Official data from the Department for Transport shows that fatal accidents on motorways increased by 19.4% in 2018, with 107 deaths from 92 fatal collisions. Isn’t it time that the government admitted to putting finances before lives?
Highways England, the company responsible for the countries motorway network (owned by the government) are adamant that smart motorways aren’t the risk that they’re perceived to be, although a recent report stated that breaking down on an all-lane running motorway during off-peak hours is 216% more dangerous than a traditional motorway.
With that said, it’s known that 24 vehicles (on average) per week are involved in some sort of collision on a traditional hard shoulder, so that may not be the answer either.
Smart motorways
We recently reported that many drivers are too scared to use the hard shoulder on a smart motorway, and having read through your comments, it seems as though there’s a common theme: smart motorway, dumb driver.
It could be argued that it isn’t the technology at fault, but that of the organic lump behind the wheel of the vehicle; if drivers were better educated, more courteous or respectful, understood the simple physics of car accidents and how to avoid them, then perhaps a smart motorway may work?
That’s all very well, but what happens in the event of a breakdown? Or any unforeseen circumstance? Making your way to a safety refuge isn’t always possible, and if you happen to find yourself stuck in the middle of a lane, it can take anything up to 20 minutes for the live lane to be closed, and even then, there’s rarely a physical barrier closing the lane, just a big red X on an overhead gantry, which is easily ignored.
While Highways England claim that a smart motorway is just as safe as a conventional motorway, Jack Cousens, head of roads policy for the AA, said: “The fact fatal incidents on British motorways rose by almost a fifth last year is depressingly tragic. We need to design and build the safest roads in the world, not ones ‘just as safe’ as their predecessors.
“Drivers feel uneasy on all lane running schemes, so much so that two thirds (66%) are only prepared to drive up to half a mile in search of an Emergency Refuge Area, before stopping in a live lane should they have a puncture.
“It seems that as more collisions occur where vulnerable vehicles are hit in live lanes, the more the public seems to distrust the concept of smart motorways.”
More than revenue generation
Of course, the simplest argument for smart motorways is financial, both in terms of cost to build and revenue that can be generated automatically for any infringement of the law, but there is a valid argument, albeit quite minor:
A smart motorway can be an excellent way to improve traffic flow and volume on stretches of motorways that would have previously been impossible to improve, either through geographic restrictions, or prohibitive costs. But as for the rest of the arguments? Even Highways England have admitted that the safety records are a worry – “the numbers (of fatalities) are very concerning, more needs to be done to improve the safety”.
Having smart motorways is all well and good when we have smart drivers using them, but that’s not the world we live in, and as such, we should look to tackle the problems that conventional motorways bring about, and really only resort to using the all-lane running motorways where absolutely necessary, rather than as a cheap alternative to traditional road construction.
We’ve seen this before; when councils introduced 20mph blanket speed limits in residential areas in the name of safety, only to be proven that they in fact increased the danger, they wouldn’t (couldn’t?) spend the money to revert them back to 30mph zones. Financial gain before safety, regardless of political alignment.
Public service announcements
Going back a few decades, we’d often see Public Service Announcements in the form of short adverts on the television, perhaps the most memorable being “Only a fool breaks the two second rule”. Maybe we need a return of those PSAs, advising motorists both old and new on the correct procedures of how to drive on modern motorways?
Or should we all just sit back and wait for full-autonomy to arrive, with connected cars ‘talking’ to each other, and avoiding all possible risks and accidents?
What do you think of smart motorways? Do they have any benefit? Or is it simply a way of generating revenue, while saving infrastructure costs? Let us know in the comments.
The easiest and most cost effective answer is to introduce compulsory re tests for drivers say every 5 years and at the same time renew their license. That’s how industry works and deaths have fallen. Fail your test get 3 months to re take and pass and you’re ok fail again lose your license. This would not only be self funding would employ several more examiners and help educate drivers. How many bother to read the Highway Code once they’ve passed their original test.
