Smart Motorway bullshit - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: MrMobodies
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 29, 2020, 05:04:44 am
content: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7936017/MPs-accuse-road-bosses-shocking-degree-carelessness-smart-motorway-roll-out.htmlQuoteWhat is a "smart motorway"?I remembered seeing these signs about twenty years ago. There wern't very many just the small bottoms ones and I think they were orange lights but it doesn't look like much has changed.What have they done? have they taken a motorway, did nothing to it really but removed the hard shoulder and gave it a fancy name didn't put enough signs up? or "technology" warning drivers about no hard shoulder.Call it whatever they want but the most important thing it appears that they didn't seem to tell the drivers who got killed well enough that is it a motorway without a hard shoulder beware. If you break down, park at the side, get out and try to run for cover if there is any.I didn't know it was the Highways Agency that was pushing for roads without a hard shoulder forgetting about the fancy trendy name they are hellbent on giving it like that is more important than having somewhere to stop in an emergency.

author: artag
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 29, 2020, 11:51:07 am
content: It's in the Daily Mail, so take it with a pinch of salt. However I have seen the same article elsewhere so it may be true this time.The smart motorway is one that adjusts traffic parameters to suit the amount of traffic. There are two ways you're likely to notice this :1. Hard shoulder used sometimes as a lane2. Variable speed limits used to smooth out congestion by reducing speeds well in advance rather than suddenly stopping. In the ideal case that reduces the flow into the congested area sufficiently that traffic doesn't ever come to a stop, but in practice the speed reductions seem to cause a slowdown wave that propagates well back before the restrictions start and can cause a dangerous mixture of speeds when not all drivers notice or observe the changes.

author: nali
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 29, 2020, 01:50:52 pm
content: Actually, around here anyway, the motorways don't have a shoulder at all and all the lanes are converted to live lanes unless there is a breakdown when a lane is closed (when someone gets around to noticing it). The BBC Panorama program is worth watching - according to figures it can take over 30 minutes between breakdown and final recovery.My car developed a fault a while ago which caused total loss of electrical systems. No lights, hazards, nothing. Fortunately this happened in daylight on a busy but non-motorway road in a place where traffic had a reasonably good view ahead.... as opposed to the unlit "smart" motorway with no shoulder during my 6:30 commute to work in winter darkness(And no, I never found the cause of the fault. It went from zero power to high-resistance-connection just enough to light up the dashboard when the Police arrived, to OK when the recovery truck arrived. Main suspect was a badly seated fuse or connector to the control unit but after everyone had a prod & a wiggle and checked fuse seating it's been fine for the past coulple of years)

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 29, 2020, 04:55:50 pm
content: QuoteThe amber dot-matrix signs were always advisory (and very poorly managed). Often, one might pass a series of signs suggesting a major incident and get to the end without seeing any problem at all. At 3am on an empty motorway you might pass a 40mph sign...Being advisory you could ignore them (well, take note of them and be prepared, but legally you could motor on at the unrestricted speed, etc). Could've been useful signs but poor management meant they were just confusing at best.The new signs on the smart motorway are legally enforceable. If it's says 40mph then you'll be nicked if you go past at 50. That, alone, is a liability - I've been stuck in a lane doing 40 because of the signs when everyone else is whizzing past at 70 because they know the sign has been stuck like that for a week. (Normally I might prefer not to risk a rear-end, but often I am in a marked vehicle and cannot be seen to break any law). When you get a sign saying the lane is closed, pass that in the wrong lane and you're nicked. Both of these things now mean that many drivers will change lanes or brake in a panic, regardless of what's up their arse or who they're cutting up. With previous signs, you could take it a bit easier and if circumstances meant you couldn't conform right now it wouldn't be a big issue.