Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/04/28/welcome-to-ipley-cross-britai.html
…
7 Likes
“Why is this intersection so dangerous?”
0:15 - Driver ignores stop sign.
31 Likes
Ah, yes, a complete regionalism. Reminds me of that famous Robert Johnson song, arguably the base of all American popular music - went down to the intersection, fell down on my knees…
13 Likes
Wait til you see what the brits call a rotary intersection!
13 Likes
Also several more in the course of the short video. TIL that British drivers don’t stop at stop signs. 
A four-way stop here might help — I don’t know if they exist in the UK, but they’re common in Canada, in cities at least. Add some rumble strips to get drivers’ attention. Of course, cyclists will still blow through them.
A more British solution, the roundabout, would be expensive but wouldn’t affect as much of the countryside as shifting the roads. Make the radius tight.
13 Likes
They could always fix it the way they did this junction near where I used to live in Beverley:
8 Likes
9 Likes
I would have thought Caxton Gibbet was one of Britain’s creepiest intersection. Ipley Cross is just plain dangerous.
8 Likes
I always thought rotary was a Bostonism (moved to Amsterdam from there). Here in the Netherlands, we have TURBO roundabouts.
5 Likes
In Kansas, that’s the intersection where the local Rotary International Club is located. 
9 Likes
the overton window on automobile apologies is shifted so fucking far from reality, it’s like the entire population of the planet gaslighting us.
the “intersection” (or “crossroads” if you prefer) is not dangerous.
FUCKING CARS ARE DANGEROUS.
related: there are no auto “accidents.” they are auto “collisions”.
12 Likes
“…stop signs are really rare in Britain…and almost everyone rolls through them anyway”
I think we’ve found the problem
18 Likes
Yeah i’d imagine that doing a roundabout here would be applicable. However this intersection reminds me of one near the hometown i grew up in, it was notorious for having serious accidents over the years so they ended up adding rumble strips leading up to the intersection, adding painted stripes, flashing warning lights, signage, etc. I don’t know if it ever improved things i just remember how overkill it seemed but having known the history of that intersection i always avoided it.
5 Likes
That makes me think of The Vanishing kind of creepy danger.
5 Likes
Video link for the BBS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYeeTvitvFU
3 Likes
The lack of electricity is fair enough, but the claim they can’t change the layout for conservation reasons is probably bollocks (if the council ever actually said that).
In the UK, the planning process is that you apply to the local authority (or it applies to itself) to build something, and they consult with (a) neighbours and (b) statutory third parties like utilities, the fire service, and in this case English Heritage or whatever it’s called now. If those consultees object, the council has to consider that, but it’s still their decision. The statutory consultees (but not the public) can appeal the decision, or the Home Secretary can overrule it in extreme cases. But it seems unlikely EH would sue over a junction being moved 5 metres to save lives (or that the Planning Inspectorate would rule in their favour).
So the council could fix this as easily as any other traffic hazard, if they wanted to. I think this is an instance of that annoying British hobby of pretending The Rules are stopping something in order to complain about it.
7 Likes
So this video is suggesting that it’s routine for British drivers to disregard stop signs when no one is around? I think in the US there are so many tickets, including stop sign cameras in some places, that not many people regularly disregard them. I sure don’t, even if it’s the middle of nowhere.
1 Like
I had no idea drivers in the UK were such idiotic knobs.
1 Like
“New” Forest?
This is obviously some strange usage of the word ‘New’ that I wasn’t previously aware of. 
3 Likes
