Re. Elephant and Castle traffic

Hi
Does anyone know what is going on at the E and C this evening, the traffic is at gridlock.
We were caught in it at the roundabout at St. George's circus and it was backing up there from the E and C roundabouts by the look of it.

A car crash on the NKR/E&C junction, I gather. The whole southbound side of the road going round towards the Walworth Road turning was taped off, and the buses were all diverted. Had to walk all the way back to Camberwell.

8.55pm update on the TfL traffic site:

Transport for London wrote:

Slow moving traffic remains on the Elephant and Castle roundabout following an earlier accident. Westbound traffic on New Kent Road is being diverted via Rodney Place. Expect delays in the area. Motorists are advised to seek alternative routes

One of the eternal mysteries of this country is police procedure subsequent to an RTA. Anywhere else in the civilised world the aim is to get the roads open and traffic flowing again as soon as possible.
In this country it is the complete opposite, let's close as much of the road as we can get away with and keep it closed for as long as we can, certainly longer than necessary. I once witnessed a car that left it late to exit the I-75 Atlanta, Ga. ring road exit to Hartsfield Jackson Airport and drove straight under an articulated vehicle that was joining the interstate. At that point I-75 is six lanes wide with a three lane entry then three lane exit ramp. The fatality caused four of those lanes to be closed at approx. 13.00 hrs. The wreckage was cleared and all lanes open again by 17.30. In the UK they would have still been laying the cones and tape out.

Perhaps you should get your facts first before slating police for procedures. It is quite obvious that it was serious enough to close the road off. Things like that aren't done likely. Next time, why don't you ask the police what has happened before assuming what has happened..?

London Cyclist wrote:

Perhaps you should get your facts first before slating police for procedures. It is quite obvious that it was serious enough to close the road off. Things like that aren't done likely. Next time, why don't you ask the police what has happened before assuming what has happened..?

I assume that you meant to write "the" facts instead of your facts, and "lightly" instead of likely. Try to calm down and take a deep breath before rushing to your keyboard, it may help with your grammar. Perhaps the cycling causes you to become breathless, lighten up and take it easy, I'm not the enemy.
I'm a driver, and as such I see things from a different angle to a cyclist.
The facts are that road closures have little or no affect on cyclists, they can either use the pavement or perhaps another street which is one-way against them, the keystone kops become myopic when that happens. I stand by my opinion that on the whole roads are closed for a lot longer than is really necessary in the UK following an RTA.

Can we calm it please? This is exactly the type of unnecessarily vituperative exchange I had in mind when I wrote this.

James Hatts wrote:

Can we calm it please? This is exactly the type of unnecessarily vituperative exchange I had in mind when I wrote this.

I have no desire to incur the wrath of the moderator so I sincerely apologise for re-acting in print to what I perceived as a less than intelligent comment.
It is extremely difficult to ignore scathing criticism of something that is, after all, just an honestly held opinion, but I shall endeavour to try in future.

James is everywhere - beware the Modfather!

Our Bus Driver said that someone had been knocked down at the crossing and that the roundabout had been closed for hours causing traffic problems. I can only assume it was a fatality and that's why the Police closed the road for so long.