Crash brings city to a halt
Saturday 26th September 2009, 11:02AM BST.
Wolverhampton city centre was brought to a standstill after a cyclist was seriously injured in a crash which closed part of the ring road for more than three hours during a police investigation.
See also: Crash causes city centre traffic chaos
Hundreds of vehicles were stuck in jams up to two miles long while huge queues built up at bus stops.
The cyclist was taken to New Cross Hospital with serious head and back injuries after a collision with a blue MG Rover at Ring Road St Patricks near the junction with Broad Street at 2.45pm yesterday.
He was today in a serious but stable condition. The female driver of the car was treated for shock but did not require hospital treatment. A police cordon went up at the scene within minutes and remained in place until 5.50pm.
Police today defended the lengthy delays reopening of the road and said it was held up because the steering wheel was locked on the MG Rover meaning police had to wait for a recovery vehicle to move the wreckage.
Accident investigators were also called to measure up and mark out the crash scene.
It led to gridlock around the Bilston Street island, Broad Street, Princess Street, Berry Street, Market Street and Ring Road St Davids. Hundreds of drivers turned off their engines, while many tried detours and ended up stuck for at least an hour, particularly down the Wednesfield Road which was at a standstill until gone 6pm. Buses were delayed by around 90 minutes, and scores of people gathered on the bridge near Wolverhampton train station after 4pm to watch the police operation.
Many office workers left their buildings to have a look at what was going on and returned back to the premises after drivers wound their windows down and told them not to bother joining the jams.
Motorists heading towards areas like Whitmore Reans, Heath Town, Wednesfield and Willenhall were stuck in stop-start traffic until after 6.30pm because of the chaos. Some drivers said they had left work at 5pm and barely moved more than a few yards in an hour.
John Boggan, aged 24, an IT worker of Wood End Road, Wednesfield, said: “As soon as I came out of work I rang the office and told the rest to stay inside for a while. It’s the first time I’ve ever had to do that.
“It took me two hours to get away. I left work at 4pm and it wasn’t until 6pm that I was home, I tried everything I could.”
Mohammed Khan, aged 40, of Lalley Road, Brewood, said: “I did not move for 45 minutes, this is the worst gridlock I have seen ever in the city centre, it’s terrible.”
Stephanie Maloney, aged 23, of Whitmore Reans, said: “I tried to go down Ring Road St Patricks but was diverted at the end of Broad Street. It was mayhem.”
Police are asking any witnesses to the incident to call Bilston Street Police station on 0845 113 5000 and ask for inspector Kris Starynskiyj.
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I know that the police do a great job etc etc, but sometimes they make it worse by not sorting out traffic problems properly and asap. A lot of the times it seems like there are 3 times as many police officer at the scene than necessary. Also their parking when arrive on the scene leaves at lot to be desired.
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I really hope the cyclist is ok, the police do have a job to do, but it was annoying to come out of work at 5pm on a Friday after a nightmare week, just wanting to get home to a nice bottle of wine and curry, and be stuck there for over an hour!
I was sitting in the traffic wondering where the police were while mindless impatient idiots were illegally speeding down the bus lanes on the Willenhall Road and nearly causing accidents with the innocent driver’s pulling out of the junctions on the left!!!!!
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Why didnt they just drag the car onto the grass verve with the ploce vehicle. The Police are useless when its come to moving traffic on at the scene of an accident
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should have said police vehicle
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Hope that the cyclist gets better soon.
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I dont know the facts to the accident, but I cycle regularly and roads are no places for cyclist as 90% of drivers show them no respect,…the government want more people to cycle but “playing chicken” with your life when you go on busy roads isnt fun.
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Nice to see so many people bitching about the police instead of pleased the driver and the cyclist were ok.
I work right by where the accident happened and watched it all unfold, the police did a marvellous job, as did the paramedics who turned up. I too was delayed in town and it took an hour to complete a 20 min journey but you know what? If it were me or someone I knew in that accident I would have nothing but praise for the response I/they received but of course none of you are worried about that just easier to bitch about getting home late for your tea.
