Wednesday 29th March 2017

50 limits by the back door: PH Blog

Public consultation to lower M1 speed limits said no thanks - new gantries enforce them anyway

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Is there anything worse than trundling through seemingly endless 50-limited roadworks, wondering whether it's better to sit with an HGV on your bumper on his 55mph limiter or be boxed into his blindspot for the next 10 miles in the outside lane?

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]

[nicfaz]

I have to agree - smart motorways might have more support if they didn't look like they were being operated by pre-school children on work experience.