Motorway Go Left advert

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I've just seen in tv a ridiculous advert. A bloke driving on the motorway runs out of petrol... 2 bugs hit the window screen and sing, to the tune of Pet Shop Boys - Go West song...
Go left find and emergency zone
Go left don't forget your phone

It then tells you to climb out of the passenger door.

Is this seriously the highways agency's answer to trying to make smart motorways safer ???

Has anyone else seen it? What are your thoughts?

Absolutely dire advert lacking proper information about the abomination that are smart motorways.

I said to DH today that I think if people don’t know they should pull over to the left then they shouldn’t be driving!

For those that haven't seen it here's a YouTube link... not a great video as someone has clearly just recorded the tv but you can see it!

@Everythingiswonderful exactly!! Maybe money would have been better spent explaining how smart motorways work.. what the signs mean as the display boards are different around the country... how far there is between yellow zones... what to do in an emergency if you can't make it to a yellow zone!!

I’d rather see the advert pointing out there is no excuse for running out of fuel on a motorway in the first place. Unexpected breakdowns happen but roads would be safer if people maintained their cars properly.

Pulling over and exiting via the door furthest from traffic sounds sensible to me. What do you want them to tell people to do?

I didn't say there was anything wrong with the extremely common sense if you don't do that anyway you shouldn't be on the road advice... my issue is the fact that it doesn't actually educate about smart motorways which if they were spending money on a motorway safety campaign, I think would have been better spent.

And having now seen it, that’s oil pressure and engine temperature warning lights. Nothing to do with running out of fuel. Again, roads would be safer if people understood basic car maintenance.

I heard it on the radio first.
All I could pick out was "Go left" I didnt have a clue what it was on about.
It took me seeing the TV advert a few days later to get what they were on about (and I already knew about exiting a car on the hard shoulder onto the verge, not into the traffic).

The advert is comedic which is the wrong tone to have when people have died on 'smart motorways'. It's a ridiculous advert and needs a more serious tone to it. That and how to use them correctly.

@Longdistance you have articulated how I feel much better than I did thank you! Yes, that's how I felt when I saw it.

Oh, maybe I've missed the major message. That said, I cant think where id go (in none covid times) that has the hard shoulder converted. Nothing near me, or on the way to my parents in the Midlands.

Maybe that's why it annoyed me so much @YellowDaffidols . I'm an emergency services worker and I have to travel on a smart motorway everyday to get to and from work. The number of people I witness driving every day who clearly don't have a clue is scary and makes them more dangerous in my opinion.

Saw the advert today, even my 9 year old thinks it's crap. I had a tyre blow out a couple of years ago on a motorway, luckily 1 junction before we got to the smart motorway bit. 3 kids in the car and I was so grateful for the hard shoulder, don't know what would have happened if it'd blown a few miles later. Smart motorways are dangerous.

My main take from it was "oh. That's jack Boswell"

I did cringe at the advert thinking, ‘wtf?’ It’s a stupid advert that’s going to ignored as it’s a serious issue. A pair of twats dressed as flies/mozzies isn’t going to be taking seriously. It needs to be hard hitting.

I was mainly wondering how the actor (who isn't small) would ever be able to 'go left' and climb over to the passenger side to get out

I agree Op.

This advert is ridiculous. It's obvious what you need to do. However making it to a refuge area is not always possible and lanes aren't always closed fast enough to stop accidents.

it's not just "smart" motorways. You can be hit getting out of the drivers side on any road.

On a motorway they are likely to be going faster and not alert for pedestrians or doors suddenly open, and more likely to be eating sweets, lighting fags, looking at satnav, playing with phone, because motorway driving is quite dull.

@PigletJohn

it's not just "smart" motorways. You can be hit getting out of the drivers side on any road.

On a motorway they are likely to be going faster and not alert for pedestrians or doors suddenly open, and more likely to be eating sweets, lighting fags, looking at satnav, playing with phone, because motorway driving is quite dull.

Be that as it may, but if the powers that be think that a series of adverts stating the bleeding obvious is required, maybe they need to tell people to pay attention while they're driving and remind them about the two second rule, because if there really is people 'eating sweets, lighting fags, looking at satnav, playing with phone' while driving on the motorway they need to concentrate on the task in hand, which is driving not 'going to X place' and be on the lookout for any potential problems in front of them.