Are you scared of Smart Motorways?

[bridgetjones1]

I never used to be, I thought they were a fab idea and really eased traffic at peak times, but they now scare the bejesus out of me.

I have this fear of breaking down on the motorway, I get to the left hand lane but there is no hard shoulder.

I have 10 month old twins and I think it’s this that scares me. I know we’d all have to get out of the car and onto the grass verge pronto, but it’s the fear that I won’t get everyone out in time.

I saw on breakfast tv this week that the roll out of smart motorways has been suspended.

Should they be scrapped altogether?

Wasn't it reported that a safety camera had been out of action for nearly a year on one of the stupid-Smarts?

To be honest I’m scared of any kind of motorway. It’s the merging part I don’t like. Because of this I don’t use them. I live in a small town and if I need to go further I get the train or partner drives.

The AA have withdrawn their breakdown service on smart (really dumb) motorways, due to safety issues, they are so dangerous that it will not let its breakdown crews stop in them to help stranded motorists.
Bring back the hard shoulders!

On a separate note, I think the message should also be drummed in that people broken down on any motorway should exit their cars ASAP, which they don't. They collect their stuff, make calls etc and are reluctant to leave the warmth, comfort and (false) safety of the stationary car.

Also the amount of times I've seen people who are out of their cars but sitting perched right next to the car, on the lane side of the barrier I mean, total facepalm. The message to get out of the car has sunk in on some low level but not the (fairly obvious) reason - if your legs are dangling on the road side as you are sat on the crash barrier you are still not in the slightest bit protected or safe. Get out ASAP, cross the barrier and sit a good distance away from the roadside.

I had the misfortune to drive along the M4 out of London yesterday and work is in progress (if you can ever call these smart motorways progress) leading up to Heathrow and the M25. This section of the motorway must be one of the busiest and most used as it is a major commuter route, besides the airport too and close to the Orbital turnoff.

I have to say I find the concept absolutely terrifying that I could break down and be stuck in a lane with traffic all around and nowhere to pullin to for safety.

Whoever instigated them is a lunatic. How do we stop and change them back to hard shoulders now?

I first encountered smart motorway going up to the NEC Birmingham from Bristol. Very frequent deep laybys with more than enough room for a broken down HGV and recovery vehicles, and loads of overhead gantries. I drove down a recently 'upgraded' stretch of the M1 a couple of weeks ago. The overhead gantries were far further apart, and so were the laybys. And the laybys were much smaller. There was a car in one, and I could see there was barely room for the car let alone the recovery vehicle, and there was very little depth so anyone working there would be within only a few feet of the live lane. Appalling and enough to make me reconsider my route next time I have to do that journey.

And for drivers who use a wheelchair, or who have an adult or child passenger who uses a wheelchair, how are they meant to get out quickly, safely and then get over the barrier? It beggars belief that anyone ever thought this was a good decision.

Yes, hate them.

i'm not scared as such, but it makes absolutely no sense to me why you would design a motorway to have no safe place to stop.

They have apparently caused more accidents than they have stopped.

I agree that the thought of getting my small child out of a broken down car on a live motorway is pretty awful though. I would hate to be in that position - much worse than getting a small child out of a car in a lane where you know that no other cars are driving along behind you.

I saw a thing on the BBC news channel about them last week, it said 38 people had died on them so far.

There's bits where you would HAVE TO stay in the car - if you're over a bridge, for instance. This guy said you HAVE TO stay in at all times - Fuck that! If there was a grass verge I'd be off and far up it as possible!

They need scrapped.

Even if the boards are updated, hardly anyone takes any bloody notice of them. Several times I've been on the m1 with only one lane open (due to accident), and idiots are still driving in the closed lanes. It's so dangerous, and scares the crap out of me.

thomas i find the ones near us dont show the proper signs half the time, and people dont know what they mean!

They sometimes show the speed limit in 3 lanes, with an x in the hard shoulder, sometimes they show nothing in the hard shoulder and people dont know whether its open or not, sometimes they show nothing on any of the screens!

Half the time they say 40 or 50 when there is no real reason for them doing so, and you find yourself slowing down and speeding up at every single sign - for no reason. Surely that is more dangerous than continuing at a steady speed when there is no accidents or weather conditions etc that warrant driving at 40!

They are absolute shite, and the building of them has taken bloody years and caused people so much disruption - and for what?

more accidents and absolutely NO less congestion, in fact i would go as far as to say the congestion is much worse near us now than it ever was pre smart motorway.

