Smart Motorways

[COYBL25]

I recently had the pleasure of breaking down, on the stretch of smart motorway, just before Burtonwood Services, on the M62 and just about managed to limp off the motorway and onto the slip road and to safety.

I must admit, to being more than a tad worried about the possible consequences, of stopping dead in an active lane of the motorway and it`s certainly made me seriously think about avoiding stretches of motorway, where there is no hard shoulder again.

 

[Muggins]

Mate there’s been a few deaths due to these smart motorways and campaigns are an ongoing to get it stopped.

The hard shoulder is a dangerous place anyway due to its proximity to fast moving traffic 70mph plus. Turning into a normal lane because of a lack of planning for the future is not the answer for me.

If you do break down again just get over the barrier and up the verge as fast as you can mate.

 

[ste d' indica]

Mate there’s been a few deaths due to these smart motorways and campaigns are an ongoing to get it stopped.

The hard shoulder is a dangerous place anyway due to its proximity to fast moving traffic 70mph plus. Turning into a normal lane because of a lack of planning for the future is not the answer for me.

If you do break down again just get over the barrier and up the verge as fast as you can mate.

Not an option though if you're disabled, OAP, with a family etc.
Dreadful idea smart motorways, need binning right off.

 

[peteblue]

They are and always have been dangerous. they should be binned ASAP……

 

[chrissyjack]

Who thought turning the breakdown safety lane into a normal one was a good idea

 

[Gabagool]

I recently had the pleasure of breaking down, on the stretch of smart motorway, just before Burtonwood Services, on the M62 and just about managed to limp off the motorway and onto the slip road and to safety.

Read the first half of this in Alan Partridge's voice.

On topic, I saw any further rollout of them has been delayed until at least 2025. However, in the meantime, what do they propose to do to the already converted stretches of motorway which still pose significant dangers?

 

[The binman chronicles]

Not a fan, perhaps they can be used in severe congestion when the rest of the lanes are blocked and traffic is going < 30 mph. Normal speeds are just crazy.

 

[BlueandWhite]

Horrendous waste of money and time, need binning ASAP

 

[Lob]

Put simply, there is nothing smart about having a fast motorway with no hard shoulder for emergencies. It is actually the complete opposite of smart.

 

[Muggins]

Not an option though if you're disabled, OAP, with a family etc.
Dreadful idea smart motorways, need binning right off.

Very good point mate.

 

[COYBL25]

Not an option though if you're disabled, OAP, with a family etc.
Dreadful idea smart motorways, need binning right off.

Or of it`s the middle of the night, howling a gale, teeming and freezing.

 

[Daveysgingerlovechild]

An absolute menace. See, I'm not necessarily against the principle, just the execution. The hard shoulder issue is one thing - you're very much reliant on efficient and effective monitoring for the motorway lane to be closed.

The other thing that does my nut in is the random decreases and increases in speed, often for no obvious reason. Half the time it looks like a hangover from an earlier incident but the speeds ain't been reset. Either way, seems to be the cause of traffic coming to a standstill. That 40 limit is a laugh. Motorway euphemism for 'standstill'.

Bah.

 

[chrismpw]

Tories doing the relatively cheap option of not widening the road properly while simultaneously lobbing vast amounts of cash to their preferred contractors to put up cameras. The kick backs into the offshore tory accounts will be enormous.

 

[peteblue]

Tories doing the relatively cheap option of not widening the road properly while simultaneously lobbing vast amounts of cash to their preferred contractors to put up cameras. The kick backs into the offshore tory accounts will be enormous.

Unfortunately the first one was the M42 in the Midlands in 2006 under the Tony B.liar government……

 

[PhilM]

An absolute menace. See, I'm not necessarily against the principle, just the execution. The hard shoulder issue is one thing - you're very much reliant on efficient and effective monitoring for the motorway lane to be closed.

The other thing that does my nut in is the random decreases and increases in speed, often for no obvious reason. Half the time it looks like a hangover from an earlier incident but the speeds ain't been reset. Either way, seems to be the cause of traffic coming to a standstill. That 40 limit is a laugh. Motorway euphemism for 'standstill'.

Bah.

Which the system does not - it's neither not installed nor working effectively on large swathes of the 'smart network', with many breakdowns not detected.

Firstly, the minimum space between safety zones/refuges often exceeds the recommendation that the network was based upon - should be a max of 800m.*

There's parts of the network where it's almost double that being 1.5km apart. Then, circa 25% of the network* actually has working monitoring radar.

Some of the 75% does have radar that's installed but not active or working to standard, but nearly 50% has none! Let's not beat around the bush, it's criminal.

The other little snippet is that nationally most static speed cameras aren't active any more, so people slowing down etc. is pointless. Merseyside's are on though.

If you stop on a smart motorway, get out of your car and up the embankment like your life depends on it because it truly does.

*the actual recommendation is 500metres.