Maybe, just maybe some sense at last…
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-50169527
I just had radio Manchester on. Caught back end about them being revised.
Then somone said official advice if worst happens hazard lights on. Move over to passenger seat if possible seatbelt on and in brace position incase worst happens and await help.
Unbelievable.
If worst happens get out passenger side asap n put the road up the verge
edd1974:
I just had radio Manchester on. Caught back end about them being revised.
Then somone said official advice if worst happens hazard lights on. Move over to passenger seat if possible seatbelt on and in brace position incase worst happens and await help.
Unbelievable.
If worst happens get out passenger side asap n put the road up the verge
I was always told if you’re on the hard shoulder broken down, you get out and behind the barrier or up the bank away from the road.
The official advice for breaking down in what’s now a live lane is to sit there and brace?? Do these halfwits live on the same planet?
TheUncaringCowboy:
edd1974:
I just had radio Manchester on. Caught back end about them being revised.
Then somone said official advice if worst happens hazard lights on. Move over to passenger seat if possible seatbelt on and in brace position incase worst happens and await help.
Unbelievable.
If worst happens get out passenger side asap n put the road up the vergeI was always told if you’re on the hard shoulder broken down, you get out and behind the barrier or up the bank away from the road.
The official advice for breaking down in what’s now a live lane is to sit there and brace?? Do these halfwits live on the same planet?
Obviously not.
I know this maybe sounds nasty.
But I hope something hapoens.to one of them
They break down etc on a smart motorway then you can bet your life thinfs.will change somehow and be lots of enquireses.
But while it’s jo public they don’t care.
When it’s one of there own be a different matter
I said it was a recipe for disaster back in 2014 as did the RAC…
moomooland:
I said it was a recipe for disaster back in 2014 as did the RAC…
I’ve always said the same. Bloody lunacy to use the hard shoulder as a lane. While I don’t like it, I’d sooner sit in a traffic jam than have this moronic solution.
moomooland:
I said it was a recipe for disaster back in 2014 as did the RAC…
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
well 8 years ago you were arguing the toss with conor,so obviously you,the rac,and now all the other departments that want to look into the aspects of it are wrong. 
They are not about safety , they were rolled out to generate revenue, the sheer number of speed scameras only proves this
tommy t:
They are not about safety , they were rolled out to generate revenue, the sheer number of speed scameras only proves this
I’m guessing from your post you’re one of those morons incapable of driving at or below the limit and have been caught by one?
Anyone who has been driving lorries since before these came in knows how much better stretches of the motorway are now where all lane running is. Many of us can recall the daily car park that was whole stretches of the M42 and M62 around Leeds and M1 around Nottingham which now at least spend much longer moving than they did any time since the 1990s.
The problem with smart motorways isn’t the idea, it is that it appears that the standards of many drivers is so low that they can’t understand such a simple concept even with big neon signs saying “Use Hard Shoulder.”
Conor:
tommy t:
They are not about safety , they were rolled out to generate revenue, the sheer number of speed scameras only proves thisI’m guessing from your post you’re one of those morons incapable of driving at or below the limit and have been caught by one?
Anyone who has been driving lorries since before these came in knows how much better stretches of the motorway are now where all lane running is. Many of us can recall the daily car park that was whole stretches of the M42 and M62 around Leeds and M1 around Nottingham which now at least spend much longer moving than they did any time since the 1990s.
The problem with smart motorways isn’t the idea, it is that it appears that the standards of many drivers is so low that they can’t understand such a simple concept even with big neon signs saying “Use Hard Shoulder.”
Thw biggest problem with the m62 is that the hard shoulder/live running lane becomes a slip road for the next exit. All the vehicles that are trying to jump the queue by using it are now trying together back into the regular lanes, thus causing the queue that they were trying to jump!
As far as speed cameras are concerned, the simple fact that it was recently reported that the police were employing extra people to deal with all the tickets shows that, as an enforcement tool, speed cameras dont work.
And no, I haven’t been caught by one, but I’ve seen hundreds who have.
I wasn’t too keen on the concept when it first came out, but the idea does work if they are used properly and carefully.
However when you bring the idiots, the inept and the incompetents into the equation the system turns to crap.
As for accidents, it’s a fact of life and the law of a averages that you are always going to get them in any circumstance, but in this case the high profile ones are not as abundant as some would have you believe.
The highest annoyance on a smart M.way are those who refuse to use the hard shoulder as a lane for whatever reason, and turn it back into a 3 lane system thus just ■■■■ ing it up.
Cue Winseer with his famous ‘Driving an instrument of death’ routine. 
Conor:
Anyone who has been driving lorries since before these came in knows how much better stretches of the motorway are now where all lane running is. Many of us can recall the daily car park that was whole stretches of the M42 and M62 around Leeds and M1 around Nottingham which now at least spend much longer moving than they did any time since the 1990s.
The ones on the M42 seem to work fairly well although the hard shoulder should really be used to get off at the next junction, especially from the A34 to A41; the gaps are too short for using them if you’re not turning off.
The ‘smart’ bits of the M1 north of Northampton and Mansfield are dreadful and I’ve had two near misses on them. They’re supposed to warn you of stranded vehicles but often they don’t and one time I saw the warning behind the stranded car and when I called 999 and gave them the mile post number they said they didn’t use them!
