UKC

Every so often I travel on the A470 between Llandudno and Betws y Coed.

Almost without fail I will, in either direction, get stuck behind some vehicle or another arsing about on the road at about 35mph on the unrestricted sections apparently oblivious to the queue building up behind being unable to overtake.

Sometimes it's an agricultural vehicle that fails to pull in to a lay by to allow others to overtake. Sometimes it's a dickhead who seems to think that nobody should or has a need to travel any faster than they are going.

The A470 seems to attract this sort of thing.

In reply to FesteringSore:

I think you are referring to Wales' trunk road, the main link between North and South.

It takes me 4 hours to drive from South to North Wales; one country eh?

In reply to Rob Exile Ward:

think back 20 years, 4hrs would be a near record where you would have worked very hard all the way, maximising every overtaking opportunity.

Admittedly the Llanworst stretch isn't the best in places.

In reply to FesteringSore:

Any of these obstructive vehicles two abreast?

In reply to FesteringSore:

You aren't stuck in traffic - you are traffic !

In reply to Rob Exile Ward:
This road is the actual bane of my life. If I was brave enough to add up the hours wasted behind tractors, caravans, tourists, morons who can't do over 40 mph and motherf*cking Mansell Davies lorries (this also includes the A487 where they do under 20 mph going past Cadair) then it probably adds up to a year of my life. We need an extension of the A55 so that it does a lap around the circumference(ish) of Wales and then joins the M4, but as it's north of Cardiff the assembly don't give a shit.

Tom V - I assume your attempting to make a "joke" at the expense of cyclists. Oddly, two abreast cyclists are as wide on the road as these accelerator fearing morons. In practice, if you were to overtake them correctly, so is a single file line of cyclists. They're also far less annoying; I can understand why cyclists can't do 60 mph round a wide bend or straight bit of road, and they know they're substantially slower and pull over 99.9% of the time.

In reply to Chris the Tall:


Beat me to it. Being stuck in a traffic jam rather being part of a traffic jam.

In reply to FesteringSore:

I travel this road regularly too, and it's true you do get a lot of farm vehicles and tourists enjoying the view. But then it is a farming area and a national park. The road has actually been improved recently and overtaking is a lot easier than it used to be! This was a notorious road for accidents - don't know what the stats are now. Incidentally, watch your speed - bad (good?) place for speed traps.

In reply to ianstevens:

If it's any consolation the M4 past Newport goes south of Cardiff and that doesn't work either!

In reply to FesteringSore:

Back in the "old days" before a bypass, the A470 went through the center of Llanidloes ( my home town). In the town was a cafe called the Travellers Rest, lorded over by the inimitable Mrs Gough, pretty much at the halfway point on the 470 the cafe saved many a weary and harrased traveller with coffee and grub.

The A470 is a wonderful and scenic trip through the heart of Wales, until you become stuck behind something - which is inevitable - then you scream abuse for the next hour or so.

In reply to FesteringSore:

The A470 sucks, at least north of Merthyr where the dual carriageway peters out. The 'sunday afternoon' drivers are a bane of my life, toddling along at 40 when the rest of us are trying to get somewhere. It invariably takes 4 hours to get from north to south Wales, and it doesn't matter if you take the 470, go up the west coast or the borders. Meh!

In reply to Rob Exile Ward:

Basically there are way too many cars for a number of reasons.

In reply to FesteringSore:

Impatience is the problem here and the potential killer.

In reply to FesteringSore:

At least it a nice scenic road to be stuck on

Could be worse could be in a traffic jam on the m4

In reply to FesteringSore:

You're right, make them all drive a constant 60 the whole way and die in a crash because not everyone is confident driving fast on unfamiliar roads.

Or...have some patience, allow the extra few mins for your journey, and grow up.

In reply to Scarab9:

I'm all for patience but if people aren't competent enough to drive at something vaguely approximating the speed limit in good conditions then they should at least have the decency to pull over and let the queue of traffic past. But they never do, presumably because they're completely unaware of what's going around them (hence pottering along at 35 in a 60 limit with 20 cars behind them). If I had my way they'd lose their licence as clearly they shouldn't be driving.

And yes, I've pulled over plenty of times when I've been holding someone up - it's common sense and courtesy and makes the road safer for everyone by reducing frustration levels and dodgy overtaking. I drive to the road and the conditions but if someone wants to go faster than I think is safe for me I'd rather they weren't behind me as it makes me feel a bit stressed out.

In reply to Scarab9:
I like the added on 'grow up'. Are you female? It's a killer punch that only a female could deliver

In reply to Scarab9:



So you would be happy to have to follow somebody at 35 mph for twenty miles on an unrestricted road? There are actually stretches of this road which are almost straight where it is possible to overtake. However, more often than not, by the time those stretches present themselves there is very often opposing traffic.

In reply to Dave the Rave:


Yes. But the point still remain that people use the road to commute and don't want to have to wait behind tourists enjoying the scenery. As much as I'd like to think I'm patient, there's only so much of it you can take.

What is needed is an appropriate road.

In reply to Rob Exile Ward:



It takes me 4hrs from Bath to Porthmadog via 470... leaving about 8pm, there for midnight... great drive, absolutely no-one else around ( and I'm a moderate driver in a berlingo so no racing!)