Driving through an X on a smart Motorway

[BikeBikeBIke]

I got caught up in the carnage on the M27 this morning.

Dozens of cars were driving in the closed lanes passing multiple X signs on the gantries.

I thought that was an offence punishable with an FPN and google says I'm correct.

I didn't see any camera flashes. Are those X signs typically enforced? Seems to me a hundreds of drivers will be (rightly) getting multiple FPNs and potentially totting up bans if they passed several gantries.

[BikeBikeBIke]

richhead said:

having been broken down on a smart motorway, i pulled into what would have been the hard shoulder, and got out the truck as fast as i could, the amount of people who nearly rammed into the back of it was unreal, so anyone ignoring a red x needs deaaling with , i was driving a truck aswell, so not hard to see, i went up the embancment and waited for the tyre fitter, he said hes seen some amazing things on smart motrways and is thinking of changing jobs because of the danger , i know i wouldnt want to do it.
Never had a visit from a police car or even a womble in the few hours i was there aswell, and i was parked right under a camera

Smart motorways are lethal and respect for the X's is critical to try to make them work to some degree, but in this case it was safe as houses the powers that be were just using the Xs to stop people zip merging at the cones a few miles on which is what all the 'overtakers' were doing. The only thing stopping me doing in the same was fear of FPNs, plus the general rudeness of queue jumping - the massive number of cars going to the front effective meant I was stationary. (But I won't be banned and I suspect some of them might.)

Edited by BikeBikeBIke on Thursday 22 February 14:16

[BikeBikeBIke]

Desiderata said:

Sorry, but how can you possibly know in advance why the redX is up? Maybe some traffic controllers do abuse them and put them on for dubious reasons, but you've no way of knowing that before you pass the all clear at the end of the hazard.

I didn't know in advance. I'm recounting this afterwards.

[BikeBikeBIke]

No ideas for a name said:

Vasco said:

Good, I hope so.

We all need to improve the (currently terrible) standard of driving on motorways - and just about all roads across the country.

Almost everyone knows the rules, but it would seem many then just ignore them.
What we need to see, very well publicised are headlines like for instance "684 drivers fined for ignoring red X's, along with 232 with bans".

Otherwise some people will just carry on as the think they won't be caught.

That can't be right, if they know it's illegal they'll must also know they'll be caught. Unless they know something I don't know and there's no enforcement of Red X's on the M27?

[BikeBikeBIke]

covboy said:

Not sure about that Doesn't it count as a single journey, like multiple speeding offnces on the same stretch of road on a single journey ?

25 years ago "multiple speeding offences on the same stretch of road on a single journey" was not routinely considered a single offence by the courts. Sometimes it was, sometimes it wasn't. DAMHIKIJDOK.

[BikeBikeBIke]

Desiderata said:

Pica-Pica said:

Killer2005 said:

Desiderata said:

Sorry, but how can you possibly know in advance why the redX is up? Maybe some traffic controllers do abuse them and put them on for dubious reasons, but you've no way of knowing that before you pass the all clear at the end of the hazard.

You don't need to know in advance. All you need to know is that there is a red X and that means don't use the lane. Simple.

I don’t think that was the point being made!

Exactly. I was questioning the OP's stance that it was only the legal implications that stopped him from following the crowd through the redX when the reasons for it weren't clear

The reasons for it were *very* clear as was the amount of unused tarmac.

Interestingly I noticed on my way home that instead of Red Xs the gantries were all showing keep right signs so even the guys operating the signs thought the red Xs were needless. (Or maybe they felt the amount of fines/bans being created had got out of hand.)

Driving in the Red X lanes was rude in the extreme. It was likely (certain?) to result in serious legal trouble. But it wasn't dangerous in that specific situation yesterday.

I don't drive in the closed lane. Normally because I don't want to collide with a pallet lying in the carriageway. Yesterday for fear of the fine and not wanting to be a dick.

Edited by BikeBikeBIke on Friday 23 February 08:28