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Smart Motorway Safety.....


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#1 mab01uk

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Posted 29 January 2020 - 01:05 PM

Government recommendation is for driver and any passengers to stay in your broken down vehicle stationary sitting in the live lane....as you can't exit the vehicle on passenger side (parked up against the barrier) or the drivers side with high speed traffic passing to the side....and bearing down on you from the rear!

Stopping on a live motorway lane and staying sat in the car waiting for rescue, even in good weather and in daylight is a terrifying experience...waiting for the inevitable impact from behind. (watch the incidents shown on the BBC programme happen as drivers are urgently calling for help, some with fatal end results and injury as the phone goes dead). At least on the old hard shoulder you have some space to get yourself and others out the car and stand behind the barrier until help arrives which was always recommended. Hazard lights help but won't save you and in some cases the stationary vehicle is obscured by lorries until the last moment, from other car drivers approaching at speed, again watch the programme, it is an eye opener.
Also remember in a classic vehicle you are far more likely to break down and have minimal crash protection against any impact from behind. Police recommend driving to a safe place even if a tyre is flat and flapping around.....a car in the programme is seen driving on his wheel rim or brake disc to escape the danger.

 

UK's smart motorways to be reviewed after huge rise in near-misses
BBC Panorama study shows increase on M25 from 72 to 1,485 in five years since conversion

"A freedom of information request by the BBC Panorama programme, (broadcast on Monday night), found that in five years before one section of the M25 was converted into a smart motorway there were just 72 near-misses. In the five years after conversion, there were 1,485 such dangerous incidents. Panorama’s investigation also revealed that one of the electronic warning signs was out of action for 336 days. The government is understood to be considering introducing more radar detection systems to identify vehicles broken down on the hard shoulder, as well as building more emergency lay-bys. Research by the AA suggests it takes an average of 17 minutes for highway authorities to spot a stopped vehicle, and then another 17 minutes for emergency vehicles to reach the scene. “You spend an average of more than half an hour sitting there in a broken-down vehicle praying,” said the AA.
The scheme was rolled out on the back of trials on the M42 near Birmingham, but that the same level of protection had not been replicated elsewhere – particularly the distance between emergency refuge areas, where vehicles in distress can stop in the absence of a hard shoulder. On the M42 pilot, the areas were 500-600 metres apart, compared with 2,500 metres on other smart motorways.
https://www.theguard...-in-near-misses

 

"Police have said they were misled over the dangers of smart motorways as the new roads were branded a “death trap”. A senior policing leader yesterday accused Highways England of irresponsibly pushing through the controversial project linked to 38 deaths. It came after a damning report by a group of MPs concluded that the “shocking and careless” rollout of the scheme had cost lives. The transport agency is already facing a criminal investigation after the widow of a motorist killed on a smart motorway made formal allegations of corporate manslaughter. Calls grew yesterday for ministers to halt the scheme, which converts the hard shoulder into a ‘live lane’ to ease congestion."


Edited by mab01uk, 29 January 2020 - 01:06 PM.


#2 DeadSquare

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Posted 29 January 2020 - 01:39 PM

We need some people with huge facebook following to campaign a boycott of any of us using the "safety" lane at any time.

 

When the media wake up to the money wasted, the government might realise that their DUM idea needs a "Hard Verge" for defective vehicles to pull on to.

 

It doesn't need a tarmac road, just a 3M wide strip of stone hardstanding that gets mowed twice a year.



#3 unburntfuelinthemorning

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Posted 29 January 2020 - 01:39 PM

I used to like driving on motorways, always felt safe, until they started 'improving' them.



#4 sledgehammer

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Posted 29 January 2020 - 02:12 PM

Motorway are very safe -

 

as long as everyone is doing the same speed 

 

in the same direction

 

there is a reason why the first maintenance lorry you meet in road works has about 6 ton's of concrete on board

 

I used to repair Amey lorries that had been hit - not nice


Edited by sledgehammer, 29 January 2020 - 02:13 PM.


#5 DeadSquare

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Posted 29 January 2020 - 03:24 PM

I like driving in the middle lane at 60 MPH, because then I find that there is very seldom any traffic in front of me.

 

 

 

 

Lol



#6 venkman

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Posted 29 January 2020 - 08:43 PM

I drive up and down country everyday, I personally think it would have been better if each county that's in a section of smart motorwway got 3-4 dedicated traffic police. If these police patrolled the motorway at peak times and gave out on the spot fines for lane hogging, last minute getting off junctions, weaving in an out etc. Within 6-12 months I'm convinced that the motorways would be a lot better running and make /cover costs with fines.

I'm guessing the sections upgraded to smart motorway would have cost millions, few extra police would be cheaper even create a few jobs!

Rant over

#7 r3k1355

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Posted 30 January 2020 - 04:19 PM

There's been a few fatalities near me, one just the other week.

It was people stood on the motorway after a breakdown, just got out of their car and stood in a live lane waiting for recovery.

 

Then get run over by someone not paying the slightest big of attention while driving.


Edited by r3k1355, 30 January 2020 - 04:20 PM.


#8 mab01uk

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Posted 31 January 2020 - 12:37 PM

Smart motorway openings halted over safety fears

No new smart motorways will be opened until a Government safety review is completed, the Transport Secretary has announced.

Grant Shapps told the Commons that a £92 million project in Kent is among those that will not open to traffic while the dangers of the roads are assessed.

