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?

I’ve had a car written off due to a car pulling out of a junction turn off last minute in front of the car in front of me, she slammed on her brakes from 50-0 and I couldn’t stop despite being 2 car lengths behind her.

That's nothing to do with the road, you were driving too close. 2 car lengths is nothing at 50mph, you need 50*3.5 so 175 feet.

If you are travelling with a partner or another adult and you have children strapped into child seats, decide BEFORE you set off, who will take responsibility for which child.

We always said you do the child who is sitting behind you.

@SugarPlumFairyCakes yy that's EXACTLY what every sensible grown up driver is worried sick about... I have just had a conversation with My Mate The Ambulance Driver. Yup, they all are worried about them too.

Insane idea, there’s nothing smart about them. So much scope to go wrong.

Surely it is quite a simple job to change "smart" motorways back into three lane motorways. Just paint an unbroken white line on the inside lane and have the overhead gantries specify that it is now the hard shoulder.

I'm terrified of them, I nearly caused a pile-up on the M1 last year. A car had broken down in the left-hand lane and I didn't realise quite quickly enough that it wasn't moving. I don't know what the problem was but there were no hazard lights. Hit the brakes and my own hazard lights, and managed to avoid a collision, but then I was stuck trying to rejoin the traffic (fairly heavy, but not so heavy it was under 70 mph) from a standing start. I was convinced someone was going to rear-end me and we were all going to die. DH and 9-year-old DD were in the car too.

We're all able-bodied, so if we'd actually broken down ourselves I hope I could just yell "Everybody out!" and we could pile out of the passenger side and onto the verge, but somewhere like the M1 near Sheffield I have no idea what I'd do - I've always hated that bit of road even pre-smart motorway.

I don't know what the problem was but there were no hazard lights.

I gather that nowadays breakdowns are quite likely to be associated with an electrical failure. That must have been terrifying but well done hitting the brakes and lights - you might have actually averted a pileup.

I think they are a ridiculous idea and I honestly can’t believe it’s got this far. What on earth are the people that sign off on this thinking?
It will just take one major incident, in which many people will loose their lives and then it will all be game over anyway! And I’m sure it won’t be long,

You can imagine children getting taught about them in history lessons in years to come and they’ll laugh in disbelief at how stupid we must’ve been to impose them.

I’ve had a car written off due to a car pulling out of a junction turn off last minute in front of the car in front of me, she slammed on her brakes from 50-0 and I couldn’t stop despite being 2 car lengths behind her

I thought that the stopping distance at 50 mph was 13 car lengths, not 2

People just don’t know how to drive on 4 lane motorways. You now get 3 lanes of middle lane drivers and lorries cutting between cars in 3 of the lanes.

I'll drive on them but am glad to get off them

Whilst the advice is usually get out of the car, on these roads you do have to consider what's the least worst thing to do. It may be, especially with small children to move and nowhere to go away from the traffic, that you are safer to stay in the car -with your seat belt on! - Until the traffic has slowed. A lot of the people killed on smart motorways were killed getting out of or outside the car. Not all, some people have been hit in cars with no time to get out. However there's a good chance the car will give you an element of protection, outside it you have none.

The main reason they are so dangerous I'd say is the number of lorry drivers who drive directly behind you, leaving no stopping distance at all. There seems to have been a huge increase in the prevalence of this in the couple of decades I've been driving. It is bad enough on a standard motorway but absolutely terrifying on a smart motorway.

My family live 70 miles from me and I have to cross the Dartford crossing to get there. There really isn't any viable alternative to the motorway but honestly every time I travel that way I get a huge HGV right up behind me. I drive 65-70mph in the left-hand lane, keeping up with the flow of traffic (which is always heavy on the M25) so it's not like I'm pootling along at 50 holding everyone up. I sometimes flash my hazards if they get too close and some will drop back but others seem to take pleasure in driving as close as they can.

Terrified we broke down twice on smart motorways both times with our baby and we couldn't even get out of the car as no hard shoulder, both time utterly terrifying!

I have genuinely never worried about this. If you break down, it's stressful wherever it is. Surely unless you drive a crap car and are on motorways all the time then it really isn't too much of a problem.

It's not only crap cars that break down MrsJBaptiste. Any car can bust a tyre. Yes it's more likely to be an older car but roadworthy cars go wrong.

Yes, any car certainly can go wrong. Thanks to debris in the road, I had a puncture on the smart motorway section of the M6. Luckily I have run-flats but that really wasn’t the place I wanted to test them out.....

Again luckily, it happened close to an exit - and I have never been so relieved to be off a motorway. Horrible experience.

No.

It's quite evident they're not safe. Cost-cutting by skimping on refuges (they need to be a lot more frequent in most cases) and inadequate monitoring has led to that. But lots of other roads aren't safe either.

I plan on buying reliable cars and taking care of them, and I also know that if I do break down, to get out via the passenger side and get away from the motorway.

@MrsJBaptiste 38 people have already been killed on smart motorways :(

I'm scared about driving on them; they're an insane idea. We travel on the M6 to my parents and have just found out that a 19 mile section is now live, so DH and I will be avoiding it from now on.

Not scared of them no, but pissed off. The M1 southbound at J13 gets the variable speed limit switched on at 0700 Mon-Thu whether it's busy or not, that's using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Just leave the speed limit at 70 unless there's a problem on the road. And keep the hard shoulder as hard shoulder, it keeps breakdowns safer.

The variable speed limit makes traffic slower and increases traffic times. I would love TPTB to give me control over the cameras and vsl on the M25 around the Heathrow/M40/M4/M3 section.

Yes.

Not really. I drive a lot on country roads which are the most dangerous type of road.

But I think smart motorways are a daft idea.

I am very careful about sticking to the speed limit on every road I drive on, but on my journey to work I am usually in the third or fourth lane as the inside two lanes generally are full of lorries and much slower drivers.

Do those of you who feel sick at the idea of driving on smart motorways always drive in the inside lane, especially when it is very busy?

I wonder if I am less worried for myself about driving on smart motorways because I am generally in one of the two outside lanes. No-one speeds on the stretch I use BTW as there are speed cameras on every overhead gantry.

This is not a criticism BTW, but just a thought.

Yes, I think they should be banned immediately.
It's not only the person who breaks down who is in danger it's other road users too.

DoctorTwo

"And keep the hard shoulder as hard shoulder. It makes breakdowns safer.."

Well quite. But that's the hallmark of a smart motorway isn't it? No hard shoulder. And that's what everyone finds dangerous about them. Not the monitoring and variable speeds.