30mph on M4 death

[Ken Figenus]

Sad story and respect to the family for their stance.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wale...

But should a vehicle restricted to 30mph really be travelling on the M4 at peak rush hour (17:50)? Was there no wide/slow load van behind it either etc?

[Ken Figenus]

HantsRat said:

Hundreds of slow moving vehicles use the motorway at all times of the day across the country.

Maybe that should be looked at during busiest periods as they are way below the natural speed of the motorway and thus cause thousands of additional manoeuvres and delays?

[Ken Figenus]

I'm not sure he was saying slow moving vehicles should be totally banned? Its probably worth a risk assessment of the benefits in requiring such vehicles to travel during times of lower traffic volumes and traffic densities though? Inconveniencing thousands of normal users where this could be potentially minimised should also be a consideration too - or is that selfish?

It's not for no reason that many slow moving vehicles are actually prohibited from motorways after all...

[Ken Figenus]

I think you are exceeding the argument. Also ignoring the fact that there has been a very sad fatality here - although we are not actually sure why the driver failed to spot the slow moving lit up vehicle. But he did. So it seems pragmatic to analyse what to me is slow moving hazard which increases risk factors and as a bonus maybe address the inconvenience to motorway speeds capable users? This is pretty easy to do. Maybe a guideline that their insurers would also approve of to avoid travel at peak times? Or maybe one to only permit travel at peak times in congested areas where general speeds are slower? Or one to permit travel between dawn and dusk where lights are more visible and traffic density lower? Or do nothing of course and accept the added risk.