So I worked bank holiday Monday, dropped on to M1 at J29. Signs flashing 60. Must be an incident I thought. No…despite the traffic being really quiet, the 60 limit was set all the way to Barnsley.
This has happened all this week.Why?
Yesterday was the worst. Again fairly light traffic but this time plenty of muppets in cars doing 52 spread across 4 lanes making overtaking impossible.
To get to the point, these up grades to the motorway have cost a lot of time and money. At least the Highways dept can do is manage them properly. Is it to much to ask?
I think it’s…
A bit like a new train set. They’re playing with all the buttons and seeing what they do, they have no idea what they’re up to.
When the M42 first had them, there were speed limits of 20mph flashing over all lanes.
Being a bit cynical would say the signs are used to catch people out and generate a bit of revenue to pay for the next upgrade
It is going to make about 3 minutes difference between being able to do 56 and and being held back to 52 over that stretch. Hardly worth bothering Tom Bradby. 
I’ve had them on the M42 going s/b around Birmningham area at 04:00 in the morning showing 40mph for about 6 mile. ■■■■ all on the road no accident/incident nothing. Sure they just do it to raise revenue sometimes.
Same on that new stretch of the M5, waste of money, everybody sat in lane 2 3 and 4, lane 1 empty…Why ■■
Smart motorway is inefficient and less than smart.
In other news, pope wears funny hat.
A.
My take on a smart motorway is that you can use the hard shoulder if they dedicate it as another lane…However, i think they are dangerous…if someone was running out of fuel for eg, where do they go, i think the hard shoulder, so now this lane becomes very dangerous, especially if on a curve, the same for a broken down vehicle…what if theres a major accident, traffic is at a standstill, and the emergency vehicles have to get through, so if the shoulder WAS a live lane, then all the traffic would be backed up on that one too…utter madness, who ever thought that one up.■■
Rich The Stag:
So I worked bank holiday Monday, dropped on to M1 at J29. Signs flashing 60. Must be an incident I thought. No…despite the traffic being really quiet, the 60 limit was set all the way to Barnsley.
This has happened all this week.Why?
Yesterday was the worst. Again fairly light traffic but this time plenty of muppets in cars doing 52 spread across 4 lanes making overtaking impossible.
To get to the point, these up grades to the motorway have cost a lot of time and money. At least the Highways dept can do is manage them properly. Is it to much to ask?
they have been flashing up 60 all day for the last month for no reason
Smart motorway signs for variable limits are mostly set by you and I and ever other person on the road. Sensors measure the volume and speed of the traffic and adjust accordingly to preset algorithms. So by people sitting in all the lanes not overtaking each other and driving slower than they need to, plus traffic bunching up because of said phallus individuals the speed limits come up automatically. Simples.
The highways agency can control them and overide them I believe but most of the actuation of them is automatic.
That’s what we were told on a SAC by AA Drivetech.
Give it 10 years and there won’t be a stretch of motorway without them and we will be permanently stuck at 38mph on motorways enjoy lol
I’m dredding the M1 tomorrow. 11am tip in Kettering so hopefully they send me back up North for either a reload or back empty!
Is this not the stretch with proposals for lowering the maximum speed limit to 60mph? Perhaps they’re trialing it. Or perhaps it’s already come into effect. The pretext was something about air quality.
ezydriver:
The pretext was something about air quality.
We have a winner!
theguardian.com/world/2017/ … t-motorway
mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/dr … it-9675665
independent.co.uk/news/uk/ho … 40021.html
thetimes.co.uk/article/60mp … -ns55rttrq
Good luck day drivers.
Accelerating or decelerating too rapidly leads to greater fuel consumption and means harmful emissions are being released into the environment unnecessarily, the study found.
They really haven’t thought that through have they… Given the way most motorway monkeys drive…
As I said, it’s a pretext. My money says they’ve realised 10 miles of no hard shoulder has caused an increase in accidents, which, hits the economy (as every accident costs in the millions apparently). So they lower the speed limit and play the environment card as opposed to admitting smart motorways aren’t such a smart idea.
ezydriver:
As I said, it’s a pretext. My money says they’ve realised 10 miles of no hard shoulder has caused an increase in accidents, which, hits the economy (as every accident costs in the millions apparently). So they lower the speed limit and play the environment card as opposed to admitting smart motorways aren’t such a smart idea.
smart motorways used by dumb ■■■■■ 
i use this stretch of motorway regular at 5-6pm southbound and its nearly always 60mph and seems to flow better, i think the operators of the signs need some training or common sense though, examples recently were where signs displaying ‘incident ahead’ then on passing 2 vehicles on the grass verge between the barrier about 30 yards BEFORE the first gantry displaying and X for lane 1, then no incident after the gantry so no vehicles using lane 1 until next gantry where signs were clear. (doens’t give me confidence if i were to breakdown with no hard shoulder) 2nd example was heavy rain and a sign above stating ‘surface water slow down’ yet one of the few days the speed wasn’t 60 but 70mph. Is it just me or would it not be common sense to X the lane before an incident and reduce the speed in heavy rain using the signs so that the usual morons arent still trapping on at stupid mph like they do
To get to the point, these up grades to the motorway have cost a lot of time and money. At least the Highways dept can do is manage them properly. Is it to much to ask?
[/quote]
+1…to get to the point…YES…it is too much to ask. 
Anyone who uses a “smart motorway” on a night will soon realise they’re just a money making exercise.