My first thought was "Wow, the quality of information we have about that sighting is really, really crap. I think I've been spoiled by reading UFO reports from the '60s, back when they didn't even have the internet but they still did the legwork."
Then I realized that I do have the internet and can do my own damn legwork. :P
So I went and google maps'd it. The only stretch of the Ewell Bypass (aka the a24) near Nescot College that has anything I'd describe as a 15ft bank on the correct side of the road, coming from Stoneleigh, is this stretch, about a km north of the college, near Nonsuch Park
Things to bear in mind: The "bank" in question is sloped at no more than 45 degrees, and the "central fencing", for most of the way, is a simple concrete guardrail less than 2ft high; and in the original quotations I've found, he's described as "climbing" rather than "jumping" the bank - neither of these are unreasonable for a normal human being, given what I'm seeing on Streetview;
The streetlights are in the center of the road, meaning that the sides of the road, and especially anything at the top of the bank, would have been very poorly lit - they would only have had good lighting when the figure was moving at full-speed in the centre of the road;
There's a pedestrian walkway along the road, and it's within a km of developed areas, so it's not totally unlikely there might have been a pedestrian, even at 10 pm in February - there's even a pedestrian crossing set up right about where I linked the streetview to start - and speaking as somebody who walks across 4 lane highways all the time, it might be an odd thing for Mrs Martin to see, but it's not that odd (...especially near a college).
That small stretch of road is also in what I would consider prime deer country, in my home area; I can't speak authoritatively for Surrey, but a small patch of open field backed by forest is exactly where I'd expect deer to be leaping out on the road, in February (and scaring the bejeezus out of me, too.) (Of course it's also prime country for man-wolf and ape-man sightings, so, hey.) The internet is divided on this issue - some sites are saying there are no more deer in Nonsuch Park, but then this warns to watch out for deer, so I shouldn't be surprised if there are deer there now, but they're rare enough to seem genuinely weird.
(the weather was cloudy and not too cold for february; the moon was in its third quarter - not sure what bearing that had on the sighting, except that it's fairly reasonable that animals and/or people would be out, and it's a useful thing to look up just in case.)
no subject
Then I realized that I do have the internet and can do my own damn legwork. :P
So I went and google maps'd it. The only stretch of the Ewell Bypass (aka the a24) near Nescot College that has anything I'd describe as a 15ft bank on the correct side of the road, coming from Stoneleigh, is this stretch, about a km north of the college, near Nonsuch Park
Things to bear in mind: The "bank" in question is sloped at no more than 45 degrees, and the "central fencing", for most of the way, is a simple concrete guardrail less than 2ft high; and in the original quotations I've found, he's described as "climbing" rather than "jumping" the bank - neither of these are unreasonable for a normal human being, given what I'm seeing on Streetview;
The streetlights are in the center of the road, meaning that the sides of the road, and especially anything at the top of the bank, would have been very poorly lit - they would only have had good lighting when the figure was moving at full-speed in the centre of the road;
There's a pedestrian walkway along the road, and it's within a km of developed areas, so it's not totally unlikely there might have been a pedestrian, even at 10 pm in February - there's even a pedestrian crossing set up right about where I linked the streetview to start - and speaking as somebody who walks across 4 lane highways all the time, it might be an odd thing for Mrs Martin to see, but it's not that odd (...especially near a college).
That small stretch of road is also in what I would consider prime deer country, in my home area; I can't speak authoritatively for Surrey, but a small patch of open field backed by forest is exactly where I'd expect deer to be leaping out on the road, in February (and scaring the bejeezus out of me, too.) (Of course it's also prime country for man-wolf and ape-man sightings, so, hey.) The internet is divided on this issue - some sites are saying there are no more deer in Nonsuch Park, but then this warns to watch out for deer, so I shouldn't be surprised if there are deer there now, but they're rare enough to seem genuinely weird.
(the weather was cloudy and not too cold for february; the moon was in its third quarter - not sure what bearing that had on the sighting, except that it's fairly reasonable that animals and/or people would be out, and it's a useful thing to look up just in case.)
Given the above, and that the taxi driver didn't think it was that creepy, I'm going with "perfectly natural creature that startled them in the dark."