February 20, 2007
Travel trouble
Yesterday, I enjoyed two delayed trains and delays on the tube, so I decided that today's trip to Leicester for the OSS Watch advisory board meeting would be by car instead. In theory it would take 3 hours 20 minutes by train, but once you factor in getting to and from the stations and potential delays, the car should have been better.
The RAC website reckons 112 miles and 2 hours 58 minutes for the trip along the A47. Unfortunately, the RAC website did not mention the multiple sets of roadworks along the route, and of course it couldn't predict the crash that left me sitting stationary for over an hour. In the end the journey took me more than four hours - a staggering average speed of about 25mph. Those that have witnessed my driving will know that this was a bit frustrating for me. By the end of the journey I was literally frothing at the mouth, cursing route planners and roadworks.
After kicking the RAC site for a bit, I ignored it and took the route I would normally have travelled for my return journey - the A6, A14 and A11. A massive difference - just over 2 hours of travel, with an average speed closer to 60mph. And the new dual carriageway stretch of the A11 is now open - which makes the single carriageway mess that is the A47 look awful in comparison.
So my lesson for today is don't trust the computers, ignore the route planners and take the route that seems most sensible, even if the raw miles are higher.
Posted by savs at February 20, 2007 7:29 PMI'm taking care to warn everyone who visits me to follow the road signs. Route planners and sat-nav shun the wide 40mph/National unclassified route signed from the motorway and prefer to stay on A- or B-roads for longer, which means the final section is either 1/ a narrow hillside road past the quarry, 2/ a fairly steep climb and a 1-in-4 downhill Z, or 3/ right through the town centre and then a 25mph rumble-stripped coastal toll road. Nice!
Why don't web sites or trip planners take road works into account. Like the fact that spaghetti junction takes forever on a friday between 3pm and 7pm is well known, as is the traffic in and out of london every weekday. So why don't they include all those things in their rules?
Posted by: Steve Loughran at February 21, 2007 4:21 PM