edd1974:
Just a thought.
Smart motorways have been around a while and are here to stay
So why not make public adverts for tv social media etc.
Educate people about them.what it means etc.
I know it’s not excatly hard.
But for those out there that a bit slow.
A good hard hotong advertising campaign.
Might work.
Saying that when I did my cpc courses was shown some Australian road safety adverts n they were very graphic made you think.
Should do similar here
Personally…I don`t watch any TV adverts, the only social media I engage in are three basically club websites, I do not do twitter, FB or things like that.
I do not read newspapers…The only media I allow into my life is the radio and that has become very few times these days, I usually listen to my tunes or lectures via my phone and speakers, so I would never know about anything and I do find myself not knowing about recent legislation and changes and who are supposed to be famous
I’m the same as you, Tude, avoid all propaganda like the plague, one further, haven’t watched television as such for years now.
I’m also wondering how driver information broadcasts or education would help, when someone breaks down on a live lane at 6am on a dark wet morn with maybe not so agile passengers aboard, surely even the most brainwashed of people wouldn’t need instructing to get out of car and over the barrier…assuming they haven’t built a bloody great 12ft fence 2 ft t’other side of the armco, or that a 100ft drop doesn’t await them if an elevated section, and always assuming these people are able bodied.
What driver information film is going to change the attitude competence care or performance of the driver now approaching this stricken vehicle at anything from 52mph upwards, is an education film going to stop him cleaning said vehicle and its passengers up before they have effected an escape?
Yes the new AEBS systems might slow an approaching vehicle appreciably before impact, but when you see on another thread that johnny foreigners (native cowboys are available) can’t even spot bald tyres, loose for weeks wheelnuts, or feel a steering column UJ that’s about to crap itself, just how reliable do people think AEBS is going to be on such a well maintained vehicle, always assuming either the operator themselves hasn’t disabled it due to cost issues and the wheel attendant hasn’t switched it off if the vehicle has that facility.
Juddian:
I’m the same as you, Tude, avoid all propaganda like the plague, one further, haven’t watched television as such for years now.
I’m also wondering how driver information broadcasts or education would help, when someone breaks down on a live lane at 6am on a dark wet morn with maybe not so agile passengers aboard, surely even the most brainwashed of people wouldn’t need instructing to get out of car and over the barrier…assuming they haven’t built a bloody great 12ft fence 2 ft t’other side of the armco, or that a 100ft drop doesn’t await them if an elevated section, and always assuming these people are able bodied.
What driver information film is going to change the attitude competence care or performance of the driver now approaching this stricken vehicle at anything from 52mph upwards, is an education film going to stop him cleaning said vehicle and its passengers up before they have effected an escape?
Yes the new AEBS systems might slow an approaching vehicle appreciably before impact, but when you see on another thread that johnny foreigners (native cowboys are available) can’t even spot bald tyres, loose for weeks wheelnuts, or feel a steering column UJ that’s about to crap itself, just how reliable do people think AEBS is going to be on such a well maintained vehicle, always assuming either the operator themselves hasn’t disabled it due to cost issues and the wheel attendant hasn’t switched it off if the vehicle has that facility.
I think if I ever came across a vehicle in this situation, especially the dark, if I could safely react I would pull up behind them and shield them from possible danger…I have a trailer behind me and so not in direct danger and easier for traffic to see with the lighting as it is…I know other lorries do drive into the rear etc, but all I can do is better than nothing.
edd1974:
Just a thought.
Smart motorways have been around a while and are here to stay
So why not make public adverts for tv social media etc.
Educate people about them.what it means etc.
I know it’s not excatly hard.
But for those out there that a bit slow.
A good hard hotong advertising campaign.
Might work.
Saying that when I did my cpc courses was shown some Australian road safety adverts n they were very graphic made you think.
Should do similar here
I agree, some of the adverts and public information films from the 70s still stick in my mind, I remember them well…so they do have the desired effect.
A few shots of trucks and cars running into stationary vehicles would ram things home I reckon.
If they are responsible for avoiding a small number of road deaths they would be worth it.
As I said you can try an educate people as much as you like you wont change peoples attitudes. There has to be an element of personal accountability. Its not rocket science to stand the other side of the Aramco facing on coming traffic so you can see what is happening and react accordingly. Nor is it difficult to follow signs especially with the internet where you can google anything you don’t know and either find the answer yourself or find someone you can ask.
The issue is people cant be bothered to look after themselves and take responsibility for their own actions they think they have the god given right to just do what they want and sod everyone else.