Recently my Daughter in Laws company car broke down, the clutch failed, she was ne where near the refuge area on an all lane section of M5. She said it was terrifying, she got across the Armco and phoned for help. It was 1/2 an hour before breakdown arrived. Retests would not solve this problem, all lane running should be banned
I have been on many safety and induction courses in industry. Some you have to fill in pencil so they can be modified others you are left to watch a video and are left the test paper. A lot of inductions are a constant and some people still fail. Just a paper exercise
Rubbish!
All a re-test can prove is that you drove satisfactorily while the examiner was in the car. What you get up to once he gets out and turns his back is, quite literally, beyond his ken.
Bill, you’re absolutely right in what you say, but as an ex driving instructor I can tell you that when I started training I can honestly say that I was appalled at how many folk told me that, when asked, they would EXPECT to fail the test with many of them saying something along the lines of “Well, what do you expect?”
Considering that the L-test is a test of BASIC COMPETENCY to drive I still find it worrying. As for “smart” motorways my belief is that they should be got rid of immediately and the left hand lane should become a hard shoulder.
I agree. The test should also ensure:
. that the driver is who they say they are
. that they understand the road signs
. do not exhibit anti-social behaviour
. be tested on motorway driving
. ensure that the driver can stick to speed limits
. ensure that the driver understands where they can and can’t park eg in particular around schools
. ensure that they use direction indicators
. ensure that they do not cut corners
. ensure that they do not habitually amber gamble (or nowadays treat red lights as optional)
. do not park on zig-zag lines around pedestrian crossings
. do not tailgate
Ongoing education is always beneficial, short driving skills on TV or news media can help tremendously in teaching people skills they are not aware of.
Agree to some extent with smart motorways dumb users. Many drivers for example don’t know how to join & leave motorways. There used to be TV ads like the 2 second rule about using the exit slip road for deceleration & how to merge in with traffic already on the motorway you are joining. But how many times do you see drivers slowing down on the motorway before their exit & even more almost stopping before joining a motorway? There are also the drivers who fail to plan their exit in good time & are in lanes 2 3 or 4 & slow down at the last minute to change to the lane for exiting this slowing down the traffic in the faster or for overtaking lanes. & how many crawlers do we see on lanes 2 or 3 where former hard shoulder has become a live lane & it is of course against traffic law to undertake these idiots. Much traffic congestion is caused by these sort of inconsiderate drivers. Surely it’s time for more compulsory driving instruction to be implemented for these drivers & more encouragement given to take the institute of advanced motorists (IAM) driving test
Could red crosses over a lane be programmed to flash at an increasing rate until the last 2 before an obstruction/breakdown are constantly red? Many drivers ignore red crosses because they can’t see a problem, so assume that they’re displayed in error. If the red crosses were more focused on the location of an incident, maybe drivers would take more notice. Of course, drivers would need to be educated about the new warning system.
The yellow arrows tell you to move out of that lane, before you get to the red cross. There could be more than 1 red cross if the operator is not exactly sure where the obstruction is.
The law is, DO NOT pass under a red cross. No ifs, no buts. Enforceable.
That’s got to be better and easier to understand than graduated red crosses, trying to work out whether you need to reduce speed or change lanes and when, whilst looking at signs and checking the speedo, meanwhile running into the back of the car in front, that you’d not been watching and has jammed on his brakes because he’s unsure of what’s happening. and probably completely unenforceable.
They are the most dangerous change to our road system ever. All they are for is to save money on improving the motorway and then trying to make money from speed cameras. Getting rid of hard shoulders is crazy and dangerous. In the dark if a car has a full electrical failure then the likely if it it being hit is extremly high before the lane is closed. As for the cameras they are regulary changed for no apparent reason. everyone brakes for the fear of speeding ticket which ends in a ripple effect with people ending up doing emergency stops.
