Smart Motorways - Unsafe?

[mushroom25]

BBC Panorama last night, and reported this morning in many papers (here is but one - https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jan/27/highways-englands-smart-motorways-policy-killed-drivers-exminister )

looks like the minister signed off on the evidence of a trial, and Highways England then went off and implemented the roll-out on the cheap with emergency laybys 3 times further apart than the trial, and (apart from 6% of the total) without the vehicle detection radar the system was meant to come with. Panorama showed a collection of video-ed near-misses which were of the most hair raising!

With road building now being something of an environmental anathema "smart" motorways was possibly the only option available in the fight against congestion. with 300 miles more currently being converted, what would be the sensible thing to do now - cancel HS2 and use the budget to do a proper job this time?

[ToraToraTora]

yes very unsafe another monumentally stupid idea.

[Old_Geezer]

Never thought they were, or could be, safe.
Moronic money saving scheme pushed through against advice regardless of the consequences.

[andy-hughes]

Clearly this has been worked out with a calculator and a computer, and the reality has proved to be fatally different from the PowerPoint presentations the suits saw before they signed off on this fatal nonsense.
Shut them down now!

[Old_Geezer]

In the fight against congestion one needs a shrinking population, and proper planning to put residential areas of all sorts near enough to the commercial employment areas that folk can walk in to work. Otherwise one is trying for sticking plaster temporary work-arounds of the consequences rather than tackling the root causes.

[ToraToraTora]

we should concentrate on making people less reliant on the jam jar.

[emmie]

seems a stupid idea, many have died because of it.

[retrocop]

For those who have worked on some motorways the hard shoulder can be quite hairy in the best of conditions. To not have one is ludicrous and lethal as recorded.

[youngmafbog]

Rediculous idea that can only have been dreamt up by idots that have never broken down on a motorway.

All works should be stopped and those that came up with the idea fired.

[ToraToraTora]

YMB, good point, how can we trust the judgement of any wally who thinks this is a good idea. I've always said the same from the start, add a lane by all means but "smart" ie "dumb" motorways? perlease!

[david small]

Blatantly obvious that this stupidity should have been thrown out at the suggestion phrase. Lives lost and families devastated. Culpability, who’s responsible for this ridiculous situation. Reverse it immediately.

[bookbinder]

What are the chances of breaking down in, or close to, one of those emergency laybys? I never use the lane-that-should-be-hard-shoulder, but I'm still very alert, in case there is a broken-down vehicle in the left lane.

[Ryzen]

Like most things, it will take the death of "someone that matters" before action is taken.

[Ellipsis]

It is a stupid idea.

Shelve smart motorways and re-evaluate when we have self-driving cars that are smart enough to communicate with each other and/or the road network.

[jno]

the trials suggested it would work but as you say Highways England didn't bother following the trials, they just did something more dangerous but cheaper. So we still don't know if it's a good idea or not. Meanwhile, the HE boss should be on his way out.

[barry1010]

I am fortunate enough not to be too time constrained so I can avoid using smart motorways. They are death traps

[ToraToraTora]

jno, so the "trial" configuration is different to what was actually built? how so?

[jackthehat]

The original idea was probably sensible. However, once again, the implementation leaves a lot to be desired.
The'safety verges' are too small and too far apart; the number, placement and real-time up-dating of the warning gantries is insufficient; the cctv system does not yet cover the whole of the Smart Motorway system leading to dangerous blind-spots....

[SlackAlice]

ToraToraTora

In the trials 'refuges' were spaced at about 500/600 metres apart.
Current 'refuges' are spaced up to 2500 metres apart, quite a significant difference.
Personally, I consider 'smart' motorways inherently unsafe and avoid them whenever possible.

[ToraToraTora]

still silly alice cars ain't waiting for a refuge to breakdown, these dumb motorways should have a hard shoulder as before.

[vulcan42]

their safety suggestion was to evacuate the car as quickly as possible and get behind a barrier. Obviously they weren't too worried about disabled people.