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?

One thing I don't like about them, and this is particularly the case on the M42, but to a lesser extent on the smart M3, that the inside lane disappears all the time so you have to keep changing lanes. I'm not sure having a system that necessitates frequent lane changing is massively safe either.

One interim option might be to reduce speed limits on smart motorways to 60 (and 50 for HGVs) so people have longer to react. However, I know when they were converting the M3 to a smart motorway they had a 50 limit and there was frequent accidents.

were

I drive in one most days. Doesnt bother me.

There are quite a few accidents there. But there was before it was smart and more often than not, furthest left lane isnt in use. It also has cameras on and you get fined for driving in it when not opened.

To be honest I think the real problem here is being overlooked - HGV drivers who don't pay attention and drive into the back of cars - whether on a lane or a hard shoulder.
^This
In the recent BBC Panorama programme they interviewed a lorry driver who hit a broken down car on a section of smart motorway, resulting in the death of a child. He said "the lorry in front of me swerved to the right and there was just this car there"
In other words, he was not able to stop in the distance he could see ahead.
We have almost zero enforcement of bad driving in this country.

One interim option might be to reduce speed limits on smart motorways to 60 (and 50 for HGVs)

HGVs have been mechanically/electronically limited to 90KPH (about 56 MPH) for several years.

Not really.

My last breakdown was in roadworks wjhere there was no HS. I drove my car onto the grass verge with the last of the momentum I had. I suspect that's what I'd do again.

I drive on one every day. Past the most dangerous stretch on the m1.
Another issue with that area is that it suddenly changes back to 3 lanes and all the lorries have to move over and thats when the accidents happen.

One part near Luton has no hard shoulder and great big wooden fences a foot away from the road so you can’t even get out of your car and go over the barrier! So if you break down there’s nothing you can do you’ll just be sat in your car with lorries flying past you.

I wasn't scared of them until I had my little boy. They are not fit for purpose but then none of our roads are. If our roads were straight, wide, clear and pot holes etc were filled straight away they would work with the safe zones installed at regular intervals but the reality is far from that. It's also not helped that when someone is killed by sloppy driving you get a slap on the wrist. Accidents happen yes but the consequences for driving with no insurance, no up to date mot, no licence or under the influence are laughable. Who ever decided that removing a hard shoulder was a safer option than having one was incredibly naive

My cam belt broke when I was in the slow lane of a busy motorway - there was suddenly no power and luckily I could swerve onto the hard shoulder. If I was on a smart motorway that day I would've died and I reckon several others would have, too.

@HollowTalk but you'd have had the same issue if you were in any other lane, or on a dual carriageway.

Also smart motorways don't create smart drivers. Spend 10 minutes on the m25 and your guaranteed to see some d!@% head weaving through traffic way over the speed limit, undertaking, shooting across lanes with not even a thought to indicate or look or my personal favourite on their mobiles

Also most accidents could be avoided if people left the correct stopping distance!!!
The majority of drivers during rush hour drive waaaaaay too close to the car in front.

@GiveHerHellFromUs I know, I've had nightmares about that many times! But if I'd been in the middle lane and nobody was next to me in the slow lane I think I would've had the time to get to the hard shoulder, or near enough.

@RedRedBluee
Don't they just. And when it try to leave a gap someone always moves into it.

As usual,government out of step with what the public want.These motorways are now downright dangerous.Whoever thought of them should be in prison for killing 38 people.

I never liked them so the fuss now is almost a relief. The refuges are at least twice the 'safe' distance apart and a lot of the monitoring is manual. And that's before you get to poor driving.
I have had the coasting across the road to the hard shoulder experience with a car that's lost power and also on a motorbike in the dark.

I don't like them, no.

As I am not the driver, its rarely my choice as to whether we go on one - I think they'd be a lot safer if people used motorways properly, and also didn't take it personally when someone makes a mistake when driving and retaliate by driving dangerously.

I honestly think many people simply don't know how they are supposed to drive on motorways.. here's an example:

When a lane is closed due to roadworks, you are NOT meant to all leap into the other lanes immediately you seen the signs, you are meant to drive almost to the lane closure and 'zip merge', every other car.

That makes maximum use of the available lanes and keeps the flow of traffic steady.

However when a smart motorway lane is closed you ARE meant to get out of that lane quickly as soon as you can.

Neither of these situations of course, are helped by everyone in the correct lanes acting like bellends, refusing to let someone else in because 'you should have moved over half a mile back, fuck you!'...

