving the A4142 Eastern By-Pass would merge into the middle lane to enter Barton, A40E, which in turn creates a new right hand lane as you approach the Barton exit.
Having the left hand lane here turning right into Barton is causing confusion with people in the middle lane wanting to go straight on to A40W (which is how I was always taught to drive using the clock system) havin a left hand lane to turn right is just plain lunacy and someone is going to get seriously injured there soon.
Council ref: ENQ19847855
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 15:40, Sat 16 November 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 07:55, Mon 23 March 2020
This report is now closed to updates from the public. You can make a new report in the same location.