I’ve been against “Managed Motorways” for some time since.
I’ll point out though that my argument is NOT about “not having anywhere to go”, as has been pointed out above, you have loads of A road dual carriageways that have barely a grass verge, or sometimes short on-slips that have joining traffic cornering like Tron before going straight into live lane 1 of 2… And that’s before we talk about no Refuges neither!
The thing that I believe gets people killed on these managed motorways are:
(1) The way the hard shoulder can be changed into a live lane and back with the flick of a switch. Perhaps a warning would be appropriate “Status changing from Hard Shoulder to Live Lane in 60 seconds” might help out?
(2) People drive through red 'x’s without a second thought, although I notice there seems to be a public information drive at the moment, eg. at MSAs on their big video walls “Don’t drive under red 'x’s - or risk getting a fine”…
Perhaps a more draconian roll-out of such penalties would be appropriate?
(3) On Four lane motorways/Dual Carriageways (which most of the managed motorways now are…) Hows abouts having a speed limit on both Live Lane 1 AND 2 that is 10mph less than lanes 3 and 4? Thus, drivers are discouraged to move to the left to undertake (which is illegal anyway - right?) which puts a broken down vehicle in live hard shoulder at risk, should a person decide to undercut a 55mph truck in lane 3 of 4 that is passing a supermarket wagon doing 50 in lane 2, who’s only in lane 2 because they’ve seen the broken down car in lane one…
How easy is it to “not see something”?
Check this out…
I’d humbly suggest to all road users “If you cannot see where you are going - don’t bloody well try to go there!”
If we’re going to ban them we should also then ban mile upon mile of dual carriageway roads that are also 70mph, don’t have a hard shoulder nor have refuge areas and are often less monitored with less gantry information. Think large swathes of the A1 or A14 as examples among may others.
Also are we talking “all lane running” or actual “smart motorways” because theres a difference which often gets forgotten.
What I’m in favour of is improving technology/infrastructure to reduce risks and increase awareness of issues/reduce speed of response.
1 and to add I don’t think it’s the general public’s job/competency to determine what kind of roads are good/bad. There are enough people who’ve dedicated their lives to understanding/learning to design and build/monitor and analyze these things, maybe let them worry about it?
Motorways were designed to move traffic as fast as possible over long distances.There was no such thing as variable limits or not providing a hard shoulder for breakdowns because that obviously defeats the object.
In general I try to avoid ‘smart motorways’ or in fact most motorways because they are now mostly about moving as much traffic as possible as slowly as possible.
What’s in it for the road user other than the lose lose of possibly being caught up between junctions in a massive unavoidable jam.
There’s no upside in that environment.
If we’re going to ban them we should also then ban mile upon mile of dual carriageway roads that are also 70mph, don’t have a hard shoulder nor have refuge areas and are often less monitored with less gantry information. Think large swathes of the A1 or A14 as examples among may others.
Also are we talking “all lane running” or actual “smart motorways” because theres a difference which often gets forgotten.
What I’m in favour of is improving technology/infrastructure to reduce risks and increase awareness of issues/reduce speed of response.
1 and to add I don’t think it’s the general public’s job/competency to determine what kind of roads are good/bad. There are enough people who’ve dedicated their lives to understanding/learning to design and build/monitor and analyze these things, maybe let them worry about it?
There are lots of real experts around, there were real road engineers, road safety experts, involved in trials of “smart motorways”.
Then a politican gets to decide what is/isn`t built…
But that is democracy for you.
Does this ring a bell??
Standing in a live lane exchanging insurance details after a minor bump isn’t a smart idea, especially if you happen to be stood on the M1 near Sheffield and end up loosing your life in the process.
It would have been far safer to get both vehicles to move to the nearest safe place to exchange details and argue the toss about who’s fault it is, even if the nearest safe place is 4 miles away
Oh and tonight on the M18 S/B, A1 J2 there was a minor bump involving 4-5 cars in lane 3, rush hour traffic chaos soon followed. But what did the parties involved in the bump do? Yup they where stool in a live lane phones I’m their hands sorting out the insurance. They could have easily moved the cars across to the hard shoulder (yes there was one) and sorted out the paperwork
Most drivers see a big reduction in their car insurance premiums when they turn 25 years old because they have become safe drivers.
However, this video shows that not all 25 year olds have become safe drivers by that age.
I wonder what her driving test examiner would have said if she had been taking her driving test at that moment?