Unfortunately the gevernment we have is only interested in road safety if it is easy money. Nothing is done about lane hoggers, drivers pulling onto roundabouts or out of side roads without looking. Round improvements which are blatantly obvious are not done until people are killed. Mobile speed cameras as you leave the speed limit not as you enter or near the hazard such as schools. All done to make easymoney in the name of road safety.
I agree with most of what is said here, your post and others, but, if drivers don’t speed cameras wouldn’t bother them. I’d increase camera numbers and camouflage them, when people realise they can’t get away with speeding they’d stop doing it.
While you may be right about cameras possibly cutting speeding (at camera lovations), that doesn’t mean that the standards of driving will change anywhere else. Cameras can’t spot lane hogging, driving while unfit, erratic driving…the list is endless. What would be far more effective is increased driver education coupled with an increased police presence (actual real police) for enforcement.
In Australia, the max speed on their motorways (freeways) is 100km/hr (approx 60mph) and they DO disguise their speed cameras (one near my son is purple on a purple painted bridge!) and they still have one of the highest casualty rates in the world. More speed cameras won’t solve the problem!
John speeding isn’t the be all and end all of road safety and far to much emphasis is placed upon it as it’s an easy stream of revenue for the government or councils and like smart motorways they’re a cheaper option than employing traffic police to police the roads and motorways
Cameras do nothing to catch the drunk/drugged drivers they do nothing to catch the bad and erratic drivers or the lane hoggers who cause so much frustration …. As long as they stay under the limit they’re immune to prosecution
Speeding is always brought up I wonder how many accidents are caused by motorists not actually keep up with the limit, And before you say I know its not a goal, but common sense really we have tractors on our expressway usually in rush hour so we are all batting along at 60 then a huge tail back due to a 25mph tractor and people shooting out in to spaces that aren’t long enough because they don’t want to get stuck, the other day a massive tail back, why? a Nissan Micra with 2 pensioners in travelling at 15mph!!!! in the 70 zone, and that’s not dangerous?
Germany – autobarns where is your speed limit there. not very often the have a pile up because speed is expected and consideration is given, in this country instead of concentrating on the drive we spend out time watching for cameras, looking at bridges for plod, looking out for the moron who pulls out in front of you because he is doing 60 and that’s the limit and stuff you, not to mention the lane hogger in the out side at 60 mph who really needs to move back over instead of just sitting there as there is another car 2 miles ahead and I will only have to pull out again whilst we are doing all this we are not concentrating on the drive, Speed is not the killer is the driver over stepping their ability, bit like a gun, the gun isn’t the killer its the person holding it.
How many will have to be injured or die before someone admits that Smart Motorways are really a very stupid idea? Hopefully, there will be successful legal action soon.
So many perfectly good things are being replaced with really dumb things as part of this “Smart” fascist UN agenda.
I wish I could go back to the days when I could drive happily down the M1 at four in the morning beneath the warm amber lights, with no one tracking or spying on me, and no HID or LED lights blinding me.
Heaven – compared to the insanity of today.
Why are they braking if they are within the speed limit?
I’ve seen motorists speed up in between signals. Even when speeds are not being shown, they will brake to slow down to 70MPH to pass under the signal, then speed up again until the next signal. Crazy. Dangerous. Enforceable. Waste of fuel.
There must be a way, with all the cameras they have, including ANPR, to detect these idiots remotely and issue warning and small fine to cover the expense, then large fine next time. Next fine and points, Next disqualification and retest.
Smart Motorways aren’t. It’s as simple as that. All motorways should have a hard shoulder for emergency refuge, there should also be a separation zone between that and the first live lane of probably 2 metres at least complete with rumble strip.
Using different grades of surface on different lanes, ie. nice smooth quiet running for the left lane, rough noisy concrete for the right lane and something in between for the other lanes would encourage drivers to stop hogging the middle and right lanes.
That would be a lot smarter than having no hard shoulder.
