Motorway gantry 'smart' messages...why wrong so often?
Discussion
Why, with so much money thrown at new technology capable of keeping us all safe (no laughing at the back) do we continue to see messages for something quite obviously not happening?
Today, on the M25 (shock!) we were faced with a single gantry red circled 40mph sign declaring "Queue ahead" You could see ahead. There was no queue. Nothing. It wasn't even busy.
The usual bunching up began to occur as some wondered whether to slow at all, others decreased speeds quickly, some had a half and half approach; undertaking, overtaking....all pointless.
Moments later and in clear view, the national speed limit sign.
15 to 20 mins after I passed, one of our other drivers came through the same section with it still lit. Still no queue, nothing in the distance, just the same single gantry lit with 40 mph and the warning.
It's not the first time, it won't be the last, but why? I understand it may be hard to pinpoint animals / small children / debris in the road type reports, but a blatantly obvious, non-existent queue?
Who is in charge of turning this stuff off?
Today, on the M25 (shock!) we were faced with a single gantry red circled 40mph sign declaring "Queue ahead" You could see ahead. There was no queue. Nothing. It wasn't even busy.
The usual bunching up began to occur as some wondered whether to slow at all, others decreased speeds quickly, some had a half and half approach; undertaking, overtaking....all pointless.
Moments later and in clear view, the national speed limit sign.
15 to 20 mins after I passed, one of our other drivers came through the same section with it still lit. Still no queue, nothing in the distance, just the same single gantry lit with 40 mph and the warning.
It's not the first time, it won't be the last, but why? I understand it may be hard to pinpoint animals / small children / debris in the road type reports, but a blatantly obvious, non-existent queue?
Who is in charge of turning this stuff off?
littleredrooster said:
If we're doing this yet again (...sigh...), the usual - and generally entirely correct answer is that they are reacting to something several kilometres away which you will never see and which will have gone by the time you get there. They prevent fast traffic from running into the back of slowing traffic and try (and succeed, IMO) to keep traffic flowing.
So why a single 40 mph restriction, back to a national speed limit sign, all within ground covered in probably less than a minute? Within moments of braking to avoid a fine, you could see the national speed limit sign. How does any of that apply to what you suggest?Wills2 said:
They're utterly useless.....
Pedestrians in the road slow down!......no there isn't
Incident slow down!...............no there isn't
Animals on the road slow down!...............no there isn't
That was just a selection of the incorrect signs I've witnessed recently on the motorway.
But there may have been, several hours ago..Pedestrians in the road slow down!......no there isn't
Incident slow down!...............no there isn't
Animals on the road slow down!...............no there isn't
That was just a selection of the incorrect signs I've witnessed recently on the motorway.
TooMany2cvs said:
wildone63 said:
While travelling northbound on the A1 in North Yorks recently I seen the overhead warnings signs were advising drivers to slow down because of an 'incident',a few miles later it turned out to be a rear end shunt and a couple of lanes were blocked,fair enough but what I couldn't get my head around were the overhead gantry signs displaying the same message for the next couple of miles AFTER the incident,and also traffic in the unaffected southbound lane being displayed the same message.
Perhaps that shunt you saw was one that happened in the tailback from one that had already been cleared...? And perhaps the first one had caused another shunt (now cleared) in the opposite carriageway?zarjaz1991 said:
I'm doing over 40,000 miles a year at the moment, mainly motorways, and I find them reasonably accurate more than 90% of the time.
I think overall they do help traffic flow. And many times I've been grateful for the 'long delays after J20' type of messages.
I see odd occasions where they seem to slow the traffic for no *apparent* reason, I generally take the view that there's either a reason I'm not aware of, or it's a precaution, or it's something that's recently been cleared.
My view is the exact opposite. I have seen maybe a handful of examples of what was posted compared to what now must be hundreds where I have seen nothing of what was displayed and the advice given or reduced speeds made no sense. I fully accept things may have happened earlier and been cleared etc, but then quite often, you are reduced to 40 or 50 mph and shortly after, the limit is back to normal. How can something have been cleared in such a short space of time? The only answer must be as has been suggested; there may have been a problem a long time ago and the reduced traffic has now triggered the 'smart' system. Now, someone needs to turn it off..I think overall they do help traffic flow. And many times I've been grateful for the 'long delays after J20' type of messages.
I see odd occasions where they seem to slow the traffic for no *apparent* reason, I generally take the view that there's either a reason I'm not aware of, or it's a precaution, or it's something that's recently been cleared.
Can anyone suggest what the point was of my original example?
70 mph to 40 mph on a single gantry where you could see ahead to the next 70 mph sign yet displaying QUEUE AHEAD. Well, there wasn't a queue and must never have been as there wasn't really room between the two signs to form one
Something else someone forgot to turn off? More money-making? What reason can there be to make a road more dangerous and if there is a reason, why lit for so long?cb1965 said:
Three favourites they use to allow speed limits to be lowered:
1) Report of obstruction (there never is any actual obstruction) - 10 miles of this on average
2) Debris on road (there never is any actual debris) - 15 miles of this on average
3) Pedestrians in road (there never are any actual pedestrians) - 20 miles of this on average
Absolute waste of time and money frankly!
Having seen all the warnings you mention probably fifty+ times since this thread was started, I have to agree that not once have I ever seen any obstructions, debris or peds.1) Report of obstruction (there never is any actual obstruction) - 10 miles of this on average
2) Debris on road (there never is any actual debris) - 15 miles of this on average
3) Pedestrians in road (there never are any actual pedestrians) - 20 miles of this on average
Absolute waste of time and money frankly!
Now, it could be argued that the problem had been sorted before I got to the specific location, but I have even seen the signs light up as I approach and still seen nothing.
Gafferjim said:
Digby said:
Nice to know we have a system in place that can be set off by a single person and that this in turn will cause lots of lovely congestion. It actually explains a lot.
Put your brain in gear and read that part again, the moron would cause people to brake, thus reducing the average speed of traffic, Midas senses that traffic has slowed so sets the signals to warn drivers.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff