From the Echo:
A WOMAN who was cut from her car following a crash with a lorry is campaigning for improved road safety measures on a notorious country road.
Abbey Gouldsmith was driving her blue Vauxhall Tigra in Watery Lane, Hullbridge, when it was in collision with a white Daf box van.Police closed off the road for two hours while fire crews freed her before she was taken to Basildon Hospital.
She suffered concussion and whiplash as well as minor cuts and bruises. Abbey, 21, from Hullbridge is now calling for improved road safety measures restricting lorries of a certain weight and size from using the road, which has been blighted by a series of accidents.She said: ?I am so lucky I did not hit the lorry head on otherwise I would not be here. ?The amount of accidents on that road is ridiculous and there are so many lorries that drive down that road when they shouldn?t. In some places the road is not even wide enough for two cars to drive past each other let alone a lorry and a car. I used to avoid driving on that road because I know what it is like, but as I built up my confidence with driving I decided to try it.?
A three-tonne weight limit was imposed by Essex County Council after residents called for measures to stop heavy vehicles using it. ……
It makes you wonder what that road will be like if the proposed housing in “South-West Hullbridge” goes ahead….
This has been a bone of contention for many years ,the residents have been lobbying the parish council ,who also have continually highlighted the many problems with beeches road/watery lane .I trust the police will take action with the Daf van if it was over the weight limit ? It was interesting to see that as the road was reopened after the accident the police allowed a 40 ton container lorry to proceed down the road even stopped to speak to it ,so after all the recent promises from ECC weights and measures to cooperate with the police over enforcement ,the message has not got through .I hear on the grapevine that ECC are looking for Sponsors to reinforce the weak bridge so allowing heavy lorries to proceed into watery lane .I believe there are two other bridges within watery lane that would not be able to take the weight .The biggest problem appears to be access to Image Depot on the site of the old mousery where conditions were not imposed on size of lorries accessing the site.The origional planning application for change of use did not suggest such heavy lorry activity , in retrospect the council after allowing the change of use could not impose those conditions so the residents along the road have increased lorry activity to add to the sewage farm traffic and the illegal through 3 tonne plus lorries .Incidentally watery lane and beeches road are both within rawreth parish within battlesbridge .There appears to be a campaign at RDC to try and eliminate battlesbridge south of the river whereas it encompases a large proportion of the parish of rawreth as well as a large area of rettendon .I am proud to live in battlesbridge and I hope other residents do also .
Nobody can deny that Watery Lane can get a bit “tight” at times but unless you know the full circumstances of this accident then it’s hard to judge, maybe the lady in question was at fault, it sounds like she is not a very experienced or confident driver. At 21 she could have only been driving for 3 or 4 years max…
Whatever the rights and wrongs of this accident it does not matter how long you have been driving for. I personally know of a driver who was taught to drive large trucks by the army during WW2 (which gives an experience/confidence level of 60+ years) and I would not get into any vehicle that they are in charge of as they take far too many chances whilst driving.
Judging from the article the lady concerned was aware of the problems of this road and waited until she had built up a bit of experience before using it… and I would say on a road like this one the dangers come from drivers who are over confident.
Admin you are right by the speed of most drivers on the bends and the numbers that land in the deep ditches there there appears to be a death wish .
Lorries of what ever size clearly exacerbate the problems but, put simply, this bit of highway is simply inadequate for the existing traffic, let alone future growth. I think residents across the District would support calls for improvements but, beware, this would in turn generate more traffic. We really need a strategic solution. One would have hoped that this is why we should have a Core Strategy but, regretably, that seems to be having the opposite impact. The word “farce” comes to mind.
I hope Abbey recovers quickly from her whiplash. To add to A Matthews’ comments we in Hullbridge have been working on this too our policing team put a lot of work in to getting this resolved. I will let them know that there are still problems and I will also raise it at the next Central area committee.
Maybe a 6 foot width restriction at each end of the road would stop overweight Lorries driving down the road
Unfortunately that would not work as there are two farms needing access ,one end might work but then we are snookered because of the weak bridge between the farms and before Image Depot .
I’d imagine a width restriction would be a problem for Emergency vehicles such as fire engines.