Smart motorways

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Atavus said:
They can’t understand bus lanes where I live. Many drivers are too thick for smart motorways.
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I’ll confess that I like the drivers who can’t understand bus lanes. I love driving up the out of time bus lanes whilst the majority of traffic queues up to my right.
 
I personally would not want to breakdown on a motorway that doesnt have a hard shoulder especially seeing how some people drive and ignore closed lane signs etc. in theory I love the smart motorway tech but in practice, human error can undo all of the benefits very easily!
 
KillerHERTZ said:
They are dangerous, break down and your screwed.

Death of 62-year-old woman on M1 set to reignite smart motorway debate
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You’re only screwed because people drive without their eyes on the road in front of them. It’s not the fault of the road.

Many years ago I had to take a company Ford Mundeno to our storage compound about 10 miles away. The OBC showed the remaining miles as over 20 when it ran out of fuel - on the M3 - in roadworks. The hard shoulder was being used as a temporary lane but it was where I had to stop. I couldn’t get onto the grass verge. Despite the hazard lights being on, people still drove right up to the Ford and were stuck there. And people got stuck behind them. And so on. According to the BBC, the tailback extended over five miles. Of course it took forever for a colleague to get to me with a can of petrol. All because people don’t look where they’re going (and because I trusted a Ford computer!)
 
A couple of us old farts were having a discussion in the pub the other day about a local road junction that had just been 'improved' with various traffic lights and bollards.

We all agreed that it was a total mess and has turned this particular junction into a confusing clusterfruck, some of my fellow imbibers have been negotiating this (and other) local junctions for over 40 years.

After a few more pints and much discussion about other local road 'improvements' we came to the conclusion that many of the new road designs were done using computer models by some Braniac who has probably never even driven a car in real life in real traffic.

Having unanimously deciding that must be the answer we ordered another round and moved the conversation back to something else that should have been pretty straight forward using joined up thinking but had also been turned into a clusterfruck.....Brexit. But I digress :rolleyes:
 
The linked report is specifically about dynamic hard shoulder "smart" motorways, which are to some extent a special case in that depending upon fixed time of day and/or active signage the hard shoulder either represents a "safe" refuge for a broken down vehicle or is a live running lane. I can understand that causing confusion.

Frankly, it's my view that all "smart" motorways that do not have a continually available refuge lane (hard shoulder) are an unnecessarily dangerous proposition. On motorways, because most traffic is travelling at a similar speed, drivers lose perspective of their absolute speed and thus (incorrectly) tend to lower their concentration level. In addition motorways are monotonous roads to drive on meaning that attention wanders, and this coupled with the cues that would normally heighten awareness in the driver being missing leads to failure to correctly analyse the situation in front of them, with sometimes catastrophic consequences. It's a truism that very few drivers have ever practiced an emergency stop from 70mph, and probably even fewer who have actually had to do it for real, so the combination of their slow reaction to the hazard plus their poor car control due to lack of experience are a recipe for disaster.

Advice for anyone stopped on a conventional hard shoulder has always been to leave the vehicle, and wait at the side of the road well away from the carriageway. Why? Because the chances are relatively high that another inattentive driver drifts partially into the hard shoulder and hits the stopped vehicle at speed. Despite this, some bunch of clowns think having no refuge lane to stop in - meaning the stationary vehicle is in a live running lane - is safe because there is remote video monitoring of the lanes and if an operator spots a stationary vehicle they will illuminate a "lane closed" sign in advance of it. You couldn't make it up.
 
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Petrol Pete said:
A couple of us old farts were having a discussion in the pub the other day about a local road junction that had just been 'improved' with various traffic lights and bollards.

We all agreed that it was a total mess and has turned this particular junction into a confusing clusterfruck, some of my fellow imbibers have been negotiating this (and other) local junctions for over 40 years.

After a few more pints and much discussion about other local road 'improvements' we came to the conclusion that many of the new road designs were done using computer models by some Braniac who has probably never even driven a car in real life in real traffic.

