Smart. Motorways are safe

Smart motorways are safe. Don’t believe me read below.

Smart motorways are the safest roads on the strategic road network, in terms of serious or fatal casualties, according to new analysis from National Highways (NH).

The new data was published this week in NH’s Smart Motorway Stocktake – the Second Year Progress Report, along with information on the progress of the installation of additional safety features on the routes.

Smart motorways include the removal of the hard shoulder across large swathes of their routes, known as all lane running (ALR), with drivers required to exit the slow lane once a Red X signal shows, to avoid colliding with broken down vehicles.

They aim to cut congestion and improve the flow of freight around the county but became the subject of a government review last year after rising concerns about a number of fatal accidents occuring on ALR routes.

The review saw DfT order a five year halt to the roll-out of new ALR schemes in January this year and a call for more safety and economic data.

The annual Stocktake reports are part of a number of measures to help improve safety on the routes. The latest report lists the safety improvements made so far on the Smart Motorway routes. These include additional cameras and additional signs to inform drivers of the distance to the next lay-by in areas where there is no hard shoulder.

Another improvement is the roll-out of radar-based technology that can spot a stopped or broken-down vehicle on over 200 miles of ALR motorway which will be launched by the end of September 2022.

The report also includes new data which NH says confirms that overall, in terms of serious or fatal casualties, smart motorways are the safest roads on the strategic road network. The data also indicates that the risk of a collision between moving vehicles is lower on ALR and Dynamic Hard Shoulder (DHS) motorways – where the hard shoulder operates only part-time – than conventional motorways.

Nick Harris, NH chief executive, said: "The latest data shows that, overall, in terms of serious or fatal casualties, smart motorways are our safest roads. We are continuing our work to make them our safest roads in every way. We will continue to build on the work already undertaken and continue to put safety first to help ensure drivers have confidence in the motorway network.

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Roads Minister Baroness Vere said: "We have come a long way in the two years since the smart motorway evidence stocktake and action plan was published. We took the decision to pause the rollout of new smart motorways earlier this year to collect more data and have upgraded hundreds of miles of roads with enforcement cameras, stopped vehicle detection and better signage.

"This progress report shows we continue to make good progress delivering our commitments, including the installation of new safety equipment within the next five months. However, there should be no upper limit on the safety of our roads which is why I, alongside the Transport Secretary, will continue to do everything I can to ensure drivers are as safe and feel as safe as they possibly can.

The report shows that by mid-April 2022 NH had:

Upgraded 96% (92 out of 95) of enforcement cameras on smart motorways so they can be used to automatically detect vehicles passing under a Red X or entering a lane beyond a Red X. This potentially allows police to issue £100 fines to drivers without having to spot them in the act, as was the case previously;
Installed more than 330 additional signs to better inform drivers of the distance to the next place to stop in an emergency. By the end of September 2022 drivers will almost always be able to see a sign informing them of the distance to the next place to stop in an emergency;
Worked to put SVD technology in place on more than 100 miles of ALR smart motorways. The technology is able to send alerts to National Highways’ control rooms which are then investigated by its operators.
The report also confirms that National Highways is on course to meet the accelerated timetable – first published last year – to complete the roll-out of this safety equipment and technology by the end of September 2022.
NH added that this means that within the next five months all 95 enforcement cameras will have been upgraded to enable increased compliance with Red X signals and the SVD roll-out on ALR stretches will be completed. These target dates, first set out in the 2021 stocktake progress report, were between six and 10 months earlier than previously planned, NH added.

I know they keep saying how safe they but I just cant understand how taking away the hard shoulder makes the road,I cant get my head around it.Especially when the crash barrier is there,you dont even have the option of getting on the grass verge(if youre in a car)

Sploom:
I know they keep saying how safe they but I just cant understand how taking away the hard shoulder makes the road,I cant get my head around it.Especially when the crash barrier is there,you dont even have the option of getting on the grass verge(if youre in a car)

No different from dual carriage ways. In fact, there’s more lanes to get round a problem. But only if you spot the problem in time…

Smart motorways are safe…it’s the idiots that use them that are not

RIPPER:
Smart motorways are safe…it’s the idiots that use them that are not

i was just going to say the same thing

I think an IQ test is needed before being allowed to drive on a smart motorway then it will be totally safe

