Smart motorways .. safety to be reviewed

Its likely no more are going to be built ...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...w-wake-telegraph-investigation-driver-safety/

 

They aren’t really that smart, are they?

 

not when your on one

 

Can't stand them. If you're towing in the slow lane and it suddenly becomes smart, how are you supposed to get into the hard shoulder lane with traffic whizzing past on the inside? And if you do manage it, you then have to pull out again when the smart bit finishes. I just stay in the lane I'm in. Much safer like that.

And if I'd been on a smart motorway when I had a blowout, I dread to think what the traffic behind me would have done when I made a rapid stop. Just bloody dangerous imho.

 

I sposeya smart suit will clash a bit when you off ta office, usual dicks who don’t have experience of driving properly designing them huh !! God help the world fa lazyness

 

Anyone could see they were a stupid idea. How on earth did the whole farrago get so far? And ‘ow mooch was spent on the things?
Mutter mutter...

 

You just HAD to mention that Nigel fella didn't you!
..... and another thing ......
Half the drivers in a motorway roadworks "average speed check" area don't seem to know that the black on yellow arrows mean stay in lane
(chunter mutter chunter mutter)

 

The variable speed bit works in high traffic areas I'm 100% certain. The rest is rubbish and not safe. I do wonder if it's safety of the public or the people working/recovery teams that has them running scared of a loss of life claim. They assumed that cars where so good they would just limp to a recovery area. News flash cars ain't

 

I hate the numptys who slow down passing cameras in an average speed check section.


I think they are the same annoying people who have to slow down to read gantry signs.

 

Obviously , the theory being they are a cheap way to keep the traffic moving by utilizing the hard shoulder , opening it ONLY when traffic conditions deem it necessary isn`t a problem with me , that works as the traffic is moving slowly anyway . Problems start when the hard shoulder becomes a normal lane with traffic often travelling at 70 mph and a`refuge area` every couple of miles - a `smart` motorway apparently .
Was trundling down the M3 the other day and thinking if the van suddenly died how could i possibly get it safely out of the way as the barrier to kerb gap has been reduced to about a meter ??

However close i managed to get to the barrier the van would still be a couple of feet into the road , how smart is that ??

Problem is the planners are justifying their pathetic little job by coming up with these ridiculous and dangerous schemes . I`d sooner sit for an hour in traffic than have these clearly dangerous motorways become the norm ...

The idea is everyone gets as safely as possible NOT as quickly as possible , a fact obviously missed by the planners .

Planners are pillocks - FACT

 

I drive 30 miles on them everyday, congestion is far far lower.

Modern cars are way more reliable...concerned about your old cars reliability? We’ll simply ban them. Why inconvenience hundreds of thousands of people everyday, cost hundreds of millions to rectify in a non ‘smart’ way to ensure a minute minority of non road tax paying hobbyists?

I think we as a community need to be careful what we wish for. I don’t disagree about the safety issue btw.

 

That's how a few have died...
Including a 7 yr old
Not enough room to get offthe live carriageway..

 

so whats the difference between a smart motorway and duel carriage ( not counting the number of lanes) ? check the A1 north of grantham no safety space at the edge of the road occasional laybys 70mph speed limit

 

Probably less people ,
bored,
not paying attention,
dozing off,
texting

 

There was a tv show on only a couple of weeks ago about the motorway. The guys in the control room said that the idea of the variable speed limit it to slow the vehicles down, so they don’t need as much distance in between them, so they can get more vehicles into the same piece of road. I thought at the time how daft that was, they were effectively saying ignore all the advice for years about keeping a safe distance, were are going to use technology to bunch you all up. But at least if you do get rear ended because everyone is so close, it will only be at 50mph and not 70.

theres very little smart about them. They are just a money making scheme. If you constantly change the speed limit on the gantry you can generate a lot more speeding fines.

 

Way more reliable? Didn't yours go bang the other day? Did it go bang in the 30 miles of a Smart section of motorway?!

 

Agree, and I considered that when I wrote the point....it was just on the A5 around 20 miles north of Eddy’s farm and I agree I’d have had a major issue had it happened on my usual commute, but am unsure loosing all power on a boggo motorway would have been any better.

I just think old cars will get banned if the community simply complains about the whole thing

 

I also think this is part of the overall plan .
How long before vehicles taxed as 'historic' are banned from certain areas and/or have mileage restrictions imposed ??

My thinking is enjoy it while we can - this could be a golden age ....



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I agree, the DVLA must be authorising thousands of Historic status requests every year now, all reverting to zero tax income. At the very least I would imagine tax to be reintroduced and then increased to reflect polluting, inefficient vehicles. I think the trigger will be the latest import fad for old Yank vehicles, paying zero tax whilst running 6 litre engines.