There is a reason the police park and respond the way they do to road traffic accidents – and it’s to prevent further injury and other accidents happening while they are in attendance so how about you consider that and just be thankful it wasn’t you they were the to look after!
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I left work at 4:15 to pick my son up at 4:30 only to arrive at 6:50. Yes I am pleased to hear that the cyclist was look after and deal with well but every time there is an incident in Wolverhampton the same happens. Wolverhampton now has city status and should be equipped to deal with incidents like this more proficiently.
What the should have done was closed the ring road in one direction in order to keep traffic moving in the other direction.
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thank you no.7…some people are so selfish they just think about themselves…I don’t think the cyclist deliberately set out to disrupt everyones travel plans, for god sake get over yourselves, the police have a hard enough time without having to deal with you selfish people. get well soon dear cyclist.
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“Why didnt they just drag the car onto the grass verve with the ploce vehicle.”
Because they could be tampering with crime scene evidence. They’re just doing their job mate :)
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G&BArmy, I’ve largely given up cycling and resolved to sitting my rear in car..for exactly the same reasons you mention. In this region I have lost the number of times mindless car drivers have put my life at risk with their stupidity and arrogance. Same for some cyclists, too.
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Some drivers do not consider cyclist’s as ‘traffic’ by law, and have no appreciation of a cyclist’s limitations. IMO there’s simply too much traffic and often too many idiots on the region’s for cycling to be safe..it’s like negotiating Calcutta at times, even with cycle lanes.
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Well done steph …. and for those who whinged get a life … a man nearly lost his …. no different wen then motorways are down or the weathers bad so stop mooaning and enjoy life
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Some of you are just morons. If it were you involved in the accident, you’d bitch about the police not doing their job properly if they didnt close the road while they sorted you out! And then you moan about it when they do. Idiots
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i was in a car accident nearly five years ago
and i cannot fault anything the police did the night of my accident. people may not like the way they work at a rta but they have to follow procedures for the best interests of everyone involved in and around the site of the accident.
Just think if it was the other way round and you were in the accident.would you still be moaning about the police and the way it was dealt with.
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I don’t think people are moaning about the ring road being closed at the Broad Street section,just the handling of the situation of every other road in and out of Wolverhampton.
Had there been another serious incident on the outskirts of town the emergency services would’ve had a terrible time trying to get there.
Hopefully lessons will have been learned and maybe next time the police could redirect traffic through some of the bus/taxi only roads through the town.
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Morons? Bitching? Idiots?
Didn’t know about the accident until I read it here, I was making an observation about the police sometimes making a situation worse.
That said, sometimes bike riders take their lives into their own hands when driving in some parts of the town, which really needs to be looked at by the council for solutions.
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I hope the cyclist gets better quickly. As others have said, you take your life in your hands as a cyclist (not putting any blame on the driver as facts aren’t known). I commute 12 miles on a bike every day and could count numerous ‘near misses’ every week. I was on my bike Friday and got home in 20 mins. If more people left their cars at home and took to 2 wheels and a bit of leg power, the roads may be a lot safer and less congested for all.
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I totally agree with no.7
cant believe some people were annoyed because they wanted to get home to their wine and curry!!!
so ignorant and selfish.
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I do not think that people were annoyed by the accident, but rather the fact that when something like this happens everything grounds to a halt, leaves on the track? a foot of snow? In this day and age it is ridiculous, surely a more common sense approach can be found?
From the look of the pictures, most traffic islands and roads were totally blocked when with a few police officers, they could have cleared most of the traffic within an hour.
It is sheer madness.
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If the Police were so busy then surely it should have fallen to the Traffic Wardens to get the traffic moving again.
Ah, but I hear you say the wardens have more urgent targets (I mean priorities!) to attend to.
Seriously though, simple measures like keeping junctions clear would have helped considerably and it doesn’t require the Police to do this.
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