If the dynamic ones aren’t working they need to better educate drivers and give clearer indications that the hard shoulder is closed. They are very much necessary and if they’re open, the speed limit should be no higher than 50mph.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
IndigoJo:
Conor:
Anyone who has been driving lorries since before these came in knows how much better stretches of the motorway are now where all lane running is. Many of us can recall the daily car park that was whole stretches of the M42 and M62 around Leeds and M1 around Nottingham which now at least spend much longer moving than they did any time since the 1990s.The ‘smart’ bits of the M1 north of Northampton and Mansfield are dreadful and I’ve had two near misses on them. They’re supposed to warn you of stranded vehicles but often they don’t and one time I saw the warning behind the stranded car and when I called 999 and gave them the mile post number they said they didn’t use them!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The most dangerous section of smart motorway out there, so far, that unlit Northamptonshire section soon to be extended right down to jct 13 when they’ve finished digging, many will be hurt and worse on that whole section.
No trouble in daylight in fact its working well, but in the dark it’s horrible not a light to be seen, must be terrifying to break down there in a car.
Doesn’t help they’ve put armco on the nearside almost the whole length let alone the dearth of refuges, if there was some grass left to the side you at least might have the chance to roll your car off the carriageway as it spluttered to a final halt.
You know how in years gone by we’d make midnight runs to the coast with our little kids asleep in the back, it was easier and arguably safer travelling at night then, not so sure i’d want to travel smart motorways in the dark with family aboard, on your own you can be out and away over the barrier in seconds…
Brilliant the 999 responders haven’t a clue what the mile markers might represent for siting of an incident, idiots that can’t communicate with each other in charge as usual.
It says in that article smart motorways are too complicated for a drivers. How?
If there’s a speed up in a red circle, don’t go above it
If there’s an arrow pointing left or right then when safe move out of that lane in the direction it’s saying
If there’s a red x then don’t go in it
If it says lane 1 or hard shoulder for junction x only then if you don’t want that junction move out of it
And if it says hard shoulder for emergency use only don’t drive in it.
If the hard shoulder is open as a lane then that should be treated as lane 1.
I wouldn’t say complicated. It’s a basic set of instructions to manage traffic.
All designed on a computer model,where traffic merges seamlessly and bad manners ate not a concept.
In reality,a cluster ■■■■ of varying abilities…All crammed together becoming more and frustrated by the length of time it takes to get anywhere.
And btw
What the actual ■■■■ is the bit around luton/dunstable all about?
commonrail:
All designed on a computer model,where traffic merges seamlessly and bad manners ate not a concept.
In reality,a cluster [zb] of varying abilities…All crammed together becoming more and frustrated by the length of time it takes to get anywhere.And btw
What the actual [zb] is the bit around luton/dunstable all about?
Yes this is correct. Take merging from 3 lanes down to 1 for example. A computer model probably shows that can be done without anyone actually having to stop. Slow down yes but not a few miles of stationary queue and half an hour delay for it. But in reality everyone sees the 800yard sign and moves over. Some don’t and carry on further down to merge. People who are already then stopped or crawling in the one lane get annoyed thinking that others are jumping the queue and think nah I’m having some of that, move out and then have to merge again further down. A computer model doesn’t compensate for human attitude and manners (or lack of)
Shame they don’t seem to work overall as they do help traffic flow when used correctly and could thus minimise accidents. So many people don’t know some basics of the highway code.
peterm:
moomooland:
I said it was a recipe for disaster back in 2014 as did the RAC…I’ve always said the same. Bloody lunacy to use the hard shoulder as a lane. While I don’t like it, I’d sooner sit in a traffic jam than have this moronic solution.
The old generations decided that we needed hard shoulders on motorways for a reason.If not they wouldn’t have bothered with them.
It would maybe help the situation if the Traffic Police were out and about as they once were, and concentrated on actual ‘policing’ lane discipline on motorways in high profile patrol cars, instead of three to a tractor unit with a camera harassing truckers and making a mint in fines.
Carryfast:
The old generations decided that we needed hard shoulders on motorways for a reason.If not they wouldn’t have bothered with them.
The old generations didn’t have cameras or changeable signs on gantries. Even the FOG warning signs were a pair of amber flashing lights, one above the other, on a pole in the centre reservation. This meant "Slow down to 50, it might be foggy (It probably was, 5 miles ago) .
In Principal, these Smart 
Motorways should be perfectly safe. Unfortunately there are 2 major flaws. IMHO
- Drivers being human.
- Gantry sign operators being pretty rubbish.
How often do we see signs lit up with a problem, so you slow down, comply, 10 miles later (OK maybe a slight exageration) you still haven’t seen the slightest reason why ?
Then the gantries light up with “End”, a mile later there is half a wooden pallet in lane one.
“Queue on sliproad” is a perfect example. It’s 3 in the morning, you’re keepin’ 'er lit. You’ve seen 12 other vehicles in the last half hour, 8 of those going the other way. Then you see the Q sign. 
How on earth can there be a Q ? Even if every vehicle I’ve seen going my way went down that sliproad, there still couldn’t be a Q. You drive past, there isn’t.
If drivers could trust gantry sign operators, perhaps “Smart Motorways” would work a bit better. They are professional gantry sign operators after all, in the same way as we are professional drivers.