Smart motorways to be reviewed over driver safety fears

[Chris KC]

Hooray!

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-50169527

[Reckless Rat]

The problem now is that by reverting back to carriageway plus hard shoulder the most congested parts of the motorway network will lose 25% of their peak hour capacity, and that means just one thing. More congestion. There is a way round it, which is to reduce the width of the existing lanes which will enable 4 lanes to run in the current space occupied by three. This narrow lane solution is used on the Continent, but usually for roadworks . The very narrow lanes tend to cause tailbacks as everyone slows down to adjust, even when it's not busy.

There isn't an ideal solution. The "smart" motorway idea was to make the best use of available roadspace in order to maximise capacity but they failed to dial into the equation the fact that when a breakdown occurs and a vehicle is stranded in a running lane the risk of it being struck by a following vehicle was very high. Humans are fallible. The collisions on smart motorways can probably all be attributed to driver error, lack of forward observation, inattention at the wheel, following too close etc. Human frailty was something the engineers and statisticians forgot about when they came up with the idea because all they wanted to do was to get more vehicles from A to B and hard shoulder running was an easy fix.

Heads will roll for this because someone knew and ignored the evidence.

[NickB]

And they're still changing them to Smart Motorways currently even whilst conducting a review, e.g. M23

[Chris KC]

I don't think they forgot it Rekkers, I think they chose to ignore it - surely bleeding obvious from the outset that people were going to die. As for the wider problem of traffic management, I venture that more 'holistic' solutions are the way forward, for example tackling the need for so many individual car journeys (viable public transport?) or promoting flexible working so we don't all commute at the same time. Reducing the speed limit is one potential measure, as it has long been demonstrated that overall traffic flow is greatest when road speed is lowered.

[Rogerchummy]

We all know that no heads will roll. They'll all be promoted to new jobs or will be quietly retired on full pensions.

I would love to know how much money has been wasted on installing smart motorways which is now money down the drain.

[Nick Salmon]

I sincerely hope that they scrap so-called 'smart' motorways - and soon. A total moron could predict that leaving cars and people stranded in a live lane, with nowhere to go for safety, 
would lead to repeated disasters. 

A few years ago I got nicked for speeding (96mph, since you ask, and no I was not in a 7...) and opted for a Speed Awareness Course. One of the 'facts' we were given was that if you park your vehicle on the hard shoulder of a UK motorway then, statistically, in 19 minutes it will be hit by another vehicle. I have no idea if that is true but it certainly stuck in my mind. Now, on some motorways, we have done away with hard shoulders. Utter madness. I cannot think of anything more horrendous than having a breakdown and not be able to reach a so-called refuge area on one of these ghastly Smart motorways.

[Stuart Joseph]

Not before time! I live alongside the M6 and I'm now afraid to use it, and the number of closures................

Regards from the creative county, Staffordshire

Stuart

[andrew34ruby]

And if global warming is real, we should be made to travel LESS. Not given more lanes to drive in.

[Reckless Rat]

It's a very difficult balancing act, Andrew. Whilst I agree with your sentiments the Highways Agency is charged with making the national road network as efficient as it can, within the budgetary restraints it is faced with. It is acknowledged that if you add more lanes to a motorway the traffic volume tends to increase to fill the available space, but that is because by widening or improving throughput you make the route more attractive because there are less delays. It's a vicious circle. However, whilst the eco merits of reducing travel are one side of the argument, the cost to the country as a whole and business in particular of delays caused by motorway congestion are real, quantified and sadly, becoming more inevitable.

Wouldn't it be great to be able to drive on roads like this every day...

[David Stepney]

Nowadays, I avoid motorways like the plague! Everyone using them seems to drive too fast and too close!