Just had a close shave on the supposed 'Smart Motorway' that is the M1.

 

Stationery vehicle in the inside lane, obscured by a HGV in front of me, which the lorry missed by a few feet!

 

Unbelievably the driver of the stationery vehicle was poking around under the bonnet 🤷‍♂️

 

Bring back the hard shoulder!!

 

 

 

2 minutes ago, pinkpanther said:

Just had a close shave on the supposed 'Smart Motorway' that is the M1.

 

Stationery vehicle in the inside lane, obscured by a HGV in front of me, which the lorry missed by a few feet!

 

Unbelievably the driver of the stationery vehicle was poking around under the bonnet 🤷‍♂️

 

Bring back the hard shoulder!!

 

 

 

 

As ever we ignored the original research and decided to implement some half-arsed botch instead.

 

Seems it's not a Government minister to blame on this occasion.

 

https://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/transport-minister-hoodwinked-over-smart-motorway-roll-out

 

22 minutes ago, pinkpanther said:

Unbelievably the driver of the stationery vehicle was poking around under the bonnet 🤷‍♂️

 

Probably the late driver now

 

Life expectancy even on the hard shoulder is measured in minutes.

1 hour ago, pinkpanther said:

Bring back the hard shoulder!!

 

 

G

 

3 hours ago, J.R. said:

 

Probably the late driver now /cdn-cgi/mirage/2847242781e442236e4c1430d733d05874d10def71fb977f29de85524a4e7259/1440/https://www.briskoda.net/forums/uploads/emoticons/sad.gif

 

Life expectancy even on the hard shoulder is measured in minutes.

 

Indeed...   I've done high speed road safety training and they always drill I to you that if you have an issue or a breakdown on the motorway, smart or not, you get out of the car on the left in the UK and get back well behind the safety barrier as soon as possible...   No messing about, no faffing with the car and staying nowhere near the barrier but 20 to 30 yards away and up any embankment etc. 

Not always. I was on the M8 Westbound around J18, say 55.869782, -4.260721, and found a broken down car in lane 3. It had reduced the traffic speed to about 5mph. Long story short, I hopped out and told them I'd get off the motorway and notify the police to arrange recovery.

Perhaps a contentious thought - but why all the fuss about smart motorways?

 

Before I get hit by a wave of exasperated sighs etc, consider how they compare to the many dual carriageways on which cyclists, scooters, slow moving farm traffic etc are all permitted. And there are no cameras or overhead signs.

I’ve just had the doubtful ‘pleasure’ of driving the A23 from Crawley to Brighton, and am a regular user of the A34 from Winchester to Oxford. In some parts these roads are narrower than any smart motorway, have tighter bends and shorter acceleration/deceleration lanes.

 

If we ban smart motorways why not the A23 & A34?

 

6 hours ago, SteveTheElder said:

Perhaps a contentious thought - but why all the fuss about smart motorways?

 

Before I get hit by a wave of exasperated sighs etc, consider how they compare to the many dual carriageways on which cyclists, scooters, slow moving farm traffic etc are all permitted. And there are no cameras or overhead signs.

I’ve just had the doubtful ‘pleasure’ of driving the A23 from Crawley to Brighton, and am a regular user of the A34 from Winchester to Oxford. In some parts these roads are narrower than any smart motorway, have tighter bends and shorter acceleration/deceleration lanes.

 

If we ban smart motorways why not the A23 & A34?

 

 

I agree...   I don't have an issue with them and TBH people do 70mph or more on a dual carriageway with no hard shoulder... 

 

But that just my view

Reviving an old thread, I'm a regular user of the M42 and have been since the pilot scheme. Never a problem until yesterday when there was a car stopped on the hard shoulder between J3A and 4 which was open although the motorway was less busy than usual. I moved over and passed it no problem but noticed that the hard shoulder remained open until I left at J4 a couple of miles later.

Should I have stopped to report it at the next refuge? I thought this too risky. Would it have been worth a 999 call?

8 hours ago, D402 said:

Reviving an old thread, I'm a regular user of the M42 and have been since the pilot scheme. Never a problem until yesterday when there was a car stopped on the hard shoulder between J3A and 4 which was open although the motorway was less busy than usual. I moved over and passed it no problem but noticed that the hard shoulder remained open until I left at J4 a couple of miles later.

Should I have stopped to report it at the next refuge? I thought this too risky. Would it have been worth a 999 call?

If the hard shoulder is being used as a 'live running lane' (or whatever the correct term is) then a stopped vehicle on the hard shoulder is no different to a stopped vehicle in any other lane. So yes, in my opinion, worthy of a 999 call.