I love that idea of road sound! The central lane hoggers only think about their own comfort, and a “rumbly” centre would certainly dissuade them. I also know a lot of hoggers that just don’t feel comfortable changing lanes – these guys just need more training.
Alternatively make undertaking legal, as it is in America. That is why American motorways are safer than ours and more pleasant to drive on.
I thought undertaking was illegal in the UK, and not in the US? I thought that US freeway lanes are not actually for overtaking and that it was essentially a free for all. And as for US freeways being safer, I find that doubtful. Seeing the US clips on Police, Camera, Action suggests that the standard of driving there is somewhat below European standards.
Smart motorways were introduced with the aim of safer roads and the facts are that safer roads have not been created as a result. People are far too busy looking down at their speedos to make sure that they arent going to be caught by the next money spinning camera, so their attention isn’t fully on the road. Also partly to blame is the fact that cars are seen to be more safe and intelligent nowadays, giving people a false sense of security. Its true, cars are safer, but only if attention is given to the road and not the 12″ infotainment screen that’s placed in front of them!
About smart motorways we agree, but it is not hard to not speed.
Perhaps speedometers should give an audible warning if you exceed a set speed?
Mine does – and it’s a 2003 model, so not latest in driver ‘aids. But the latest aids reduce driver workload, adaptive cruise control, check, lane guidance, check, anti crash, check, auto vehicle avoidance – check. The driver of a car with virtually nothing to do is quite likely to miss a red lane closed sign.
Recurrent training should be implemented but smart motorways are still potentially very dangerous. They are also precursors to road pricing as the infrastructure for that is then very easy to add
Quote:“While Highways England claim that a smart motorway is just as safe as a conventional motorway”
Let’s be honest, the people at Highways England lie as easily as Politicians, and in many cases they are as stupid as them.
I have been in involved in road transport for nearly 50 years, both as a HGV driver and Haulage Operator, and believe me, Smart Motorways ARE dangerous, because drivers simply haven’t had any proper guidance or training on how to use them. It’s high time that all drivers were made to undertake some form of retraining under the conditions of being allowed to hold a driving licence.
It’s not even down to drivers having guidance. How can a road with one lane forming a permanent continuous refuge area ever be no more safe than one without? It’s like saying a car without crumple zones or airbags is no less safe as long as the driver is trained never to crash.
Having spent 7 years travelling around to M60 at 20 mph max whilst the smart motorway was created I have to say since it was completed it has to be the safest motorway in the country now because you would be lucky if you could get over 5mph for 70% of the day due to the volume of traffic let alone a car broken down in the middle lane!! They don’t work in the slightest and now the only motorway I ever travelled on with very little traffic (M62) is being turned into one aswell!! Another 5 years of 20mph for no benefit!!
If the technology isn’t suitable for current drivers, then there are two choices, improve the technology, or improve the drivers.
Drivers have been around for a long time, and they haven’t got any better, which means the Tech is at fault.
Dreadful experience lately on smart m way north side if Bristol. Traffic everywhere virtually stationary and having to change lanes to achieve correct one by forcing other drivers to give way. No obvious signing to encourage early selection of lanes before it was far too late to move over due to stationary traffic q..Don’t operators see what is happening as an overview and warn people in good time. M32 q seems to be a major issue here, stating the obvious I know!
The answer is to reduce the speed limit and enforce it rigorously with average cameras. I would say most drivers can only safely travel at 60 mph on even a moderately busy road. So make it 55 or 60 mph. Save fuel and CO2 what a good tick in the box for the tree- huggers
Untill we have have all vehicles talking to each other, HGVs included the problem will always be there. Frequently testing drivers is crazy and expensive PSA just won’t work in the modern world. Bring on fully automated vehicles quickly is the best solution.
I completely forgot about the added risk introduced by HGVs. The roads would be so much better if goods were transported mainly by rail, and smaller vehicles were used for final delivery.
