Its nonsense.
jc 17, 24 miles, 22 mins
I want jc 19 ffs, its some sort of racism 
Big Jase:
I agree that someone who can’t check the fuel level shouldn’t be in charge of a car but hey, apparently people make mistakes and with the investment in these signs, isn’t it better to use the signs, try to educate and perhaps prevent a death, maybe it’s just me!So we all know 50’s and 40’s are ignored so let’s say we don’t put any on at all, your doing 70+ and swerve to miss the oncoming car, do you not agree that you habe a better chance of swerving and surviving at 20 than 70■■ We have an obligation to try and protect you even though most stick their fingers up by doing 70+ through ANY advisories or even Mandatories. The fact you didn’t see anything means that either the driver realised his error and turned back or the job had been dealt with and there is a delay in the police calling us to cancel the signs as we are not allowed to deal with oncoming vehicles so it is 100% police lead.
I agree it could possibly prevent someone running out of fuel, but something so basic and second nature as to check you have enough fuel shouldn’t be on a matrix sign in my opinion because where does it end?? “don’t forget to depress the clutch pedal when you change gear”
Yes I agree you have a better chance at 20mph than u do at 70mph. But don’t you agree that slowing down to 20mph when it’s clear visibility for about 4 miles ahead is an accident waiting to happen when you have cars driving at 70+ and fully laden lorries at 56 (because they’re reading the road and can see that there isn’t a problem) Its the same as driving at 50mph with a car in front that’s stationary.
Your in the driving seat at the end of the day you make a desicion that u feel is best, and for me slowing down to 20mph when it’s clear and I can see for about 4 miles ahead with cars and lorries around me flat out is just dangerous.
Also where would I stand in court if I slowed down to 20mph on a live carriage way even when it’s clear and everyone can see for miles, and some one died by crashing into the rear of my trailer. Common sense said to everyone that it was clear and there was no obstruction but because I didn’t think for myself and just did what the sign said someone has been killed.
“Depress clutch”? Nah, the wagons we’ve just retired allowed me not to bother with that 
Muckaway:
“Depress clutch”? Nah, the wagons we’ve just retired allowed me not to bother with that
yeah what the hell just ram it home. That method can be used in other things aswell not just driving
In Scotland, on the motorways, they use the matrix signs for public information. Today I saw one that said, ‘Do your best to reduce carbon emmisions’, I have pulled on to the hard shoulder and turned off my engine to do my bit. A police car has now stopped and the officer is walking towards me, I guess he is coming to thank me on behalf of Scotland for reducing my carbon emmissions…I’ll keep you all posted.
The sign displayed just before beaconsfield on the M40 NORTHBOUND keeps telling me about the M3 being closed SOUTHBOUND but when you look at the southbound side the signs are blank lol
The best dot matrix message I have come across, and it must prove that someone at the highways agency has a sense of humour, is approaching the M6 toll. The message reads " M6 Toll Clear", to which I reply " of course it is! You have made it too expensive, and hardly anyone uses it…"
Farnborough boy, I do agree that 20 is dangerous bit what I’m trying to say is if you see 20’s, the only time they are used is to warn of an oncoming vehicle so be ultra aware and don’t barrel through at 56. All I’m trying to do is answer answer your questions to relieve some if your stress and explain that ever single thing the HA fo is thought out and done for a reason, sadly though MOT everyone is made aware hy us and never asks, just rants.
As an example, the comment above about the HA setting the signs for the M6 Toll. The road isn’t owned or operated by the HA and the M6 TOLL INFO signs are a different colour to the rest as they’re not our signs.
Big Jase:
what I’m trying to say is if you see 20’s, the only time they are used is to warn of an oncoming vehicle so be ultra aware and don’t barrel through at 56
Must be a lot of them on the M42 in the evenings. Quite often see 20s on there where oncoming slip merges with main carriageway.
gardun:
Big Jase:
what I’m trying to say is if you see 20’s, the only time they are used is to warn of an oncoming vehicle so be ultra aware and don’t barrel through at 56Must be a lot of them on the M42 in the evenings. Quite often see 20s on there where oncoming slip merges with main carriageway.