Probably, I’m stopping this test because I don’t feel safe…although I doubt he would have survived that crash.
I think the woman driving ended up surviving with a hand amputated. There was “Dora the Explorer” among the car debris, leading one to think “Good job the kids were not in the car”… and then you have to think back to M1 J14 last July
to remind yourself that “Another tragedy is only one mis-calculation away”.
This woman went into the back of an artic run by the (client) firm I now work for, and I gotta feel for the guy, who must have been pretty upset at what happened, even though it was 0% of his fault… The effect of a brain addled by drink, amount not important, rather than the effect it has on one’s judgement…
I’d humbly suggest to all road users “If you cannot see where you are going - don’t bloody well try to go there!”
Or if you do be prepared and able to stop.Commonly known as being ‘offsighted’.Something soon learn’t for survival when driving on a race circuit or at proper autobahn type speeds.
Although stopped traffic on a hard shoulder v in a live lane obviously helps.
Which is why they invented hard shoulders to go with motorways.
carlston49:
Until they are hopefully banned, there should be a 50mph speed limit on them. It should also be optional (not mandatory) to use them, especially if there are at least 3 other lanes to use.
Maybe ban HGVs from using them, and let cars undertake on them.
You need a hard shoulder in case you break down,simple as.They should put hard shoulders on the main A roads too.If you look ,theres always that waste ground available thats not doing anything.
peirre:
Does this ring a bell??
Standing in a live lane exchanging insurance details after a minor bump isn’t a smart idea, especially if you happen to be stood on the M1 near Sheffield and end up loosing your life in the process.
It would have been far safer to get both vehicles to move to the nearest safe place to exchange details and argue the toss about who’s fault it is, even if the nearest safe place is 4 miles away
They could have just stood on the embankment, much of which has crash barriers. They didn’t have to be standing in the live lane.
Sploom:
You need a hard shoulder in case you break down,simple as.They should put hard shoulders on the main A roads too.If you look ,theres always that waste ground available thats not doing anything.
Or people should just pay attention to their driving instead of their smartphones. Funny how it was never an issue years ago.
jakethesnake:
Banning drivers that can’t use them properly might help the problem although look at the way they drive on ordinary motorways.
Learn the rules and stick to them including keeping a safe distance would prevent most motorway accidents.
yep, I agree with all that, however, my one bug bear with these is the short refuge areas.
You have a problem and pull into one, (assuming its empty of course) once your problem is sorted out, you have to indicate and then when space allows, you pull out into a live lane possibly at 44 tonne, no option to build your speed up and filter in as you would on a hard shoulder once your at adequate speed.
You might need to revisit the Highway Code and comply with the directions on the signs…
“you MUST use the emergency telephone provided and follow the operator’s advice for exiting the emergency area. A lane may need to be closed so that you can rejoin the carriageway safely.”
Should never be notsmart motorways, there dangerous,all this running down the hard shoulder has now become the overtaking lane and cut you up at the last death, it’s for vehicle’s with a problem not a steam to the front lane, smart motorways are dangerous full stop
the maoster:
I like them. I get to imagine that I’m a high ranking Politburo official wafting along in my Zil in my own private lane passing the slow moving proletariat as they struggle to grasp the concept.
And then just cut everyone up at the front and hold up the people in the lane behind you, whilst the ones your cutting up shout LOOK AT THIS C**T,
carlston49:
Until they are hopefully banned, there should be a 50mph speed limit on them. It should also be optional (not mandatory) to use them, especially if there are at least 3 other lanes to use.
Maybe ban HGVs from using them, and let cars undertake on them.
Too many HGVs have run into broken down cars while on the 56mph limiter without even touching their brakes, resulting in instant death for the cars’ occupants.
Should be banned full stop, and while we’re at it a minimum speed for cars of 60 mph ,there’s too many cars ■■■*ING about at our speed thinking there driving safe but a are causing havoc also use of indicators as no one seems to use them now ( even some trucks) standard of driving in the last 5 yrs is horrendous and getting worse truck included
the maoster:
I like them. I get to imagine that I’m a high ranking Politburo official wafting along in my Zil in my own private lane passing the slow moving proletariat as they struggle to grasp the concept.
And then just cut everyone up at the front and hold up the people in the lane behind you, whilst the ones your cutting up shout LOOK AT THIS C**T,
Are you new to driving? Why on earth would I cut everyone up at the front? I must have misread the Highway Code bit that says “make use of available lanes”.
