Aggregate Industries’ Transport Assessment to support its plan to quarry Straitgate is worth scrutinising. It contains data about the B3174 Exeter Road that the company would no doubt rather not publicise.
We’ve already posted about how Aggregate Industries’ consultants have been economical on reporting road accidents, but the Transport Assessment is also economical on the subject of speed.
Locals warn of how fast vehicles travel on the B3174 Exeter Road. Not only locals. Devon County Council’s Head of Planning, in an email in 2017 released after a Freedom of Information request, recognises that this is "such a fast straight road."
But, according to Aggregate Industries' traffic consultant Horizon, this is not so. In February 2018, in an email to reassure the Council's highways department about the cattle crossing, Horizon wrote:
The suggestion within the safety audit that speeds could be in excess of the national speed limit (60 mph) is therefore incorrect, although it should be noted that the audit teams comments were based on data that was older and located to the east of the site.
Subsequent to that, Horizon commissioned a new traffic count – after the previous one was found to be fiction. What were its conclusions? The Transport Assessment says:
1.1.7 The 85th percentile vehicle speeds were below the signed national speed limit with those recorded during the working week lower than those recorded at the weekend.
and that furthermore:
4.3.8 A full standard visibility splay of 215 m can be achieved at the junction of Birdcage Lane with the B3174 Exeter Road. This is appropriate for a 60 mph road, although the highest 85th percentile vehicle speed recorded during the seven day survey was 58.2 mph eastbound and 57.1 mph westbound. It is noted that both the highest percentile speeds were recorded on a Sunday, the weekday 85th percentile speeds ranged from 56.0 to 56.8 eastbound and 54.7 to 55.5 westbound representing a lower vehicle speed during the operational periods of the proposed quarry.
So, no indication of problems there. But this doesn’t tell the whole story. The 85th percentile speed tells us about the speed that 85% of drivers drive at or below. What about the rest? If you analyse the traffic count data over the 5 day working week, in Appendix C, you will find that:
1933 vehicles were travelling faster than 60mph.275 of those vehicles were travelling at 70mph or more.85 of those vehicles were travelling at 80mph or more.
Local people may not be surprised by these numbers, but it does rather undo those assurances in that email from Mr trust-me-I'm-a-traffic-consultant. Remember too:
- Aggregate Industries' plan to quarry Straitgate would put up to 53% more trucks on this road;
- the B3174 Exeter Road is as little as 5.3m wide, according to Horizon;
- as a direct result of Aggregate Industries' proposal, cows would need to cross the B3174 Exeter Road for replacement pasture on the south side of the road;
- vehicles would need to stop for the cows, as we've posted, just beyond the brow of this hill;
- there has been no assessment of the traffic queue lengths that would result.
We posted about the cows in Bovine movements revisited – more than 2 years on. But what are the safety implications? Well, we might not know – at least not before this application is determined.
The FOI shows that at the request of the Highways team, Devon County Council formally asked Aggregate Industries for the provision of a Stage 2 Road Safety Audit. The same FOI also shows the company, in the words of the Council, "pushing back" on performing such an audit before determination.
Why, if Devon County Council requested it, has no Stage 2 Road Safety Audit been performed? What has Aggregate Industries to hide? The safety aspects of this proposal obviously need to be properly assessed. Not only to know if the operation is workable, but so that all concerned can make an informed decision – with ALL the facts – when the application is finally determined. Currently, no such assessment has been made. According to this document:
Rural roads account for 68% of all road deaths, and 82% of car occupant deaths in particular, but only around 42% of the distance travelled. Of all road deaths in Britain in 2010, 49% occurred on National Speed Limit rural single carriageway roads (DfT, 2010).
Consultants Vectos have already warned:
The provision of a Cattle crossing over the B3174 may have severe impact on the operation of the B3174, which in the absence of assessment is not known.