Can I ask, when you join, are there 50’s or 40’s on on the main carriageway??
If so it’s the system that sets that. It’s similar to a lane closure, sometimes you will see a 50 then a 40 then a lane closure. In the onslip case it’s a 50 or 40 on the main carriageway then a 20 on the slip. It’s set by the system purely to warn of a build up ahead.
Big Jase:
Can I ask, when you join, are there 50’s or 40’s on on the main carriageway??
That is usually the case - can I assume then that I do not need worry about oncoming vehicles? 
gardun:
Big Jase:
Can I ask, when you join, are there 50’s or 40’s on on the main carriageway??
That is usually the case - can I assume then that I do not need worry about oncoming vehicles?
Maybe, maybe not. There still could be an oncoming car but for the most part you’ll be ok. The last one I went to no one slowed down at all and a woman motorcyclist lost both her legs and landed sone distance from the collision. The old chap thought he was on a 4 lane carriageway and was doing nothing wrong in lane 4 going the wrong way. I wonder if the motorcyclist was going slower she may have avoided it. Who knows.
Big Jase:
Farnborough boy, I do agree that 20 is dangerous bit what I’m trying to say is if you see 20’s, the only time they are used is to warn of an oncoming vehicle so be ultra aware and don’t barrel through at 56. All I’m trying to do is answer answer your questions to relieve some if your stress and explain that ever single thing the HA fo is thought out and done for a reason, sadly though MOT everyone is made aware hy us and never asks, just rants.As an example, the comment above about the HA setting the signs for the M6 Toll. The road isn’t owned or operated by the HA and the M6 TOLL INFO signs are a different colour to the rest as they’re not our signs.
I Know and accept everything you do is to make things as safe as possible on the roads which is great. I’ve got no problems with HATO really, I agree and disagree with some things you lot do just as I’m sure you do with truck drivers also I wasn’t meaning to rant if that’s the way it came across.
Big Jase:
Farnborough boy, I do agree that 20 is dangerous bit what I’m trying to say is if you see 20’s, the only time they are used is to warn of an oncoming vehicle so be ultra aware and don’t barrel through at 56. All I’m trying to do is answer answer your questions to relieve some if your stress and explain that ever single thing the HA fo is thought out and done for a reason, sadly though MOT everyone is made aware hy us and never asks, just rants.As an example, the comment above about the HA setting the signs for the M6 Toll. The road isn’t owned or operated by the HA and the M6 TOLL INFO signs are a different colour to the rest as they’re not our signs.
Big Jase
This is an incorrect statement … when night time roadworks were being carried out to enable hard shoulder running on the M6 around Birmingham the speed limits were reduced every-night to 20mph 3-4 miles before the start of said roadworks and I am very surprised nobody was killed because of them.
Reason given for the 20mph ■■? NO not a vehicle coming the other way … But a software issue as they were required to slow vehicles for the roadworks 
which were limited to 40mph
n.b replied before reading latter posts.
However your latter answer suggesting traffic build up didn`t apply most nights but the signs were still t there
Farnborough boy, Appreciate your comments, yes we have some bad eggs as do trucking firms, not a lot you can do. I will say though, honestly we dont either in the room or on road do anything to mess anyone around. We have very strict guidelines and KPI’s that we are measured on with regards to attendance and clearance times and we are watched closely by very high up the chain figures in Gov.
Unfortunately our signs and signals are looked after by several different companies and we are bound by their repair times. Stuff goes wrong. Ive had 2 iphones, 3 TV’s and 2 PC’s in the past, things just break.
Annitram, On the whole, 20’s are only SET (I say set as the system will often do it itself and not by a human) when we have an oncoming vehicle. Other regions may have slight variations but a 20 is the only thing we have to say something very bad is happening.