My wife is disabled and cannot leave the car without her electric lift. With the best will in the world, this takes us five minutes to get her into her wheelchair. If I can do this without getting mashed, how do I then get her over the Armco? At least with a hard shoulder we’re in with a chance.
In the meantime, the man/woman in the control centre has spotted the problem and switched on the red X. Does this then create a force-field around my car to stop others mashing us?
No road is “safe”, but equally, there are no dangerous roads. Did you ever see a road jump up and hit somebody?
The only dangerous bit on any road is the person using it.
I think if I ever came across a vehicle in this situation, especially the dark, if I could safely react I would pull up behind them and shield them from possible danger…I have a trailer behind me and so not in direct danger and easier for traffic to see with the lighting as it is…I know other lorries do drive into the rear etc, but all I can do is better than nothing.
[/quote]
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
i would love to see the post complaining that " all i did was stop on the motorway behind a broken down car that had nothing to do with me and the cops prosecuted me for doing so as its illegal"
a broken down car isnt an emergency for anyone else driving past it other than some would be road warrior hero sticking their nose into someone elses business.
we already have rowley as our fantasy road commander,we dont need to hear it in stereo.
dieseldog999:
I think if I ever came across a vehicle in this situation, especially the dark, if I could safely react I would pull up behind them and shield them from possible danger…I have a trailer behind me and so not in direct danger and easier for traffic to see with the lighting as it is…I know other lorries do drive into the rear etc, but all I can do is better than nothing.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
i would love to see the post complaining that " all i did was stop on the motorway behind a broken down car that had nothing to do with me and the cops prosecuted me for doing so as its illegal"
a broken down car isnt an emergency for anyone else driving past it other than some would be road warrior hero sticking their nose into someone elses business.
we already have rowley as our fantasy road commander,we dont need to hear it in stereo.
[/quote]
Interesting how some of you perceive the actions of others, along with the labels that you use, it enables me to understand why UK lorry drivers will never stand as one to improve their lot, I hate to use stereotypes, but with this amount of evidence it feels difficult not to at times.
I know some of you will have an IQ in excess of 83, as you are able to be trained to use a large vehicle in relative safety, but it can`t be an excess of much in certain instances and I see this each day I use a road system in this country, not to mention those who blindly follow the rules without question.
It all states to me that we are due a cull in some way or other, let`s hope the corona pop will do it for us.
Tude:
Interesting how some of you perceive the actions of others, along with the labels that you use, it enables me to understand why UK lorry drivers will never stand as one to improve their lot, I hate to use stereotypes, but with this amount of evidence it feels difficult not to at times.
.
Can you explain your logic?
Two separate people on here, and at least one other on the other thread have agreed that your actions on smart mways are at the least mildly stupid, and at the most dangerous and illegal, so how do you concur from that…That you “understand now why drivers will never stick together to improve their lot”
Where is the connection exactly because I’m ■■■■ ed if I can see it.
Tude:
Interesting how some of you perceive the actions of others, along with the labels that you use, it enables me to understand why UK lorry drivers will never stand as one to improve their lot, I hate to use stereotypes, but with this amount of evidence it feels difficult not to at times.
.
Can you explain your logic?
Two separate people on here, and at least one other on the other thread have agreed that your actions on smart mways are at the least mildly stupid, and at the most dangerous and illegal, so how do you concur from that…That you “understand now why drivers will never stick together to improve their lot”
Where is the connection exactly because I’m [zb] ed if I can see it.
Verbal aggression and not being prepared to understand that someone else may have a different view from that of your own, indicates a certain level of intelligence, this level is usually not very useful to anyone and so it precludes them from forming coherent argument and being a part of progressive debate, moreover it imprisons them into a certain social structure, one that is seldom rewarding.
I despise Highways England senior management with a passion but they are not entirely to blame. Poor driving standards cause collisions. In my experience, the majority of live lane breakdowns are avoidable, ran out of fuel, puncture (that can be driven on) and when people breakdown in live lane they don’t call 999, they don’t get out of the vehicle and behind the barrier. People are saying the hard shoulder is safe. How many people have been killed on the hard shoulder. Drivers make any road dangerous. BUT HE didn’t put more resources into Smart motorways. They need more control room operators to monitor Smart motorway sections. My old control room often ran below minimum staffing levels. They needed more on road patrols and be allowed to patrol, not park up. The Government wanted it done on the cheap. Smart motorways require more resources from Highways England, more education for drivers on how to use them, decided on one system and stick with it ( either All Lane Running or nothing) , Do away with dynamic hard shoulder, it confuses drivers, but the main thing Smart motorways need are drivers driving at an appropriate standard which the majority don’t !
emmerson2:
My wife is disabled and cannot leave the car without her electric lift. With the best will in the world, this takes us five minutes to get her into her wheelchair. If I can do this without getting mashed, how do I then get her over the Armco? At least with a hard shoulder we’re in with a chance.
