Smart motorway rollout to be stopped?
Discussion
Sense at last perhaps?
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-46553654
I know this has been debated on here before, but looks like some serious opposition to having any more of them.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-46553654
I know this has been debated on here before, but looks like some serious opposition to having any more of them.
Schmed said:
Smart motorways are one of the dumbest ideas the DoT have ever come up with. Whichever retard signed these off needs shooting quite frankly. Well let’s wait for the accident statistics to change the policy then. Idiotic.
This. Engine blows up/cambelt snaps/tyre blowout, nowhere to go, Artic hits you in the back at 50mph.
tty variable limits will almost certainly remain. Fermit and Sexy Sarah said:
Good, and please reverse the ones already implemented! Whoever thought there's anything smart about them needs sacking.
yup.Even if you use the hard shoulder as a cheapskate lane, why not move the barrier and have a soft shoulder? That's what gets me, you literally have no-where to go and it seems so unnecessary.
If the story is correct, I'm not sure of the logic of the lead campaigner...
"The campaign is being led by Samantha Cockerill - whose partner Steve Godbold, a vehicle recovery worker, was killed in September 2017 when an HGV strayed on to the hard shoulder of the M25."
So was that ALR with no shoulder or normal hard shoulder that he was killed on?
Standard emotive silliness with no real research relying on anecdata and confirmation bias instead. More research needed.
"The campaign is being led by Samantha Cockerill - whose partner Steve Godbold, a vehicle recovery worker, was killed in September 2017 when an HGV strayed on to the hard shoulder of the M25."
So was that ALR with no shoulder or normal hard shoulder that he was killed on?
Standard emotive silliness with no real research relying on anecdata and confirmation bias instead. More research needed.
Pothole said:
If the story is correct, I'm not sure of the logic of the lead campaigner...
"The campaign is being led by Samantha Cockerill - whose partner Steve Godbold, a vehicle recovery worker, was killed in September 2017 when an HGV strayed on to the hard shoulder of the M25."
So was that ALR with no shoulder or normal hard shoulder that he was killed on?
Standard emotive silliness with no real research relying on anecdata and confirmation bias instead. More research needed.
I suspect the logic is that if her husband was killed on a road that DID have a hard shoulder, those people driving and working on motorways without one are in even more danger."The campaign is being led by Samantha Cockerill - whose partner Steve Godbold, a vehicle recovery worker, was killed in September 2017 when an HGV strayed on to the hard shoulder of the M25."
So was that ALR with no shoulder or normal hard shoulder that he was killed on?
Standard emotive silliness with no real research relying on anecdata and confirmation bias instead. More research needed.
An easy and cheap way to increase the traffic flow would be to educate all the idiots who drive at their own speed in lane 2 of 3 (or 3 of 4) to move over. Maybe display "Keep left unless overtaking" on the overhead signs instead of the usual crap. We don't need so called smart motorways we just need smarter (ok, slightly less idiotic) driving!
Pothole said:
JimSuperSix said:
I suspect the logic is that if her husband was killed on a road that DID have a hard shoulder, those people driving and working on motorways without one are in even more danger.
So emotive, unresearched extrapolation? OKDon't understand why they need to compare apples and oranges with the statistics
16 crashes involving stationary vehicles in all lane the smart motorways, 29 involving vehicles on the hard shoulder of the rest of the network
why not compare it to stationary vehicles on all lanes ? Was there none, or was the figure so high it does not support the claims being made?
16 crashes involving stationary vehicles in all lane the smart motorways, 29 involving vehicles on the hard shoulder of the rest of the network
why not compare it to stationary vehicles on all lanes ? Was there none, or was the figure so high it does not support the claims being made?
Think "smart motorways" work - not so sure about the inclusion of the hard shoulder?
I drive about 30K/annum on a mixture of the main motorways and so see all the things that people complain over but still believe them to be an aid.
My issue is that this same technology will be adapted for road charging and "speeding fines".
I drive about 30K/annum on a mixture of the main motorways and so see all the things that people complain over but still believe them to be an aid.
My issue is that this same technology will be adapted for road charging and "speeding fines".
Pothole said:
Standard emotive silliness with no real research relying on anecdata and confirmation bias instead. More research needed.
Isn't step one of any transport policy that might be questionable to ensure there are no suitable statistics available? Happy to be told otherwise in this case.I've long thought there should be a spin off of the ONS with a more aggressive attitude to testing policy. It should be routine that the public have good data either way.
JimSuperSix said:
Pothole said:
JimSuperSix said:
I suspect the logic is that if her husband was killed on a road that DID have a hard shoulder, those people driving and working on motorways without one are in even more danger.
So emotive, unresearched extrapolation? OKThe problem is people just ignore the red X and barrel on through anyway.
I personallycan't see the problem with smart motorways. Lots of other major roads cope without having an extra lane just for emergencies. If there is empirical evidence of them being more dangerous though then there is a case for stopping further roll outs.
PGN said:
An easy and cheap way to increase the traffic flow would be to educate all the idiots who drive at their own speed in lane 2 of 3 (or 3 of 4) to move over. Maybe display "Keep left unless overtaking" on the overhead signs instead of the usual crap. We don't need so called smart motorways we just need smarter (ok, slightly less idiotic) driving!
This is pretty much my view1. Cost of adding lanes is of course horrendous so smart motorways would seem a cheap way of increasing capacity (assume for the minute we agree this is necessary)
2. Better education and enforcement of lane discipline would I reckon free up a lot of capacity and increase flow, and I think is a barometer of driving standards more generally. I would be happy for the so called safety partnership types to go after this rather than just speed
3. Even if the operator or AI can stick a red "X" up behind a stationary car after 30 seconds, that is a lot of chances for mistakes
4. And that assumes drivers are paying attention (their lane discipline suggests they are not)
5. Emergency vehicle access is stuffed up, though some countries seem able to clear a path up the middle quite easily
6. Whether smart motorways are a smoke screen for rolling out road charging tech..? I doubt it. It would have to be properly "deep" and I'm not sure Whitehall can even do shallow at the moment.
7. Comparing the need for a motorway ard shoulder with normal roads is disingenuous imo as the speed and conditions are usually so different
So, I will basically get used to them, and continue to keep my car serviced properly.
There's few ailments that will genuinely freeze a car in place.. I reckon most cars that get marooned in a live lane were caused by inexperience or panic by the driver ( which would also be cheaper to rectify than building an extra 2 lanes on every motorway.)
Feel free to share youtube clips of me being proved wrong of course..I could do with a laugh.
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