So yep, smart motorways are dangerous, but driver attitudes and behaviour are frankly, more dangerous.

I hate them.

Justwhispersomething but don’t you think Dumbass Dave, Stupid Steve, Speedy Phil and Doris and Dennis would drive just as badly on a “dumb” motorway? Isn’t a smart motorway just a four lane motorway with variable speed restrictions and no hard shoulder, or am I missing something?

A dual carriageway isn't the same situation as the volume of traffic is lower and the speed limit is also lower too

Not necessarily. Unless stated otherwise the speed limit on a dual carriageway is 70mph, the same as on a motorway. And plenty of dual carriageways carry huge volumes of traffic. Sheffield Parkway during the rush hour springs to mind. Although during the rush hour average speed limits are about 5 – 10 mph anyway.

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

I agree.

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).

Well said. Unfortunately, many firms are building in out of town locations because land is cheaper, and public transport to these places is rubbish. My department is relocating next month. My drive to work will take about 30 – 40 minutes (along the “smart” M1 and the “smart” M62). Public transport would involve two trains and a bus and take nearly two hours. It’s a no brainer.

The M3 is so much better as a smart motorway. I think there needs to be more education for people on how to actually use motorways. Lane hogging is infuriating but there's always an excuse for
It on here 🙄🙄🙄

Part of the problem is that they were implemented without the planned Stopped Vehicle Detection system, which was supposed to reduce the need for hard shoulders

The system for smart motorways seem inherently more dangerous than the original plan approved by the HoC and the then minister

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jan/27/highways-englands-smart-motorways-policy-killed-drivers-exminister

The ex-minister who signed off Britain’s smart motorways has called for the rollout of the scheme to be halted immediately, and
accused Highways England of killing motorists by “casually ignoring commitments” on safety systems.
....
Penning, who chairs the all-party group, said the report’s findings would be
“of little succour to the families who are without loved ones today because of design faults in all lane running smart motorways”

He said that the roll out had “been conducted with a shocking degree of carelessness
– smart motorways today do not resemble the designs I signed off as roads minister.

And Highways England appear to have casually ignored the commitments they made to the House of Commons in 2016.
That is not acceptable.”
.....
The report, by the all-party parliamentary group on roadside rescue and recovery, described
the recordings of 999 calls of motorists who had broken down in live lanes and were trapped in fast-moving traffic were “harrowing”
and underscored that “many motorists don’t know what to do in such situations”.

The report found that the proportion of smart motorway breakdowns that came to a halt in lanes of moving traffic was almost twice that of normal motorways - 38% versus 20%.

The M42 is not so bad. The HS is open when the traffic is free-flowing, and comes into use when traffic flows are controlled. There was much more investment in gantries and frequent refuges than there has been on more recent "all lane running" versions such as much of the M1.

I was stuck in the aftermath of an incident on a 4 lane, intermittent HS section of the M1. After grinding to a halt, emergency vehicles were still arriving at the scene. I'd stopped by 3 bridges in close proximity where lane 1 occupied the previous HS, so by the time the last police car had come through, cars were scattered everywhere, straddling lanes as each vehicle had had to weave its way through where it could, and cars just shuffled up eachothers stopping distances. The incident was unrelated to smart motorways, but it was far more difficult and dangerous for emergency vehicles to get through and attend without a consistent HS.

There is no HS on dual carriageways, but they are often a lot more open than the walled in modern motorways. There is usually only lane 1 & 2 to monitor, not 1, 2, 3 & 4 so observations are less complex to respond to in an emergency.

I'm glad the DCs are able to use their own 3 point seatbelts now. In my car, the childlock is off on the passenger side but active on the drivers. The thought of getting children out of car seats in time while in a live lane is bone chilling. We once had a breakdown on the two lane side of the Heads of the Valleys road, and had several near misses from dopey, unobservant imbeciles who only just missed the hazard lights, rucksack wrapped in high vis as a warning triangle and me waving ahead of the car, on an open road in good conditions.

Not feeling the love for lorry drivers 😔
Are we any worse than the hundreds of car drivers I see everyday on mobiles,shaving,doing makeup and in one case actually giving himself hand relief in the outside lane of the M25 ?

I’ve actually just said to my DH that I want us to discuss an action plan should the worst happen. A bit like a fire drill 😂 do I get the whole car seat out and then just lean over and whip the other one out or do I attempt to take out both car seats. Do I grab their bag/coat/blankets

I know a lot of people will think I’m being absolutely ridiculous but it is honestly something I do seriously worry about 😞