In the meantime, the man/woman in the control centre has spotted the problem and switched on the red X. Does this then create a force-field around my car to stop others mashing us?
No road is “safe”, but equally, there are no dangerous roads. Did you ever see a road jump up and hit somebody?
The only dangerous bit on any road is the person using it.
If this were my situation i would invest a few quid in a decent quality magnetic mount orange strobe light, pop it on the roof and lead the wire down to the cig lighter, you can get some that have an on/off switch on the cig plug with various strobe patterns to choose from, when chosen the pattern stays in the memory for next time, £40+ gets you a quite decent one about 6" square and about 2" high, they are seriously bright, far batter than hazards and at eye height for the what will typically be a lorry in the left hand lane…depending on the type of car you have you can get similar lights that could be affixed to the top insides of the rear window and semi perma wire them in.
Money where mouth is, i set up the Mrs 4x4 with a roof mag mount like this when she makes a regular trip because when she uses the motorways she’s travelling early morn and always has the dogs with her and her journey will include near enough an hour of unlit unsmart motorway, i know exactly what she would do in the event of a breakdown it would be round the back to extract the pooches.
I got that online from a proper place who sell such equipment professionally, come with longer leads than typical ebay fodder and rated for high speed use…check speed rating in the small print.
Maybe this seems overkill to some, but as we keep being told, these road ‘improvements’ are here to stay and the quality of driver using them is only going to get lower as they scrape under the barrel for the next cheapest option.
stuwozere1:
Going from Leeds to Manchester at 1am and was just approaching Hartshead Services. I came around a blind bend to be met by a stationary Vauxhall Corsa with no lights on in lane one. I couldn’t overtake as there was an artic in lane 2. For the first time the EBS actually saved me and the driver in lane 1.
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Yeah I drove past that, though im always in lane 2 at that stretch, dont see the point of moving over at hartshead when lane 1 straightaway goes to Bradford.
When I saw the car my immediate thought was, why the hell was there not one single warning in the preceding 5 miles. Very lucky that that stretch has full streetlighting so it was visible, as it had no hazards on either.
Love the impartial programme title…"Britain’s Killer Motorways’’
Looks like the viewer’s minds have already been made up for them.
Maybe “Britains potentially more dangerous motorways” would have been more like it, and more accurate.
cooper1203:
As I said you can try an educate people as much as you like you wont change peoples attitudes. There has to be an element of personal accountability. Its not rocket science to stand the other side of the Aramco facing on coming traffic so you can see what is happening and react accordingly. Nor is it difficult to follow signs especially with the internet where you can google anything you don’t know and either find the answer yourself or find someone you can ask.
The issue is people cant be bothered to look after themselves and take responsibility for their own actions they think they have the god given right to just do what they want and sod everyone else.
What if a passenger,or the driver, is a wheelchair user? Or, as in my own family, you have parents with dementia? If you’ve never had to persuade a dementia sufferer to act in a way they don’t want to then I truly hope you never have to. Teenagers are a doddle by comparison.
tc trans:
4 lanes in one direction, suddenly someone has a bump, all 4 lanes come to a grinding halt… how do the emergency services now get to the scene… 4 lanes of standing traffic impeding their progress to the scene of the problem.
They’ll travel contra down the now closed motorway.
I watched the programme tonight .
If you ignore all the sensational headlines and all the weeping relatives it was still very damning of the system .
2 1/2 miles between safe havens , Radar systems only installed on two sections pf the whole network .
17 minutes to notice a problem, 17 further minutes before response arrives .
Yet speed cameras are installed on every section of upgraded “managed” motorways .
Money is the driving force not safety.
Will changes happen before a major accident ?
One fact is very alarming , on a section of M25 before it was a Smart motorway their were under 100 near misses recorded in 5 years , in the 5 years after it was upgraded their have been over 1400 .
Lots and lots of things have been done wrong and it would appear to me that many decisions have been made by people utterly unqualified to make them .
Even the minister who was in place in the initial trials on the M42 has condemned the current system .