Work to convert a 6.5-mile stretch of the M20 into a smart motorway between West Malling and Aylesford was due to be completed in March after two years of work which has disrupted journeys.

It comes amid growing concerns the roads are dangerous and do not offer safe refuge for broken down vehicles.

Chatham and Aylesford MP Tracey Crouch asked Mr Shapps if he agreed that the new road system should not open because it does not have stopped vehicle detection systems or “appropriately spaced emergency refuges”.

The Transport Secretary replied: “That stretch of the M20 and all other stretches which are currently being worked on will not be opened until we have the outcome of the stock take.”

https://www.itv.com/...r-safety-fears/


Edited by mab01uk, 31 January 2020 - 12:37 PM.


#9 unburntfuelinthemorning

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Posted 31 January 2020 - 01:51 PM

"...appropriately spaced emergency refuges"  are ones which run the whole length of the motorway like they used to aka the hard shoulder.

 

When using the hard shoulder you are meant to (if possible) move into it before decelerating (wise to check there's no one using it already up ahead though).  When rejoining you're meant to accelerate up to motorway speed in the hard shoulder prior to joining lane one of the motorway.  How are you supposed to rejoin the motorway safely now?

 

There's been a programme running on channel 5 of late where despite the concerns, obvious problems and deaths, Highways England are still saying how good they are.  What planet are these people on?  What an utter waste of public money and lack of common sense.


Edited by unburntfuelinthemorning, 31 January 2020 - 01:57 PM.


#10 Ethel

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Posted 31 January 2020 - 02:05 PM

 

Smart motorway openings halted over safety fears

No new smart motorways will be opened until a Government safety review is completed, the Transport Secretary has announced.

Grant Shapps told the Commons that a £92 million project in Kent is among those that will not open to traffic while the dangers of the roads are assessed.

Work to convert a 6.5-mile stretch of the M20 into a smart motorway between West Malling and Aylesford was due to be completed in March after two years of work which has disrupted journeys.

It comes amid growing concerns the roads are dangerous and do not offer safe refuge for broken down vehicles.

Chatham and Aylesford MP Tracey Crouch asked Mr Shapps if he agreed that the new road system should not open because it does not have stopped vehicle detection systems or “appropriately spaced emergency refuges”.

The Transport Secretary replied: “That stretch of the M20 and all other stretches which are currently being worked on will not be opened until we have the outcome of the stock take.”

https://www.itv.com/...r-safety-fears/

 

 

Didn't they have upping the limit to 80 in their manifesto???

 

I can't help think it was another ill timed decision - smart motorways might work if and when we have smart vehicles (& 5G etc) to mitigate the risk of breakdowns. When that day comes it'll also make reopening Beeching lines look like a huge white effelump.



#11 mab01uk

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Posted 12 March 2020 - 07:58 PM

Smart motorways plan aims to boost safety
"The government says it wants to "raise the bar" on smart motorway safety, following criticism of the scheme. Under the plan, opening motorway hard shoulders for traffic in busy periods will be scrapped. On those smart motorways where the hard shoulder has been removed entirely, there will be an increase in places for vehicles to stop in an emergency."
https://www.bbc.co.u...litics-51851421

 



#12 unburntfuelinthemorning

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Posted 12 March 2020 - 09:08 PM

There's an MP talking some sense in that BBC link:

 

But Labour MP Sarah Champion said the proposals did not "go far enough" and called on the government to restore smart motorways "to traditional operation".

She accused Mr Shapps of "allowing these lethal roads to continue to operate".

 

 

 



#13 Cooperman

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Posted 12 March 2020 - 10:00 PM

Smart Motorway Safety

 

Now there is an oxymoron if ever there was one!



#14 Ethel

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Posted 13 March 2020 - 12:14 PM

 

Smart motorways plan aims to boost safety

"On those smart motorways where the hard shoulder has been removed entirely, there will be an increase in places for vehicles to stop in an emergency."
 

 

 

I understand they're to double up as drive thru' Coronavirus testing stations  :P



#15 mab01uk

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Posted 11 March 2021 - 02:52 PM

A good way to waste another £5 million on smart motorways?....
A year ago Transport Secretary Grant Shapps demanded better information for motorists as part of an 18-point action plan to improve public confidence in smart motorways, which have no permanent hard shoulder.

"The Pet Shop Boys and singing flies are part of Highways England's £5 million campaign designed to improve safety on smart motorways.
An advert was launched urging motorists to “go left” to find a layby or verge in the event of a vehicle fault on a smart motorway.
The advert, featuring two flies on a windscreen singing an adapted version of the Pet Shop Boys’ Go West, was billed as the “biggest ever” campaign by Highways England to promote safety on motorways"



Advice from Highways England as part of its announcement includes ‘put your left indicator on and move into an emergency area, onto a hard shoulder, motorway service area, left-hand verge or A-road lay-by’ and ‘on a motorway without a hard shoulder’.
The announcement does not include advice on what drivers should do if they break down in a live lane, the main concern about smart motorway safety.
Labour’s shadow transport secretary, Jim McMahon, has criticised Mr Shapps for not providing an update on the smart motorway action plan, and attacked the use of a song by the Pet Shop Boys in the advert.
He said: ‘It reduces it down to an insult, insinuating that drivers who became stranded were somehow careless. They were not. They were the victims of an ill-conceived scheme, which is still leaving people at risk today.’
https://www.highways...-campaign-/8916

 






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