When we are approaching some debris and signs are set at 50 and people still barrel past us at 80+ were just waiting to pull up to these cars smashed to bits as they have hit the debris. Only last week a woman ignored the signs, swerved to miss a queue of cars due to the debris (Roof box contents), hit a car then went backwards down a bank coming to rest a few feet from an electrical pole. It happens so easily.
Still, I cant influence thousands and thousands of you but if I can educate just a few and a life is saved or collisions prevented then I feel I have done some good.
Keep on truckin
Like most modern technology, we managed ok without it before. Some of the older drivers here will remember being given a bag of 5p’s (or 2p’s if your really old!) on a Monday morning to ring in when you’ve tipped, before mobile fones blighted our lives. The whole matrix sign network/HATO carry on was just another fabulous idea from the “Ministry of Ridiculously Expensive Ideas Designed To Treat Everyone Like a Moron” that has served no real purpose apart from to make the road system “safer” which is a government word for “slower.”
The solution is simple. Jeremy Clarkson for Prime Minister. Its the only way 
MrHappy:
Like most modern technology, we managed ok without it before.
You hit the nail on the head, Managed. Nowadays things are much much better than they were. I’m sure you never complained in a Foden with a twin splitter sweating buckets in the summer getting backache from uncomfortable seats feeling every pothole, having to wind up the trailer on the legs. I bet you hate having a topline Scania with a fully auto box with Air con, air sprung seats, cabs and suspension that can be adjusted from in the cab. How ever do we manage nowadays.
MrHappy:
Treat Everyone Like a Moron
15788 drivers ran out of fuel in a year, hardly surprising people have to be treated like Morons when they act like them. How about the people we attend that are parked in lane 1 jump starting their mate on the hard shoulder. Or perhaps the people that stop to have a sleep on the hard shoulder, the ones that crash in lane 3 and are facing the wrong way at 2AM in the rain on an unlit section and then ring the RAC rather than 999, or the ones that stop to check their map??. If they realise they have gone the wrong way, how do they go back??, that’s right, go on to the next junction so why not come off at the junction to check the map, just a thought.
Traffic volume is increasing and the HA are moving mountains to make it better. Just because a VMS doesn’t benefit you, it benefits hundreds of others sat around in their cars and can help them make a better decision or ring their boss/partner etc and say they’re going to be late.
Oh and lets not forget, when there is a queue due to collision/Debris etc, we didn’t cause it, drivers did. If stuff was secured properly and drivers could drive properly, we wouldn’t have anything to do and would never have been started in the first place. As long as people manoeuvre signal mirror BANG or don’t shut the roof box correctly, someone will always have to clear up the crap.
A recent serious job we did meant having 2 carriageways closed, 2 on slips closed and a services exit closed too. That would have been 5 Police cars and up to 10 officers. Who deals with the crime when they are sat doing nothing getting abuse from passing drivers as to why the road is shut?? Now we do it for half the Police cost we still get criticised. I dont mind the abuse, I just chuckle but if you want to sit in the queue for 6 hours then just tap me on the shoulder and ask & i’ll let you through. If were ever got rid of, dont complain when the Police cant get to your house to deal with a burglar down stairs as the Police will be too busy to help blocking a road.
yesterday on M40 sb near M25 about 2pm ACCIDENT ON SLIP ROAD 40mph limit on signs, so i deployed parachutes to slow truck down expecting delays as wanting to get onto M25 but got there and nothing, no accident no HATO no clean up crews etc etc, was there actually and acccident??
groovy greg:
yesterday on M40 sb near M25 about 2pm ACCIDENT ON SLIP ROAD 40mph limit on signs, so i deployed parachutes to slow truck down expecting delays as wanting to get onto M25 but got there and nothing, no accident no HATO no clean up crews etc etc, was there actually and acccident??
Greg, cant answer that as not on my patch but what I can say is last week I had a report of a pallet in lane 1. DEBRIS signs were set as I went through there was nothing there. Imagine you had driven through in front of me and also seen nothing there. Did the offending driver stop and retrieve it, did a good Samaritan move it before we arrived to confirm there was nothing there.
