Features

Don't mention the 'A' word! Ok, I suppose you can. Tell us what you think about the state of our roads.

stevo
YES the A14 is a nightmare, so why dont drivers drive to the road conditions? i.e dont bunch up, dont speed, dont tailgate, slow down dont crash, dont break down and switch lanes at last second just to get ahead of another que...wake up its the A14 keep your eyes open and stay focused.....the road gets worse year after year. i blame some bad drivers...

A
I've recently moved to Cambridge and been using the dreadeed A14 between Newmarket at Junction 24 for the past 6 months. It's absolutely unbelievable. I agree that most drivers are pretty sensible. There are the occaissional plonkers but that's life. I know Lorry drivers need to use the road but why oh why are they allowed to overtake eachother on this road, when other sections of the A14 ban them during certain periods of the day?I was stuck behind a lorry the other day that took a whole 10 miles to over take the lorry next to it. It's not that uncommon an experience either. The queue of traffic behind me was enormous.Because there are lorries in the outside lane, everyone else then decides to sit in the outside line, 2" apart, leaving the slow lane completely empty.Isn't it worth a trial to see if it will improve things? The few times I've been on the road when Felixstowe has been out of action, the lack of lorries in the fast lane has made the A14 a pleasure to drive.Something would also then need to be done about irresposible motorist travelling at 40mph though.It can't be a completely unreasonable idea. It works on other dual carriage ways.

A14 regular
It gets too busy between the junctions of the M11 and A1(M)C'mon highways agency! Add more lanes, and make it the M14

Spleen
the a14 isnt too bad, it just needs spicing up a lil bit more.

Regular A14 user
First let me say that the majority of drivers on the A14 maintain good standards, and that includes the much maligned lorry drivers. We are all trying to either do a job or get to one.The road is not capable of withstanding the amount of traffic that currently uses it hence the major delays caused by some of the minor mishaps that occur.During the recent bad weather perhaps 98% of drivers were maintaining a speed and stopping distance suitable for the conditions. However the other 2%, the irresponsible minority were carrying out their usual suicidal moves.I was driving to work in Cambridge last Thursday,on the A14 just past Bar Hill, in the inside lane, when a lorry approached rapidly from behind. I was driving at about 45 MPH behind another lorry leaving what I considered to be a suitably safe stopping distance. The "Knight of the Road" behind closed to about 2 metres with headlights on full expecting me to go Where??. He continued to threaten and to sit on my bumper for about 400 yards until the road split at the M11 junction and I continued into Cambridge while he moved on to terrorise someone else on the A14 North of Cambridge. My thanks to this driver for his consideration of the weather conditions.Main faults with the road are too few lanes, ill conceived junctions with minimal slip roads dangerous ones, Fenstanton for instance where the slip road has a garage exit on to it!!, and of course the inconsiderate 2% who have to be everywhere before anyone else. I have been driving to work in Cambridge for the past 25 years and can only say roll on the improvements.

Paul from Norfolk
What a joke. You people suggesting lorries should be banned from overtaking and stick to the left lane clearly werent born with any brain at all. What do you think will happen? All the lorries will back up behind the slowest lorry causing complete and utter gridlock for all you motorists! I am a lorry driver and i travel overnight from Norwich to the midlands and back. I never realised car drivers have such a major problem waiting a couple of minutes for a lorry to overtake. If you dont like us overtaking in front of you, dont flash your lights to let us out...! And its not always lorries that we have to pass. Quite often i have to overtake a slow car travelling at 40mph... Car drivers are a joke...

katie wilkerson
This is a joke. The a14 is dispicabul. Matthew I completly agree with you. We need to sort it out before things get out of hand!

matthew fairbrother burton
the a14 is getting worse every day, we need to sort it out.

Mr Daly Papers.
yes, it's not very good to be honest with you.i think it should be closed and then a wider better road made for all the people that have to get to work on time! -it's a DISGRACE!!!!! -it makes me mad.

A Person
poor poor animals getting killed because of that stupid road

timothy
the a14 is getting really bad

martin gear
sunday morning 3;15am approx, i had a driver coming towards me with no lights on! i managed to get into different lane at the last minute, i'm lucky to be here.

