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'Smart' Motorways.

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17 minutes ago, Pettytom said:

In a way, all of them were. There isn’t much more unsafe about a place than getting killed there.

 

However, given a choice of the hard shoulder and hopping over the barrier, compared to sitting in lane  one , praying. I know which option I’d take.

What - no deaths involving collisions between moving vehicles?

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18 minutes ago, Longcol said:

"Research by the AA suggests it takes an average of 17 minutes for highway authorities to spot a stopped vehicle"

 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jan/26/uks-smart-motorways-to-be-reviewed-after-increase-in-near-misses

That's way too long. Don't get me wrong, quite possibly my closest of close shaves was on a hard shoulder but it should not take 17 minutes to close a lane off.

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15 minutes ago, tinfoilhat said:

That's way too long. Don't get me wrong, quite possibly my closest of close shaves was on a hard shoulder but it should not take 17 minutes to close a lane off.

Quite agree - but I would assume the Highways Agency has - like the vast majority of the public sector - had its funding slashed.

 

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6 hours ago, tinfoilhat said:

That's way too long. Don't get me wrong, quite possibly my closest of close shaves was on a hard shoulder but it should not take 17 minutes to close a lane off.

17 minutes is awful when compared to the boast made by HA/HE to be able to respond within a 20 second to 2 minute window because of the MIDAS technology. 
 

Typically, they talked about the newest laser  tech on the M25 that isn’t in most of these m/w’s but failed to mention (and educate anyone about) MIDAS.   If we knew about MIDAS, we might be able to make good use of it in some events. 

5 hours ago, Longcol said:

Quite agree - but I would assume the Highways Agency has - like the vast majority of the public sector - had its funding slashed.

 

The Ilkeston control centre the covers M1 north to J30, A38 to an unknown point, A42 to the M42 and M1 south to the A14 has a day shift of 4!

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I think one the dangers of smart motorways is that people ignore the lane closure signs until the absolute last minute, in bad weather or at night this can lead to collisions.

At least with a hard shoulder people know they should never drive in that lane.

I also doubt the benefits of the smart system in terms of speeding up journeys.

I commute from Sheffield to Watford, 6 years ago when I started pre-smart motorways it took 2.5-3 hours in the morning. Post-smart motorways it’s now 3.5-4 hours and the more stretches of the M1 they convert they longer it gets.

A huge white elephant in my opinion.

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3 hours ago, Westie1889 said:

I think one the dangers of smart motorways is that people ignore the lane closure signs until the absolute last minute, in bad weather or at night this can lead to collisions.

 

Not just ignoring them, but actively going into them to undertake queues of traffic to merge back in further up.

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1 minute ago, alchresearch said:

Not just ignoring them, but actively going into them to undertake queues of traffic to merge back in further up.

If you drive up a lane with a cross on it, you will be fined. 

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On 28/01/2020 at 06:37, DT Ralge said:

The Ilkeston control centre the covers M1 north to J30, A38 to an unknown point, A42 to the M42 and M1 south to the A14 has a day shift of 4!

17 minutes is criminally negligent as far as I'm concerned. Especially when the system was sold to the public as no longer than 2 minutes. 

 

Highways Agency seem to be grossly incompetent when it comes to these smart motorways. 

 

Who remembers the debacle where a smart motorway was set and left at a TWENTY mph limit? (Link

 

I've personally driven down the "smart" M1 in South Yorkshire, noticed warning signs for stopped vehicles, debris etc. In many of these cases there has been no obstruction as it was cleared hours prior. 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Resident said:

17 minutes is criminally negligent as far as I'm concerned. Especially when the system was sold to the public as no longer than 2 minutes. 

 

Highways Agency seem to be grossly incompetent when it comes to these smart motorways. 

 

Who remembers the debacle where a smart motorway was set and left at a TWENTY mph limit? (Link

 

I've personally driven down the "smart" M1 in South Yorkshire, noticed warning signs for stopped vehicles, debris etc. In many of these cases there has been no obstruction as it was cleared hours prior. 

 

 

Any such notices can only be taken down when they have had “eyes on”, I was told. 
Hence they can be on for a while - you get what you pay for and if the teams are tied up with hapless motorists who have a predictable (and mostly avoidable)  flat tyre ...

Edited by DT Ralge

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4 hours ago, DT Ralge said:

Any such notices can only be taken down when they have had “eyes on”, I was told. 
Hence they can be on for a while - you get what you pay for and if the teams are tied up with hapless motorists who have a predictable (and mostly avoidable)  flat tyre ...

HA staff aren't allowed to help with flat tyres to the point that they've taken jacks out of the 4x4s.

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3 hours ago, tinfoilhat said:

HA staff aren't allowed to help with flat tyres to the point that they've taken jacks out of the 4x4s.

Indeed, but they often babysit until someone else turns up to help out. 

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2 hours ago, DT Ralge said:

Indeed, but they often babysit until someone else turns up to help out. 

Which is a waste of everybody's time! 

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