50 limits by the back door: PH Blog
Public consultation to lower M1 speed limits said no thanks - new gantries enforce them anyway
Yes, it turns out.
That's driving the same section of road, freshly resurfaced, reopened to its full width, fully lit and equipped with the latest in active signage, CCTV monitoring and camera speed enforcement... and still be limited to 50mph. This after two years of hold ups, random junction closures and a cost of £106.1m for just one 10-mile stretch. I'm not usually given to anti-government ranting on the basis it's for angry people browsing Twitter in their underpants. But seeing as I've got a platform...
The section of road I refer to is the M1 past Sheffield, regular users of which will know has been among the vast tracts of motorway being slowly and expensively upgraded to 'smart' status. The argument made for such roads is they actually do manage traffic flow at busy times.
I'm still willing to be proven wrong. But from a driver's perspective, the manipulation sometimes seems haphazard and nonsensical and the continuously changing limits actually make motorway driving considerably more stressful. Conspiracy theories range from this being about installing toll infrastructure on the stealth to back-door enforcement of blanket lower speed limits. The latter may yet have some truth to it.
Take the newly opened section between junction 35 and junction 28a. There was a public consultation on a lowered 60mph limit for the section, improved air quality the supposed goal. Despite the fact the most polluting vehicles and ones running closest to residential areas beside the motorway - namely HGVs - are already limited to less than this. To quote the report: "The consultation has shown widespread opposition to the proposal and the Secretary of State has rejected this approach as the Government's preferred mitigation option."
The consultation surveyed local residents, businesses and campaign groups, with a 95 per cent majority rejecting the proposal on all grounds, including the suggested improvement in air quality. "If any proposals continue to include varying speed limits, they must only apply when absolutely necessary," states one of the conclusions.
The smart motorway upgrade was completed a few weeks ago, the last section being that between junction 35 and the M18 intersection at junction 32. I use it several times a week at all times of the day and have yet to see it with anything other than a 50 limit imposed via the spangly new gantries. So having consulted interested parties and been told resoundingly that nobody wanted a reduced 60mph limit and the grounds for suggesting it were not proven Highways England is now remotely enforcing a lower one anyway.
I actually think most of us are respectful of speed limits. But that needs to go both ways and limits have to be credible and applied in a way that make sense to the majority who just want to get about, get home and not kill anyone in the process. Break that trust and you turn everyone against The Man, be that through embittered and grudging obedience. Or simply not giving a flying one, by whatever means. And that will not make our motorways happier - or safer - places.
One example of seemingly daft enforcement on this section sums it up for me. Trundling south at a gantry enforced 50mph traffic joining from the 70-limited M18 was piling onto the M1 carrying an extra 20-30mph, before slamming on the anchors on seeing '50' on the first gantry. While trying to filter. Yet the next one, within sight, was set to NSL so everyone already on the M1 was speeding back up. The next? Back to 50. Another sea of brake lights, lane jostling and any number of potential shunts between those paying attention, those not and those who simply don't care. I'm in danger of sounding like a stuck record but please, someone, tell me what's smart about this?
Dan
Photos: Highways England, via Flickr
[Sources: Highways.gov.uk, nationalarchives.gov.uk]
If you impose something on to innocent people you'll likely have an opposite desired outcome. Maybe this is what it's really about though; catching people 'speeding' (is 56MPH really speeding on a road like this during normal conditions? I don't think so).
Personally I agree with you 100% - it is much more dangerous. The amount of times I see people suddenly hit the brakes because of this type of system - no wonder you see people having collisions; one minute they are looking at their speed so the "all seeing eyes" don't catch you and suddenly red brake lights appear in front of you and it's too late.
As my driving instructor said all those years ago - the danger is out there in front of you; not in the car. Concentrate on the driving and not the gadgets inside.
Pretty much my entire regular journey (J13 to J24 or J27) will be on managed motorways or roadworks. Brilliant.
As per another thread, the problem is people who speed and then brake hard for the gantries (regardless of whether there's a camera or not)
Sadly people in the UK are far to compliant for such actions to take effect. We're nearly as bad as the bloody Germans nowadays, but at least they have effective and vaguely sensible governance.
Has there ever been any independent review of safety statistics, and whether these managed sections do anything to reduce KSI numbers? I suppose they may reduce minor bumps, but equally can see how traffic braking to 40 for the cameras then immediately speeding up because the road is obviously clear could cause a few accidents.
It consists of 4-5 lanes of traffic all doing the same speed & everyone staring at their speedo
Rather than looking ahead.
You end up with twice the congestion because people just sit 4 lanes out & block all the lanes up.
It's cr*p.
As ever I'm willing to accept there are two sides to the story and the one from the operators/agencies rarely gets heard. To which I'll say give me the access and I'll give you the platform!
Cheers,
Dan
The extra lane has been a waste of time though, as everyone just sits in Lane 3 like a lemon, rather than before when they did it in Lane 2.
Pesonally, I'm a fan on how the section of the M42 is run - it's an improvement. Even so, on Monday the gantry had all four lanes at 60 with a contradictory 'hard shoulder for emergency only' sign lit.
- *edit*** Sorry Dan - crossed posts...
I pass over a number of larger roundabouts controlled by traffic lights on my commute and very occasionally the traffic lights are broken. I can usually tell when this is as there are no queues approaching them because everyone has sorted themselves out and just got on with using the rules of the road.
The ever changing limits on smart motorways seems to cause people to brake at gantries regardless of limit and bunch up to stop people lane changing. It seems to me more often than not when the limits on the same stretch of road are off, everyone just goes about their business and get on with driving to the conditions. The worst bit about smart motorways near me is that they have occasional hard shoulder running. Which catches loads of people out. When its off people are in the hard shoulder and when its on people don't go in it in case its off, or just for the next junction etc etc. And then if there is ever an incident when hard shoulder running is on none of the emergency services can get there easily as the hard shoulder is blocked too. Just leave well alone. I'd wager the M40 runs smoothly above the average national speed limit for the majority of the time with none of this smart nonsense and people manage fine.
Also, what is the delay between the signs illuminating, and the cameras working? If a gantry lit up with a speed limit as you passed under, would the camera flash?
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