I also believe we get phantom jobs. Report of a 4 car RTC in lane 4, we were literally one mile away, we drove round the corner and nothing there. Similar to reports of a car on fire. Fire normally attend from 2 stations either side of the fire, signs are set we also make our way only to find a Saab with a turbo blown. Someone See’s it, thinks its on fire and calls 999. Your phantom M40/M25 incident could have been the same. The VMS are set on the information passed to us by many sources and we have to act on what info we have. Please please dont treat it as crying wolf as with the amount of collisions we get, one day it will be there. 
Big Jase:
MrHappy:
Like most modern technology, we managed ok without it before.You hit the nail on the head, Managed. Nowadays things are much much better than they were. I’m sure you never complained in a Foden with a twin splitter sweating buckets in the summer getting backache from uncomfortable seats feeling every pothole, having to wind up the trailer on the legs. I bet you hate having a topline Scania with a fully auto box with Air con, air sprung seats, cabs and suspension that can be adjusted from in the cab. How ever do we manage nowadays.
MrHappy:
Treat Everyone Like a Moron15788 drivers ran out of fuel in a year, hardly surprising people have to be treated like Morons when they act like them. How about the people we attend that are parked in lane 1 jump starting their mate on the hard shoulder. Or perhaps the people that stop to have a sleep on the hard shoulder, the ones that crash in lane 3 and are facing the wrong way at 2AM in the rain on an unlit section and then ring the RAC rather than 999, or the ones that stop to check their map??. If they realise they have gone the wrong way, how do they go back??, that’s right, go on to the next junction so why not come off at the junction to check the map, just a thought.
Traffic volume is increasing and the HA are moving mountains to make it better. Just because a VMS doesn’t benefit you, it benefits hundreds of others sat around in their cars and can help them make a better decision or ring their boss/partner etc and say they’re going to be late.
Oh and lets not forget, when there is a queue due to collision/Debris etc, we didn’t cause it, drivers did. If stuff was secured properly and drivers could drive properly, we wouldn’t have anything to do and would never have been started in the first place. As long as people manoeuvre signal mirror BANG or don’t shut the roof box correctly, someone will always have to clear up the crap.
A recent serious job we did meant having 2 carriageways closed, 2 on slips closed and a services exit closed too. That would have been 5 Police cars and up to 10 officers. Who deals with the crime when they are sat doing nothing getting abuse from passing drivers as to why the road is shut?? Now we do it for half the Police cost we still get criticised. I dont mind the abuse, I just chuckle but if you want to sit in the queue for 6 hours then just tap me on the shoulder and ask & i’ll let you through. If were ever got rid of, dont complain when the Police cant get to your house to deal with a burglar down stairs as the Police will be too busy to help blocking a road.
When I drove older vehicles that were more uncomfortable and less driver friendly than they are now I didn’t complain because I didn’t know any better at the time. There simply wasn’t a better alternative. Its only now 20 years later that I have got something better, along with a few more stripes on my shoulder that gives me the right to complain about that era, something which I rarely do, because and I think many of the old hands would agree, the job in general was much better in those days, regardless of the fact that the equipment was not as good (possibly) There was less interference from busybodies, less H&S ■■■■■■■■ and less aggro in general.
Your reply to my post serves only to reinforce my opinion that you are as much a victim of the whole thing as the rest of us. I wonder if you held the same views as me until you got the job and went to some training sessions and became convinced that HATO was the way forward. I may be wrong but it sounds like you have a reply for anything, its almost as if the organisation you work for has a department for self preservation which offers extra training sessions to all.
I’m not against the actual officers of HATO, everybody has the right to earn a living and thats fair enough. You yourself admit that there are some bad apples, but this is true of any organisation. What I am against is the idea of HATO itself, but i’m not going to hold you responsible for that 
Regarding morons, unfortunately, they will always be available. There’s nothing anybody can do about them, not us, not you and not the government.