And I suppose full journey logging (aka black boxes) is also essential, in the name of our own safety, of course? Who needs freedom and privacy when those things get in the way of the utopian goal of 0% road fatalaties.
I think a smart motorway us the dumbest thing I have ever heard of. Ever stood by a motorway? Imagine a blow out in the fast lane and trying to move over to a non existent hard shoulder. Imagine an accelerator cable snapping and trying to seek a refuge point. Nope not for me. My self preservation gene us too strong. I wont use these dumb motorways.
Accelerator cable, good luck finding one of those in a modern car 😂 Cleary you aren’t a driver, what’s a fast lane, I’ve never heard of the term?
Fast lane (slang) – use to be the outside lane of a motoway where when travelling at speed you use it to “pass” other slower moving vehicles. long gone these days as everyone stays in the “fast lane” also know as “the overtaking lane” apart from most people must be overtaking constantly now
I have no doubt that smart motorways were a dumb idea and to use them for revenue generation is disgraceful.
The most dangerous decision ever made to introduce smart motorways ,time will prove me right .
As a current emergency service worker who needs access to incidents on the motorway as well as a former highways traffic officer, the loss of the hard shoulder is ludicrous and does delay in emergency response ultimately lives.
The plan for smart motorways was written by someone who doesn’t even hold a driving license and thinks motorways are the most dangerous places – here I rest may case as Highways England chose cost saving over lives. Smart motorways have their place but with a hard shoulder for emergency access.
But then it’s not a smart motorway? And I don’t like the idea of smart motorways either.
Well said Kev …… The idiots who thought this up as you say obviously don’t drive and are probably chauffeured from A-B ….
We’re I live in Central Scotland they spent a fortune on the A8 route to widen it and put in hard shoulders even though it wasn’t a motorway and not even upgraded to A8(M) and the reason was for safety as any breakdowns had nowhere to go for safety … It was the only main arterial road from Gkasgiw to Edinburgh and linked two sections of the M8 so it was one busy road and I just can’t fathom out why someone somewhere thinks when a motorway is at its busiest it’s a good idea to do away with the hard shoulder
Smart motorways CAN work IF used APPROPRIATELY. In many parts of the UK this is not the case.
I have seen much better examples and use across Europe.
In the UK it seems more stressful on the “smart” motorways compared to traditional ones, many drivers are fearful of been too fast and get speeding fines even if they are below the limit and slow down even more for the traffic sign bridges.
Often traffic announcements on the signs are late, out of date/time and not necessarily easily understandable for drivers, so compliance will reduce.
Motorways can run smooth and safe at speeds above the british speed limit. On a trip through Germany we were slow at 95 MPH and yet the traffic flow was good and drivers more courteous and obeying rules more than in the UK.
A motorway with hard shoulder is much safer than a motorway where the safety net has been removed. Accidents still happen on hard shoulders, but they are much less common.
Closing a lane even 5 minutes after breaking down is not acceptable on a 70mph motorway. There should be a hard shoulder, whatever the costs involved. As for the rest, does nayone really want to live under the watchful eye of big brother? In particular monitoring speeds so when we drift above 70 [remember one day we could be allowed to get up to 80] we automatically get points & a fine.
Keith you’re point on being able to rejoin a motorway from one of these tiny refuge areas is also a very valid point as you said a prop we hard shoulder gave you a chance to get up to motorway speeds before joining
All this is, is a bloody money making exercise for the government, get rid of the bloody average speed cameras and putt more police back out then we will all know that it’s not just that !!!
Also if you can show us where the money is being spent that would help !