I've broken down on a stretch of motorway that had no hard shoulder before. Not a Smart Motorway, but the effect was the same. The car conked out completely, I was unable to coast uphill to where the hard shoulder started again. It was terrifying! Luckily, I had no problems, but I try to avoid smart motorways as a direct result of that experience - I don't want to end up in that situation again.

I think they're meant to be in preparation for the future - driverless lorries and cars etc.. but we're not quite there yet are we so why have they let these roads kill people for vehicles that ain't here yet?

I hate them. It was drummed into me for too many years that the hard shoulder was important, it was how you got off the road if you broke down and how the emergency services could get to you if the worst happened. I feel unsafe on a motorway without one.

It scares me. Two young kids in car seats, how will I get them both out safely and keep them safe at the side of the road?!

YES. I completely agree. I read an article about someone who's family member died as a result of smart motorways and is now campaigning against their roll out.

Same as you, I have a baby, toddler and 5 year old. In the even of a breakdown I'd have to get all three on to the grass verge, but I'd have to do more than one trip to get them all out, and do the toddler last as I can't trust them to stay put without me holding them.

I'm scared I'd have to do all of that and then I'd have left my phone in the car so I can't then call 999 without returning to the car and leaving my children. Argh.

It's all very well if you're two able bodied adults who can just get out. But what about everyone else.

I'm not scared of them as I've not had reason to be as yet. However I do think they increase the likelihood of being hit by another vehicle if you break down as it's not guaranteed that your vehicle will break down in the left lane as opposed to the middle or right hand lane. Effectively you are a sitting duck waiting for a passing vehicle to hit you. Baring in mind, when a vehicle breaks down (dependant on the issue) it's not always possible to put hazards on either. There was a recent panorama programme where the breakdown services are quoting up to 17 minutes to get to stranded motorists. I have always been of the opinion that these "smart" motorways are dangerous & lethal & should have never been implemented.

When they were first trialled it was on a modern motorway with refuges every 250 metres.

Most UK motorways have refugees every 2500 metres.

I think it's madness & very unsafe.

Typical "squeeze a quart into a pint pot" HMG solution.

Smart until there is an accident.

It’d be smarter to have a hard shoulder, monitoring and refuge areas.

You can’t always time a motoring incident to coincide with a refuge area. You might be able to drive to one with a flat but not a snapped cam belt or some, seemingly, minor accidents.

I also worry about how the emergency services can get to the scene of an accident.

Imagine all 4 lanes in use, the motorway is busy and then ahead there is an accident. All of a sudden all lanes are blocked.

All 4 lanes come to a halt, motorway completely chocca. Quickly blocking up for a significant distance behind the accident. The queue will grow by the second.

Those monitoring the road will put the red crosses above the left hand lane. ( We've also heard that their response times aren't that quick either.)

But how will those cars in that LH lane move to the right clearing the LH lane that now becomes the hard shoulder and access route to the accident for the emergency services?

I believe that in some countries there is a requirement, and understanding, to clear a lane when traffic comes to a halt - if you can.

Smart motorways seem to have been introduced without any joined up thinking, education or meaningful publicity as to how to use them and ‘what if’ scenarios.

I think Grant Shapps needs to do a bit of thinking and explaining.

I am scared of smart motorways. As usual, a service promoted was not the service delivered. A cheap version full of cut corners is what they gave drivers. The promise you gold, they give you glitter. It's shit. The design is very bad and unacceptable. They need to be scrapped.

I also hate them. The last time we broke down was in the middle lane of a motorway, doing 70. The electrics just died. DH was able to coast over to the hard shoulder....

Yesterday, on the non-Smart M3, a truck hit an ambulance (that ended up on its side). How would the 4 attending fire-engines, 4 ambulances and eight police cars have reached them except haring along the hard shoulder??

Madness.

I’ve been driving since 1988 - I don’t like them at all . If I had small children in the back I’d be bricking it if I broke down until we were all safely out and well away over the safety barrier but also be concerned about a vehicle driving into the back of my car . If as another poster says the AA won’t come then that really tells you all you need to know about the ‘ safety ‘ .

I was just thinking if I broke down on a smart motorway with nowhere to go I think I would feel less safe in the far left lane than the one next to it. I would far rather be hit by Maddy in her picanto than Bob in his artic.

of course there are no dangerous roads, only dangerous drivers, but this concept is ridiculous. I also note the Highway Code makes no mention of 'what to do if there is no hard shoulder' beyond 'stay in the vehicle'. Which in a live lane means 'wait to die' as too many people drive too close and are not looking.

no-one ever died from slow traffic or congestion. We need to recognise that we have too many people and too many cars for the infrastructure, and live with it until we are prepared to pay the extra taxes for more public transport (and rail improvements that are not HS2).

don't hold your breath.