Having unanimously deciding that must be the answer we ordered another round and moved the conversation back to something else that should have been pretty straight forward using joined up thinking but had also been turned into a clusterfruck.....Brexit. But I digress :rolleyes:
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When I had a house in France, the closest town of any size could almost reach gridlock sometimes, especially on market days. It was decided to remove all traffic lights (except 1 set by the emergency services depot) and there are now very few traffic issues (and very few resulting accidents which were all minor bumps). I know this may not work in larger towns, but still!

And wish they would allow left turn on red in the UK. The equivalent works in the USA!
 
knighterrant said:
You’re only screwed because people drive without their eyes on the road in front of them. It’s not the fault of the road.
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I dont agree with this myself, so you have 3 lanes of steady traffic and your tyre blows in the middle lane, you are forced to slam on the brakes and come to a holt and there is no space/time to move over.
Meanwhile a mile down the road you have 100s of cars driving at say 65/70 Mph, they are not going to all come to a controlled steady stop even with the best will in the world? of course not.

Totall dangerous IMO!
 
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You can make motorways as smart as you like but it doesn't get over the fact that in my lifetime the global population has increased by 3.5 times which means there are 3.5 times as many stupid people out there to deal with.
 
Being a belt-and-braces type of guy, I instinctively don't like roads that have no hard shoulder. Motorways or otherwise.

Said that, I am not sure there's scientific evidence that Smart Motorways are less safe overall when compared to other similar (non-Smart) Motorways. Individual stories about potentially-avoidable deaths on Smart Motorways are anecdotal evidence that merit further research, but they are not in themselves proof.
 
KillerHERTZ said:
I dont agree with this myself, so you have 3 lanes of steady traffic and your tyre blows in the middle lane, you are forced to slam on the brakes and come to a holt and there is no space/time to move over.
Meanwhile a mile down the road you have 100s of cars driving at say 65/70 Mph, they are not going to all come to a controlled steady stop even with the best will in the world? of course not.

Totall dangerous IMO!
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IF, and I do know that’s a totally unlikely if, everyone is driving correctly with sufficient space between vehicles, there will not be a problem with this scenario.

I really must take you to task with your set up for your dangerous situation: “...your tyre blows in the middle lane, you are forced to slam on the brakes and come to a holt [sic] and there is no space/time to move over.” Slamming on your brakes in the event of a blown tyre is the worst thing to do if it’s a front tyre. Steady heavy braking may help in the event of a rear tyre blowout because it will move the car’s weight to the front, but still don’t slam the brakes on. A good grip of the steering wheel is the most important thing.
 
Speaking of motorways I’d like to know which buffoon decided it would be a good idea to put traffic lights on slip roads ? :doh:
I have never encountered one set of lights that works effectively.
Most of our local ones are now switched off.
 
Well of course smart motorways are a stupid idea,to imagine that there will be people to switch off and on motorway signs is plain crazy,I lost count of the number of times on the M4 with the sun blazing down that I went past at least two signs warning of fog,anybody braking down on a smart motorway has that absolute fear that they will be involved in a accident,and just how do they get out and make a run it.
 
I always thought motorways without hard shoulders was the most stupid idea ever.

Then someone pointed out that dual carriageways don't have hard shoulders and we are all doing 70mph on those.

I'm confused now:confused::confused::confused::confused::confused:
 
I’m not a fan of smart motorways.

One gantry will show 40mph, I’ll brake to slow down and no one else will, making me feel like some kind of rolling road block. Then the next gantry literally 400ft away will be 70 NSL, what’s the point. :wallbash:

IMO it’s just an excuse to fit loads of speed cameras.
 
I don't find smart motorways all that smart.
I regularly see confusing and contradictory speed signage ... Speed limits that go up and down for no other reason than to raise money in fines.
Regarding the elimination of the hard shoulder - The thought of a breakdown in those areas frightens me to death.
I've always taken the view that where safety is concerned, you have to cater for fools and bloody-fools.
 
Smart motorways, presupposes smart drivers... that's the problem
 
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