Ethan Grice
I think the a14 should be demolished it is rubbish

John boy
On your bikes. Yes, for the whole length of the A14. If it's too tiring get the bus. Bingo! Problem solved.

Ethan grice AKA Noob
Like everyone else i believe the A14 should be sorted out, maybe a new Bus route or extra lanes

Emsly&&Hansly
What about the poor animals in Wood Green that would be effected by the motorway being widened. Is this fair? They are there to be rehomed. They've already been through a rough time, hence why they are there. Bless them, do they need a load of traffic too?

Your Mother
The A14 is getting worse and worse as each day passes. It needs to be sorted, not by widening though.

Japanish Shoe Horn :D
Im A Shoe Horn :) Throughout the course of a nine year investigation (1995-2004) traffic on the A14 increased by almost twenty percent. There isn’t a shadow of doubt that this won’t be the case over the next nine to ten years (2005-2015). Potentially meaning that by 2015 the traffic on the A14 could have an immense volume of 87060 a day.

Gillian
I agree that all drivers need to be more aware of their speed and the traffic around them. Comments that I have just read are very familiar in my experience on both dual carriageways and motorways i.e Drivers including white van man tearing past at 80+ mph. Yes sorry lorry drivers many of you attempt to overtake another lorry and hold up all other traffic for a long tailback because you are both doing similar speeds. When driving on busy A000 roads motorists can leave adequate space between themselves and the next driver but there is always one bright spark with no time to spare who overtakes and fills that space and continues to do so until he is the front vehicle. 10 minutes late in this life is better than 10 years too early in the next.

john
The A 14 is truly an enigma. Some of the Bletchley Park intelligentsia are still alive. Perhaps they could work on the " too much traffic, not enough tarmac, bizarre junctions " problem. It will take our finest minds to crack the A 14....

person
close it down!!! or sort it out!!! it's to dangerouse !! <3

cherie
very busy roads!!

Laura
Was on the A14 from the M1 junction near Rugby all the way to the Milton interchange yesterday (Sunday afternoon), came across no less than 3 incidents. 2 around the Kettering area and 1 in Cambridgeshire. Not a single one involved a lorry. The road surface is shockingly bad in Cambs though, it's much better in Northants and beyond! AND I'm very fed up of seeing the characteristic front grilles of BMWs and Mercs come flying up at 80mph plus in my mirror.

???
wats the A word???

jordan
i thinck the a14 needs sorting out. It is horrific

Kb
Lorrys do not stay in their lanes at roundabouts, lorrys suddenly pull out into the overtaking lane without warning, lorries do not let cars in when merging, lorries hold up traffic and are often at the route of most major accidents.

Marosa
They should widen the A14 to three lanes and ban lorries from overtaking. They cause large tailbacks with the lorry being overtaken going only 1mph slower than the lorry that is doing the overtaking. Also having slow lorries pushing their way into the overtaking lane cutting up drivers at 70mph is dangerous. Just because you drive big lorries you don't own the road. The road itself is a bit of a joke - the junctions should have been redesigned when the east west route was planned. Bring back the A45 and the A604!

ches
what is everyones problem wi lorry drivers? im a lorry driver and if car drivers gave us a bit more respect and space, then maybe we wouldnt have to cut you up, so we can meet our deadlines. because they are apparently so important.

Michael
Simple really, ban the lorries at peak times, and bingo.. no need to build a road..the lorries are the problem

Paul
I use the A14 to go to work each day from the M11.I say a big thank you when I get there and get home each evening, the odds are getting shorter for me.The lorries cause all the problems!!

ian hand
I drive from Norfolk to Bedford for work every day. Even at 6am the road is very busy. i disagree it's the lorry drivers that are completely to blame for the accidents which seem to occur almost daily. Maybe white van man need to slow down and stop thinking the faster they go the quicker us law abiding drivers will get out of their way. Why do they tear up the outside lane doing 80 plus mph in all too often heavy traffic and poor driving conditions expecting everybody else to take evasive action. Their phylosophy seems to be ' move out of the way or your boot is mine!'

Katiee
I think the A14 is rubbish.