Bloody rip off merchants 🙄 – the police have said they are taking on 15 extra people to deal with the amount of fines coming in – that’s bloody out of order 🤬🤬
The benefit of a smart motorway is speeding fines for the Government, for drivers they have no benefit and now they are more dangerous too 😮
Not sure if this is relevant to the current discussion but wondered if anyone could explain some signage I saw yesterday on the M25 anti-clockwise. On the left-hand verge at regular intervals were signs with 4 vertical arrows, pointing upwards and 800 yards printed across the base. I noticed them first just after the M11 junction up to junction 24 where I left the motorway. They were not the usual black on yellow road works type signs. I suppose they have something to do with the smart motorway status but made no sense to me as each one had 800 yards printed at the bottom.
I assume that these 4 vertical arrows were illuminated and were hanging from a gantry. the 800 signals that all four lanes are open to traffic for 800 metres. After that the one nearest the verge ie the left hand arrow will become bent towards the other three advising you to vacate that lane and move into the one to your right. The next sign you will see is either the same again as a reminder to move over. The one after that will be a red cross. This means that that lane is now closed to all traffic. If you continue past that sign and have not moved over, smile, because your photo will have been taken and you will be fined.
Hope I have understood what you were saying and that my explanation helps.
No, they were not on a gantry but on the left hand verge, smaller than the mobile matrix type. As it was daylight the illumination was debatable but if pressed they were like an LED white light.
I agree that they may be deployed in the same way as the overhead gantry ones but I just thought they were somewhat unusual, I have not seen these anywhere else.
Why is you always have the holier than thou brigade saying it’s all the drivers fault and look at how dumb they are, they should be retested every 5 years blah, blah, blah. News for you buddies, the only dumb idiots in all this are those who seriously thought Smart motorways were/are a good idea. If anyone needs retesting it is the dumb bozo’s who dreamt this nonsense up.
Well said Del boy. I’m now well into my seventies and have driven approximately 1.75 million miles in my driving life (thats close to two and a half times to the moon and back………..anyone want a lift there?) Over that time I obtained quite a few bad habits and it was only when I retired that I realised how many I had actually accumulated. Time to act. I now do a driver assessment course every two years which is of considerable benefit. I have gone from being a bloody maniac to a very safe driver…………..according to my family, high praise indeed. My driving assessor thinks I now have a very good chance of passing the IAM test should I go for it. I’m thinking on that one for the mo’
I cannot speak highly enough of the benefits of assessing or testing. Been there, done that and got the tee shirt, it only needs a person to be prepared to swallow their pride and take the leap of faith. You will soon find out that your self opinion of being an above average driver is somewhat over stated, but at least you are deflated very gently.
Smart Motorways, dumb operators. Highways England are absolutely useless. All that money spent on technology to have it controlled by retarded chimps
Smart Motorways, dumb operators. Highways England are absolutely useless. All that money spent on technology to have it controlled by chimps
Crazy idea, smart? Very dangerous, where is a driver supposed to go if in a breakdown situation? Only to the far left lane which, with a smart motorway is to a lane with fast moving traffic approaching, and ‘ready’ perhaps to collide with the broken down vehicle. Madness. A child of five could see the idiocy in this.
Don’t insult chimps!
There is a fundamental problem that people often think they will get to their destination faster by being up the backside of the car in front to stop anyone from filling the gap, that idiot is so close it helps to think all I have dropped back is the 16ft length of the car and let them get on with it. That in turn is the problem in that YOU CANT CRASH INTO SPACE! Leave no 2 seconds but 4 whenever you can and its basically impossibly to hit anything! Another serious problem is the undertakers which when added to no hard shoulder is a compounding effect as if you have a problem in a faster lane you can’t just pull left in a hurry with the lane hoggers simply with at attitude I am doing the speed limit so no one but no one should be going faster than me …… LET THEM GO!
understand what you are saying Simon about 4 seconds the problem you get though is the other idiots on the road constantly dropping into that gap, sometimes coming up to junctions you get pairs of cars doing this, which leaves you braking quit hard to avoid this moron just because he wants to go faster than anyone else, its his right! right idea but far to many morons who don’t look further than bonnet end.
