A programme on the TV tonight about this .
So now the AA will not be sending patrols to breakdowns on smart motorways but will attend once Highways England have moved them to a safe place .
Also an article on a local site has said that near misses on a smart section of the M25 have rocketed to over a thousand from 70 odd in the same section pre smart motorway.
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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 !!
I agree that the hard shoulder thing has the potential to be confusing with drivers who less experienced with smart motorways. As it stands the general rule is if the sign above the hard shoulder says nothing then it’s not a live lane unless you’ve already gone under a sign saying it is. Some drivers will think if it doesn’t say not to use it then you can use it. A red X Is a universal thing that’s obviously saying don’t use this lane. So when the lane is a hard shoulder and not a live lane it should display an X on all the signs above it. Either that or make it permanently a live lane to stop confusion.
Rowley010:
I agree that the hard shoulder thing has the potential to be confusing with drivers who less experienced with smart motorways. As it stands the general rule is if the sign above the hard shoulder says nothing then it’s not a live lane unless you’ve already gone under a sign saying it is. Some drivers will think if it doesn’t say not to use it then you can use it. A red X Is a universal thing that’s obviously saying don’t use this lane. So when the lane is a hard shoulder and not a live lane it should display an X on all the signs above it. Either that or make it permanently a live lane to stop confusion.
Cue the snake
Today’s paper
robroy:
Tude:
the maoster:
Drive on the left unless overtaking. Not a difficult concept really.I do, but not on smart motorways, as I feel they are a flawed concept.
So is the UK tax system, but I don 't actively avoid paying it.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
thats because your not self employed… 
What I don’t know is, if you’re instructed to use the hard shoulder, are you duty bound to and, if not, is it OK for others to overtake on the left because you are, in effect, hogging the lane.?
Oops, its already been discussed, guess I should have read the posts first!
Sploom:
What I don’t know is, if you’re instructed to use the hard shoulder, are you duty bound to and, if not, is it OK for others to overtake on the left because you are, in effect, hogging the lane.?
I would say it’s fine to undertake these clowns, as long as you can see well ahead that it’s safe…but if things do go ■■■■ up whilst doing it, you’ll sure as hell get the blame.
robroy:
Sploom:
What I don’t know is, if you’re instructed to use the hard shoulder, are you duty bound to and, if not, is it OK for others to overtake on the left because you are, in effect, hogging the lane.?I would say it’s fine to undertake these clowns, as long as you can see well ahead that it’s safe…but if things do go ■■■■ up whilst doing it, you’ll sure as hell get the blame.
M42 south, south of the airport when it’s all lane running and the matrix is flashing 60 I feel like one of them Russian high ranking Politburo members as I sail past the slow traffic who refuse to use the hard shoulder despite many many signs urging them to do so. Especially gratifying is the fat slob with the bright red head gesticulating to me angrily as I quite legally undertake him and eff off into the distance.
I am acutely aware of where every vehicle is around me 100% of the time on any road in any condition. If smart motorway users followed the same ethos there’d be no problem whatsoever.
Yes, if everyone was like you, they would be safe, but they aren’t, so Im not in favour of smart motorways, I think the hard shoulder should always be available. As for dual carriageways, there’s usually the possibility of parking on the grass verge, when I see those crash barriers on the M1 right next to the live lane, it’s not acceptable the driver has no way of getting out ofthe running lane.
Also, you can’t compare dual carriageways because you could have slow vehicles and cyclists, you are in a different mode when you’re on motorway
Sploom:
, you are in a different mode when you’re on motorway
With the greatest of respect mate ^^^^ there’s the problem in a nutshell. You should be in the same mode whether you’re pulling off your drive, pootling around Asda car park, driving on a country lane or driving down a smart motorway; that mode should be concentrating totally on the job in hand.
There’s a reason we as lorry drivers have a set maximum driving time daily, it isn’t because of the physical demands of driving a lorry (almost non existent) rather it’s the mental demands of maintaining absolute concentration for long periods of time. My thoughts are that if you aren’t mentally fatigued after 9 hours driving then you aren’t doing it properly.
So, if we were all better drivers, then smart motorways would be safer?
True.
But if we were all better drivers we wouldn’t need speed limits or traffic lights.
We aren’t.
We need rules to govern the idiots and we need hard shoulders to get us outta the way of bad drivers.
Exactly, it’s easy to preach to others on this forum about concentration and everything, and there’s a time for doing that, and yet when I’m on the road, I ve got lorries cutting in every day, something wrong somewhere. And breaking the speed limits, of course
Franglais:
So, if we were all better drivers, then smart motorways would be safer?
True.
But if we were all better drivers we wouldn’t need speed limits or traffic lights.
We aren’t.
We need rules to govern the idiots and we need hard shoulders to get us outta the way of bad drivers.
+1
Franglais:
So, if we were all better drivers, then smart motorways would be safer?
True.
But if we were all better drivers we wouldn’t need speed limits or traffic lights.
We aren’t.
We need rules to govern the idiots and we need hard shoulders to get us outta the way of bad drivers.
Said the same thing so many times especially about the rules. The problem is that the majority break them every day thinking it’s ok for them.
They are idiots like the other idiots.
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I think a hard shoulder on some of the busy dual carriageways would be a good idea, and would save lives, two wrongs don’t make a right
The proposed opening of the M20 section without a hard shoulder scheduled for March has been put on hold today. A good thing because if I counted right the other day then there are only going to be two refuges between J5 and J3 Westbound which is something like 6 miles. With luck a vehicle with a dead engine might roll about 400 yards.
Franglais:
nomiS36:
I just think because dc’s are dangerous places to break down why make motorways as dangerous?
Make dc’s safer, not motorways more dangerous [emoji848]nomiS36:
road widening on the cheap.Sums it up nicely.
+1