Like the electric scooter trials. I think the planners of this stuff think it's for the long-term good, and the casualties to get to their goal the price society has to pay.
No it’s not but if fuckwits who ignored the signs had their licences taken away then drivers would soon get the message. And the system would work. Pull ins every 600m should be more than enough.
If your engine quits suddenly while you’re doing 60mph, would you be able to coast at a safe speed in every circumstance to the next lay-by? Genuine question, I do not know the answer. I’m certain I know the answer if one has to coast 2.5 miles.
To be honest all motorways work when it isn’t rush hour, the problem for the stretch you mention is too many junctions too close together. In 40 years of driving j10 hasn’t been without works to improve it none of which have nor ever will. British drivers couldn’t cope with 3 lanes having 4 makes it far worse, there just isn’t the lane discipline for it to work. I stopped doing any business within the West Midlands long ago, all mine is out of that area as it takes too long to move around within it.
I like “Smart” motorways, the M3 in particular is much better for it. I never ignore the overhead gantry signs, the reason many do is the information is often outdated or the speed limit reduced several miles before the stranded vehicle, which are more often than not in the emergency pull off bay, much further away than the hard shoulder. The hard shoulder was a highly dangerous place and the site of many accidents. I don’t know the answer, but road design is not the fault of this or any previous government, who were advised on the best course of action.
Ah... But selective removal of human traits isn't a possibility. Making mistakes is an inherent part of being human and often teaches us compassion & empathy when we the see others make the same mistakes that we have made ourselves. As a lighter aside, Elvis tried to be a country singer and was subsequently slung out of the Grand Ole Opry. Colonel Sanders presented his KFC to a 1000 people before he got a franchising partner and it took James Dyson 5126 prototypes to get his hoover to work. So if they hadn't made those mistakes, maybe none of us would ever have eaten a Maryland chicken sandwich, in a clean carpeted restaurant, listening to "Hound Dog"? Enjoy your Sunday!
Are they ‘mistakes’ if they deliberately ignore the rules? The Red Cross sign isn’t lit for the fun of it. Britain seems to be a Nation where everyone thinks they are ‘entitled’ and fuck everyone else.
From the standard of driving in the rain I saw recently it's not the motorways at fault it's the people driving on them. How many drivers are using them with faulty cars How many people check their car before a drive How many people rarely drive on a motorway I watched one of those police interceptor programs and a lorry driver was driving in a lane with a Red Cross He was angry when asked to step out of cab his reason being as he was in a lorry he could see further then the police car so he was staying in that lane until he had to move and he wouldn't accept that he shouldn't be in that lane
Then perhaps you will find this article a revelation? https://www.theconstructionindex.co...ister-hoodwinked-over-smart-motorway-roll-out
i All good points but the government/ Highways England view is that the software, observation operation and layby distancing are all faulty too. There is a shocking video widely available of a pensioner who clips a broken down van at the edge of a motorway. The van is on the narrow strip beside the slow lane and juts out into the nearside lane. The pensioner, locked into a stream of traffic cannot move to the right to avoid the van. The car bounces off the van and spins out of control into the path of a lorry, which kills her. Don't look for this video unless you want to be horrified. That could have been any one of us.
The level of fucktardery and dumbfuckery, as well as out right entitlement in the county is just staggering. Just last week I shouted at a HGV driver on his phone and a mum on the school run driving while on a video call, both reacted the same way...
Scrap all existing smart motorways, says AA. "Basically drivers don't trust them, the technology is not fool proof, and 37% of breakdowns on smart motorways happen in live lanes. And basically those drivers are sitting ducks." https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65294356 Sounds good to me.
I’ve posted this before, so forgive the C&P. Unfortunately smart motorways and dumb people don’t mix well. A few years ago I was a passenger in a car driven by my friend when she ran out of petrol on a “smart” stretch of the M1 near Northampton. Worse still, it was on the approach to a slip road to leave the motorway. Despite the Highways Agency “closing” the lane by putting a red “X” on the overhead gantries, us putting the hazard lights on, putting a red warning triangle out and standing behind the barrier waving our arms to warn other drivers, at least 3 vehicles almost rear ended the car, one in particular coming to a screeching tyre-smoking halt only a few metres short of contact. Madness.
Most people knew before the introduction of smart motorways that the whole idea was crackpot and dangerous. Safety is the most important aspect of motorway management.Some delay is better than the loss of life surely.Britain’s roads are in an awful unacceptable state and urgent action is needed.People are being killed as a consequence of this and cheapskate solutions like smart motorways are not the answer. I have had two broken springs on my car during the last two years and almost all of my circle of friends have had their cars damaged because of the appalling state of the road surfaces.
Yep. My Mini is immobilised at the moment because one of its front tyres got punctured by a pothole. I could pump it up and it would stay inflated for a few days but over the weekend it gave up the ghost. Hertfordshire is bad enough, but the roads in Essex, around Harlow and Epping at least, look as if they’ve been shelled and have done for months.