I think a major human factors issue is that people just don’t believe there is a problem unless they can see it and ignore the signs or think now that they are alerted they can stop in time if they do see a problem.
So many times I have faithfully followed the instructions on the gantry and slowed to the required speed (while many others stream passed without slowing – you have to be quite brave sometimes) or even got out of a closed lane only for there to be no blockages or visible issues until the road clear sign.
Why can’t they ensure that all situations are real and reset systems quickly.
Driver disbelief I think is a key issue.
I agree.
I have adopted keeping to the speed limit until told that it is clear to revert to the National Speed Limit.
In particular when driving late in the evening workmen on trucks are dropping the lane cones in preparation for overnight working. For this activity the speed limit is reduced to 50 or even 40 sometimes.
However the National Speed Limit signs are a long way off as they are probably set up for when the whole stretch is coned.
Problem is that many (ie 95+% drivers believe that the obstacle has passed and so go back up to 70, just after passing the truck with the cone guy on.
When your’re still travelling at 50/40 and vehicles are bearing down on you at 70 (or more) then it is particularly worrying. I have to put on hazard warning lights on many occasions to prevent a vehicle running into the back of me.
A possible way forward would be to have another truck, in front of the cone truck, which has a National Speed Limit sign.
Hey – I’m only sticking to the smart motorway speed signs. If I sped up then I might be caught by a speed camera.
Absolutely agree on the return of public safety announcements. There used to be one that highlighted the dangers of not signalling when changing lanes, that definitely needs to make a comeback, along with one about not signalling when leaving a roundabout. Both of these dangerous practices are rife.
One issue I’ve not seen mentioned before is that we are now expected to keep our eyes open for the speed limit changes. So half our attention is diverted away from what’s actually happening on the motorway itself. No wonder there are more accidents! On one trip eastbound on the M20 the limits changed up and down as much as by 20 mph on four successive gantrys. Why?! I will not use the M20 now – far too dangerous for my liking.
Yep I have seen that as well bottom of the M6 we went form 70 to 60 ok then to 40 then 50 then no limit then 40 then 60 then 50 OMG! it was unreal yet I could not see any real reason for this I think the congestion was due to this signage confusing us all. All the time you are watching gantries instead of traffic afraid of getting a ticket, that’s not safe driving, gantry watching instead of traffic watching!
Smart motorways are not good, due to changing to a smart motorway the junction near me M1 has been modified and it is now far worse than previous with traffic now tailing back up to 2 miles in lane 1 because the slip road is full. This forces others into lane 2 many of which keep going then at last minute trying to pull into the queuing traffic to leave the motorway forcing other cars and lorries travelling at high speed to sharply move to lane 3. It is a disaster waiting to explode and has made problems on motorways worse not better in my experience and I use the motorway daily.
Smart motorways are guaranteed to increase accidents, and I can’t see how anyone at Highways England could have ever believed otherwise. ANY sort of failure where the vehicle has no power will end with it in a driving lane at high risk of being rear-ended unless the breakdown happens just he right distance from the refuge.
Retraining so people know the smart motorway rules will achieve little – you’ll still have tired drivers who miss the red cross, impatient ones who stay in the lane as long as possible because it’s empty, foreign lorry driver by the hundred who haven’t had the training and think the red cross is advisory and so on. If there’s a reasonable chance of being killed or injured on the hard shoulder, how can anyone think smart motorways would be safer?
.
As an Ex Driving Instructor I left the industry as far to many pupils wanted to pass a test on the day, not learn to drive. And there is a difference.
The PSA would be a good idea, many have forgotten the basic rule.
‘Keep left except when overtaking or turning right’.
This also applies when you have trouble with your car, move to the left ASAP.
I recently read of a lady whose brakes had failed, scary yes, she managed to stop.
In lane THREE ! What on earth ? If your car is moving get to the left.
She was lucky, a quick thinking truck driver parked behind her ’til help arrived.
Possibly saving her serious injury, or worse.