Normanby intersection - accident waiting to happen?

[BrizCommuter]

BrizCommuter predicts another "accident waiting to happen". This time at the entry/exit of the Inner Northern Busway at Normanby.
http://brizcommuter.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/another-accident-waiting-to-happen.html

[bcasey]

My regular bus, the 344, doesn't use the busway, but goes near that intersection, and I occasionally take the 325 that goes via that busway entrance, so I do know the problem you are talking about, although I personally haven't seen any near misses myself.

The main problem is that the offramp from the ICB is a blind corner (due to the way the busway has been designed to go over the top of it, and the shape of the neighbouring railway definitely had an effect on this design), plus there is a hump (although it is hard to see when you view it on google maps) before you get to the busway entrance, so there isn't a huge distance to react between when a bus would first become visible to a driver and the intersection. There are also trees (at least when the google car last took pictures there, not sure if they are still there) in the green area that would block the visibility of buses exiting from the busway.

I'm not sure putting in a signalised intersection would help that much. Firstly, it is not that far from the signalised intersection on Kelvin Grove road, so they would have be well coordinated to ensure cars aren't backed up along the offramp unnecessarily. Secondly, it would have the same visibility issues as the problem you are trying to fix, in that cars would not have that much time to react to a red-light, or cars stopped at the red light (in fact that would be even worse, since you would have even less time to react).

I agree with lowering the speed limit (or at least enforcing the 60km/h limit with a speed camera), plus putting in more prominent signage to notify drivers that it is a blind corner and there is an intersection not far along from the corner (there is currently a warning sign on either side of the road that says "watch for entering traffic" which looks to be about 100m or so from the intersection. Maybe those signs could be moved a bit further from the intersection, although I'm not sure if there are standards or protocols in place that determine where the signs should be placed.

Ultimately I think the visibility needs to be improved, by removing the impediments that are currently there (removal of trees, flattening the hump, etc. Not sure if anything could be done about the blind corner, due to space constraints and structural stability of the busway overpass. Maybe putting in some flashing yellow warning lights before the hump and corner, that are triggered when a bus is waiting to enter and/or has entered the intersection might help in this regard.

[bcasey]

On the topic of accidents that are waiting to happen (and have happened), I have an issue on the route I take (344) that should be rectified.

The issue is on the afternoon outbound route just as it leaves the Elizabeth Street stop (next to the GPO, opposite the cathedral). The stop is in the left most lane, not far from the signalised intersection at Elizabeth and Creek Street (probably about 100-200 m away). The route as it is currently designed continues along Elizabeth Street, to go around the curve of Eagle Street before going up Wharf Street.

Typically, the 2 leftmost lanes at the Elizabeth Street/Creek Street intersection turn left into Creek Street, so to obey the current designated route, the 344 bus usually needs to immediately cross over these two lanes into the 3rd leftmost lane in order to cross the intersection in a timely manner, which can be a dangerous maneouver at the best of times.

Most bus drivers will take it one lane at a time, but I have had drivers who were a bit more reckless and forceful in their merging to get to the correct lane. One in particular, in early 2012, resulted in an accident where the bus side-swiped a small car, which caused Elizabeth Street to become jammed, and us passengers having to find a different way home. Luckily no one on the bus was injured, and I don't think the occupants of the damaged car were injured either. This particular incident was in part due to the impatience and recklessness of the bus driver (he had done some questionable maneouvers before the accident), but also due to the design of this part of that route.

My suggestion on improving this route, to eliminate the possibility of an accident happening again, is to have the bus turn into Creek Street at this intersection, which means the bus can stay in either of the two left most lanes, and then turn right at either Queen Street or Adelaide Street to get back onto Wharf Street before the next stop. Some bus drivers already do this, usually when Eagle Street is backed up with traffic.

I'm not sure if there are any other routes that stop at this particular stop, and have to go along Eagle street, but if so, their routes should be changed as well.

[James]

It appears that P331, P332, P341 and P344 all have this problem. This problem could easily be solved if we stopped firing so many damn Prepaid rockets all over Brisbane, consolidated services and stuck the prepaid rocket to be departing from the same/similar locations as the "mother" service.

Keeping the route, I'd just suggest moving the stop. Just by my little investigation into what routes did this manouver, it's already apparent that there is no pattern to which buses do and don't use certain stops anyway. So if you just moved them to another Elizabeth St stop (or one of the other non-BCC infidel bus stop locations), the problem would be mostly solved.

On the note of Normanby bus portal entrance - there are some places which aren't suitable for traffic lights due to visibility issues - this could be one of them. Traffic lights would probably be an adequate solution until grade separation could occur (it is quite a heavily used intersection in peak, and would be even more so if routes were consolidated into the INB), but if traffic lights are an issue due to visibility/speed, I think we will just have to leave it be.

If traffic lights were added, it should have sensors which are set off by a bus stopping at the intersection, so the traffic lights are only activated when a bus goes through. I have been through that portal a few times and never noticed an issue - but my travel has primarily been on Sundays, so I don't think my input is very valuable in that sense.

[techblitz]

i concur briz....there are issues...
was onboard a 390 which had a close call when exiting the busway.Bus almost hit by oncoming truck in this situation.
Bus driver misjudged the speed and distance of the truck and began heading out but applied brakes just in time as there was not enough distance for the truck to stop.

[red dragin]

I will be driving back that way this afternoon so I will try and observe from a general traffic point of view.

Speeding is an issue, the exit ramp is 60kph and prior to the roadworks the ICB was 80kph up to the exit (currently 60 from the car wash). Many still do 80 as there is no enforcement of the speed zone.

Peak hour is probably easier as the traffic is crawling/stationery IMO.