Smart motorways [emoji35]

Sadly its not just the smart motorway that are unsafe to be on .
Tragically i had a colleague killed on the hard shoulder of the M1 almost ten years ago whilst changing a car tyre , and almost forty years ago a friend killed on the hard shoulder whist refuelling a vehicle from a Jerry can . Please be extremely careful on all roads not just the so called smart roads

 

My brother works for Highways England and told me about this guy the other day that thought it'd be a good idea to change his tyre in the fast lane! How he wasn't killed I don't know:

https://www.staffordshire-live.co.uk/news/driver-pulls-up-fast-lane-5346877

 

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The great thing about Smart Motorways is that this is probably actually a safer place to stop.

(Just proving what a stupid concept it is of allowing running at 70mph without somewhere to stop safely immediately. All lanes at 50 seem quite safe by comparison )

In lane 1 you have semi-sentient trundlers and trucks that cant stop.
In lane 3 you have more alert drivers...

 

I think breaking down on a smart motorway is the greatest risk you face on today’s motorways. I think the second biggest risk is when a vehicle in lane 1 and another in lane 3 both decide to occupy lane 2 and converge on each other unsighted. It can be no-one’s fault, but more likely to be caused by the vehicle in lane 1 undertaking. I only man-splained this yesterday to the wife and couldn’t believe earlier today when it happened right in front of me on the M25 exit to M3. Brown trousers just watching it unfold.

 

Are we talking about the same thing Mike ??
They`re an abomination , the whole concept behind them being nothing ever goes wrong - fine - until it does and then people die . Even (most of) the A1 has a grassed / ballasted area before the barriers - enough to get a car or van out of the way . The `smart` option would be better if the budget catered for moving the barrier back 10 feet and allowing for this escape area but that`s too sensible - far easier and cheaper to just repaint some lines with a stupid `refuge` every now and again . How anyone could possibly see these as a good idea hasn`t sat at the side of a 70 mph motorway , even with the car on the hard shoulder and passengers out of the way it`s scary .
Scenario ...
Engine cuts out in the slow or middle lane , think about your options - 60 mph and you`re freewheeling , hopefully someone sees your predicament and lets you in but it`s still half a mile to the refuge , get out and push ??

Hopefully you won`t have that problem as you live in the fast lane where the drivers are apparently more alert .

Glad you`re all ok @paul2590 , they`re scary at the best of times ..

 

I use that junction a lot , pathetic set up of lane order


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Chris, has the word Smart been manipulated like the word Gay


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The lane order is fine , it` the knobheads who go hammering up the two inside lanes for the M3 the bypass the main M25 queues then shoot across and cut into the traffic .

Anyone from T`North , it`s a miracle anyone is still alive down `ere ...

 

The problem stems from Between Junc 3 and M25 , 4 lanes I need to get in the 3rd lane at 50 while every else is hammering 70 plus , and you feel like a sitting duck


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Yep - coming back , under the M25 .

I just get in lane 3 and gun it but the potential for disaster is obvious ..

 

I was being partly serious - on an effing Smart motorway, nowhere is safe, but people in lane 3 are more likely to be aware of what is happening than people in lane 1.

So if you do something very stupid in lane 3 you get noticed, in lane 1 you are a target for the person tanking up undertaking in the MPV who doesnt spot the stopped or slow vehicle until they are 10 metres from it. Like the original Landrovers that were driving down the M3 on the way back from TE doing 40mph.. I saw it, pulled out in the Bay, and the Landrover MPV blob thing shot past me to the left doing 70 still. Then whacked on the brakes and swerved out, and started flashing cars in front of them. So I flashed them and discovered how bright LED headlamps are on main beam. They noticed..

Seriously, I think I will sit in lane 2 in the Bay doing 65-70..

In lane 1 they are driving their Micra very slowly but not actually aware of where they are going. Or the truck they are tailgating swerves out and uncovers the stopped vehicle ...

It is demonstrable from all of the roadworks going on that motorways without hard shoulders are OK if the limit is enforced at 50mph but not at 70mph.

 

Most of europe have motorways but they somehow seem more relaxed than our roads , i hate riding my motorbike in the UK but i feel totally safe abroad .
There are far more simple lay-bys with just toilet facilities and bench seats to relax for a while without massive service stations to fleece you and theres loads of them , they seem to be every five miles or so. The car drivers are more aware of bikers and give way gladly rather than try to box you out of road space as they do here.
We have a lot to learn about roads here , the romans did try but we didn't take anything on board

 

..those smart m’ways (and pretty much everything ‚smart’) is a horrible idea..I dread every time need to use it..and I use them alot for work unfortunatelly..imho they ones of the most dangerous roads out in Europe..could tell you stories about stranded vehicles in the dark mornings with no hazards on (electric failures?), cars vans in lane 1 and no speed limit in force..it even happened on the way to TE and back last year..in the meantime at 3 or 4 am when I’m out on the road and no traffic really apart ftom some odd lorries..speed limit in force..queue slow down 40..and you can clearlly see few miles in front of you theres nothing there..almost no traffic..m1 j31 up to j34 is notorious for this..it is a money maker for them that’s what it is


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Looking on the bright side of those stupid signs, I got one of the "too late to get off the motorway" diversion signs once but the road was clear - if there had been a sign in time and I'd heeded the diversion advice it would have taken me another hour to get home.

 

Can of worms but whats all this 'fast' lane' 'slow lane' stuff? Are they not just over taking lanes? Unless the gantries say otherwise its the same speed in all lanes. For me that's part of the trouble - a huge majority of drivers not keeping left forcing other drivers to move around them unnecessarily. Particularly when they are travelling slower than the limit that has been set.

Sadly though I do agree that artificially creating a hard shoulder by sitting in lane 2 on an ALR motorway can often be the safest for you and anyone else who may have broken down...