Also all French cars Renault trucks and dacia car to be banned

TruckDriverBen:
I think an IQ test is needed before being allowed to drive on a smart motorway then it will be totally safe

Also all French cars Renault trucks and dacia car to be banned

I would add Nissan Micra and Toyota Prius…Oh and any car with a straw hat on the rear parcel shelf

Wonder if the accident rates used for this are being selectively chosen, maybe based on the long period of govt induced national self destruction, otherwise known as lockdown and the subsequent destruction of businesses with resulting reduction of weekday commercial traffic levels.

Where they are dangerous is in unlit sections in darkness, when breaking down in a car or small vehicle would be a dicey time.
There were articles stating the number and frequency of refuges would be increased, as usual it was all ■■■■■■■■, despite all the equipment and roadworks being in place when that was announced it never happened, most of us knew they were lying, they’re always lying.

They’re here to stay and the network will be expanded, it’s a necessary (but ill fated i suspect) part of their obsession for autonomous vehicle control.

Juddian:
Wonder if the accident rates used for this are being selectively chosen, maybe based on the long period of govt induced national self destruction, otherwise known as lockdown and the subsequent destruction of businesses with resulting reduction of weekday commercial traffic levels.

Where they are dangerous is in unlit sections in darkness, when breaking down in a car or small vehicle would be a dicey time.
There were articles stating the number and frequency of refuges would be increased, as usual it was all ■■■■■■■■, despite all the equipment and roadworks being in place when that was announced it never happened, most of us knew they were lying, they’re always lying.

They’re here to stay and the network will be expanded, it’s a necessary (but ill fated i suspect) part of their obsession for autonomous vehicle control.

You start to sound more and more like currywürst
You need to snap out of this my friend,. I agree with your distrust of the gubernmenr, and the MSM, haven’t read a newspaper for years myself, but the same goes for the Internet. Its easy to get drawn into the opposite view, but they are just as unreliable as the MSM, and just as them, push their own agenda. And you are starting to sound increasingly like our rezident conspiracyist-in-chief…

And even if we proof that the world is run by lizards, and we take up pitchforks, and kill the bildermountains, the Billy gate’s, the gubernment, then what? We all live happily ever after, in a hippy utopia of free love and mead? Or the next bunch of shysters take command?

Read Animal Farm (I know you have). It was always thus, it will always be thus. Its the way of our species.

Change always happens, accept it, and be happier.

RIPPER:
Smart motorways are safe…it’s the idiots that use them that are not

^^^^^^This ^^^^^^
We all have heard the story about the guy who was killed on a smart motorway near Sheffield a few years ago and it’s his widow who is the one who is campaigning for them to be banned, he died because he was stood in a live lane arguing the toss about who’s fault it was & exchanging insurance details with another driver after a minor bump, instead of getting behind the barrier or pulling off the motorway network to a place of safety. Whether there’s a 30ft drop down an embankment behind the barrier or it’s 5 mile to the next exit as she keeps banging on about, it’s better than being dead

Yep they are perfectly safe if used correctly,.and a bit more care and alertness is practiced.
They become dangerous when you chuck the idiots into the equation, the careless and apathetic car drivers,.and the same type car drivers who have managed to blag a truck licence, and.who are driving their trucks like their cars.

The ones who refuse to use them properly, in favour of staying in the wrong lane, for whatever misguided self righteous reason, are equally as guilty I reckon also.

My youngest daughter, her partner, who doesn’t drive, and their 5 yr old and toddler went on their hols on the M6 last week, I made her make sure that they had a plan in place to get everybody out asap if ending up on the hard shoulder, or worse on a smart, perfectly safe if everyone else on the road is alert, …but again, ‘‘the idiots’’.

I’m not sure if motorway driving is taught as part of a car test - when i did mine I’m sure learners weren’t allowed on motorways?

My nephew did a pass plus after passing his test because it lowers insurance premiums and I thought that was a decent idea because it opens them up to situations like motorway, driving in the dark, bad weather etc etc. But it’s optional. Maybe something like that should be made mandatory?