Dave Wood
Engineers saw the need to widen the A14 in 1996. New Labour and John Prescott stopped it. How many deaths are on their hands?

Liz
I live in Bar Hill and I find it increasingly difficult to get to work most days. I have no option but to use the A14 as I work in Cambridge. However Steve is right, if we removed the idiots from the road driving down the A14 would be bliss.

Chris Bedding
A typical day - having dropped partner off at Huntingdon station this morning I then had to stop at junction leaving station on green light as a car was going across on red light - this happens quite a lot but I suppose it is good preparation for the next part of my journey - on A14 to Stow Cum Quay junction. But I do get fed up with continually having to take evasive action because others drive dangerously or carelessly.

BECCIBOO
THE A14 IS RUBBISH. WHEN WILL WE BE ABLE 2 HAVE FLYING CARS BECAUSE I THINK THAT WILL BE BETTER

Steve
The A14 is not a dangerous road - it's the poor standard of Cambridgeshire's drivers that is to blame. Many of these haven't seen a copy of the highway code in 5, 10, 15, 20 years plus and haven't been tested on their driving ability for similar lengths of time. Bring in compulsory 5 year tests for everyone - since every driver you ask will tell you how great they are at driving, then where's the problem? There's no risk of failing if what you say is true! Can't find the time to be retested? Another excuse - don't blame the A14 look to your own poor driving standards first!

????????
it is not so great at A14 because you always get accedents and poeple don't drive carefully. They also do take overs and not to meto=ion traffic jams

Barry Scott
Almost every accident on the A14 involves lorries. Perhaps if lorry drivers didn't just pull into the outside lane without looking (or caring...) or perhaps had some rest so that they weren't driving with their reaction times impaired things would improve. Stop them overtaking and make sure that they keep plenty of space between themselves and accidents will be reduced.

Tommmy
Im going down the A14 a there was a accident closed most lanes i left at 6.30am and didnt get passed for till 10.30am how bad is that this was only 3 days ago.

Jordan woolgar
Im doing a report onthius at ther moment and it is descusting how meny people die every year

Rosemary
If the average speed cameras can record number plates of speeding motorists then surely they can record tailgating vehicles? This dangerous practice must be the main cause of chaos on the A14 so why not introduce chevrons to separate vehicles, as on the M6 in the Midlands, and police it? Also, a separate route for local traffic (Huntingdon to Cambridge) must surely make sense.

swigs
the A14 was closed today, due to an incident. the incident happened in the early hours of the morning, thus putting massive pressure on the surrounding routes thoughout the rush hour. this shows the massive volume of traffic that uses this road as it was chaos!! no suitable diversion was found and it was not even sign posted to help drivers follow the diverted route. the guided bus route from st ives is a red herring, as this will not eliminate the main source of the problem the freight lorries that frequent the road. by 2020 the number of lorries using the road is supposed to rise from 8k a day to 12k a day+. that is a massive extra burden. so why oh why was the train link between huntingdon and cambridge not reinstated. then passengers travel safely thoughout the day, and freight is easily transported during the night. the reason is simple.. funding.. the guided bus route will recieve all the funding it needs, as it is pioneering. everywhere in the world have trains, but not everywhere have guided bus routes.... now ask your self this... there must be a reason for this? only time will answer this question. so in brief, we need a train service a freight link, not a worthless, sure to be overpriced, guided bus route. take the freight from the road and put it on the rail!!

jane hollingworth
its not the road its the behaviour of the people who drive on it which makes it dangerous. I have seen lorries veering from one lane to another, with the drivers maybe falling asleep, and car drivers intent on driving fast and cutting in at the last minute that they create more danger behind by causing people to brake suddenly. If people held back a bit, made sure they were awake and left a bit more space between them and the rest of the traffic the road would work fine.

Neil Manning
I got sick of sitting in traffic so I took a motorcycle test and brought a motorbike. Now I can "sail" down the A14.

Samantha Lucier
I don't know how many more people have to die or be seriously injured, or at the very least be extremely inconvenienced by hold-ups, but when is the government going to do something to improve the A14? Lorries MUST be banned from overtaking, and be limited to the left lane, as most of the accidents are caused by these murderous machines. We need three lanes in both directions for the route between Huntingdon and Cambridge. This road is a joke but I don't think anyone is laughing.

Mike
The A14 suffer from the same problems tha A1 did before it was made a four lane motorway. This road should be made a motorway, with minimum of three lanes, and an extra lane made on the M11 to Bishops Stortford. Our roads are becoming more and more conjested, surely the roads need to be improved to accomodate. Better public transport would improve the situation. But better education of drivers is required as some of the driving I see on this road as well as other roads I travel everyday, is below what should be regarded as the minimum standard

Dianne
Nearly every day in the week now the A14 is closed because of 'accidents' and lorries are almost always involved.The most frightening thing is that these incidents regularly happen at 4 am - what are the lorry drivers doing at this 'quiet' time to cause this - Truck Grand Prix?!There is no such thing as an accident - there is always a cause, speeding, tiredness, bad driving, poorly maintained vehicles, etc. Get these trucks off the road and the containers onto the rail network.

Alex
Some people make me laugh.You can't just blame the lorry drivers or drivers that only use the road for one junction. Since the 428 has been done it has seen an increase in traffic, but with that it has seen an increase in speed, no camera's and most drivers now think they are F1 drivers. It is these so called experienced drivers that think they are better drivers than most becasue they spend more time on the road, but they cause the accidents by jumping in and out of lanes and sitting to close to the car in front.

Too many lorries driving like idiots. Stop them overtaking and pulling out suddenly. Get their loads onto trains.

bob the builder
A14 is dangerous and scary....lorry drivers think they own the road...they dont! get them off the a14!

christopher
On A14, I saw a police officer was eating with an apple while driving! If it was me, I'll get arrested for doing that????

destructor
all is to say its not the a14s fault its the rubbish, selfish drivers.

Andy Baker
Issues with the A14 result from a chronic under funding of the transport system and the collapse of the Rail infrastructure for handling Freight. You only have to see the number of empty lorries to know that there is a lot of traffic there that needn't be. The amount of traffic on the road has shot up drastically especially with the opening of business throughout the EU hence all the foreign lorries on the road. People expect it to be a fast Motorway, but it isn't - it is an A road so the road is open to tractors and JCB's too, even cyclists, though it would be a suicidal type to risk biking down there these days. The solution should have happened decades ago, but road expansion will not happen because of NIMBY's and environmental groups and congestion charging will just force the traffic onto more unsuitable roads resulting in 40 foot wagons thundering through villages again. Invest in a new national rail network that is Freight friendly and charge the freight (for a start) for using the roads and to streamline logistics - charge double for empty wagons. Whatever happens we the public will end up footing the bill whether it is congestion charges or higher costs for our goods...

John
The way to solve the problem on the A14 is this: A 50mph limit & anybody breaking the speed limit will be banned from driving for one year. 70mph is to fast on this road because of the volume of traffic..

Mr H. Jarse
There is nothing wrong with the A14 just the speed drivers go at,and is it only me that see's other driver's on mobile phones.

Bob
If lorry drivers are supposed to be profesional drivers, why are most accidents caused by them

Aaron O'Dickydido
Our roads are a disgrace. Every day they get more like the roads that you find in third world countries.

Andrew Hardy
The only way to improve such roads is to force people off them with a national road congestion charging system and make sure there are reasonable alternatives in place in the provision of public transport.Building new carriageways is not the answer,they will just fill up. Long distance container traffic to and from the ports should be made to transfer to rail for long journeys. As with everything it comes down to cost and political will. I doubt this could happen in my life time and I am only 44!

Martin Goode
Bad roads don't cause accidents. Bad driving does!

Neil
I live in Pboro and commute to Cambridge 5 days a week, one of the problems with the A14 is that a lot of people use it for very short journeys ie. from one junction to the next, they are not use to driving on fast moving dual carraige ways and this reflects on the way alot of these people drive, the y drive the same way as if they are taking a leasurely Sunday afternoon drive which causes snarl ups and iritates people who are use to driving on a large road, and this leads to a number of accidents, I sometimes can't believe how some people just sit in the outside lane and will not conform to the correct way of driving...... it can go on and on...

alexander small
this new fly over will not help it is moterists fault if they are not reasponsible for there speed