AA withdraws breakdown cover from smart motorways (1 Viewer)

[Wagoneer]

A possible long-term solution is smart vehicles that are able to travel autonomously with very small gaps between each vehicle. Two lanes would almost certainly be enough with a third for joining & leaving the "train" and for the rare breakdowns. It may be the one place high speed autonomous vehicles make sense.

Talking about small gaps.......I was surprised to learn that the maxium traffic capacity is achieved when traffic is travelling at around 15 mph, ie. traffic travelling closer together.

Forget about Smart Motorways......impose a speed restriction of 15 mph, sorted, haha !!!

 

[Wagoneer]

They were supposed to be here as well Gus but was overruled as not necessary translated too expensive

The first Smart Motorways in the UK had refuges every 500m. I don't know the current spacing but assumed it had remained at 500m.

 

[pelican]

On Smart sections I never drive on the inside lane maybe they should be boycotted

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[Ivory55]

There is plenty who never leave the middle lane even with a hard shoulder

 

[romany]

The first Smart Motorways in the UK had refuges every 500m. I don't know the current spacing but assumed it had remained at 500m.

I believe I.m right that some of these safe places are now up to 800 apart even a 1000

 

[Mike800966]

A problem highlighted tonight on BBC was that very little of the Smart motorways have "stopped Vehicle Sensor system", they relied instead on cameras that may or may not be working and the control room is NOT automatically told if a vehicle has stopped on the hard shoulder / lane 1.
Myself I find the in and out, on and off hard shoulder running lanes to be dangerous so I am afraid that I prefer to stick in the old slow lane.
Mike

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[Googlebot]

Personally, I hate them.

A simple RTC quickly results in traffic backing up with nowhere to go and nowhere for 999 services to get to it. You can’t reverse run the carriageway till someone is there to ensure nobody is going to go past the incident and nobody can get there due to all lanes being congested.

You can imagine what happens in a serious RTC.

Cheap way to improve congestion they may well be, I would rather be 10 minutes late thanks.

 

[rosalan]

Well done AA. It is only by such radical action that the relevant authorities will be prodded into finding an alternative solution.
Signage alone is an inadequate solution to unexpected breakdowns and I believe most breakdowns are unexpected.

 

[gus-lopez]

with very small gaps between each vehicle. T

Spaniards do that now.

recovering broken down cars can be made easier using the American trucks with automated lift. Back up to disabled vehicle with towing boom lowered to the ground. arms then power out and lock round front tyres. lift boom and drive on. It takes a skilled operator 20 seconds to hitch and drag a car. a skill sharpened by repossessing cars from delinquent payers, some with guns

The work involved in strengthening the chassis!

I believe I.m right that some of these safe places are now up to 800 apart even a 1000

I thought it was 1 mile or 1,5 miles between them?

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[Larby]

I believe I.m right that some of these safe places are now up to 800 apart even a 1000

The distance between is academic as most are occupied by foreign lorry drivers taking their
break

 

[EuroTrotters]

Message to Boris Johnson - instead of HS2 widen the most congested motorways and always keep a hard shoulder.

Let’s have both

 

[Kingham]

The first Smart Motorways in the UK had refuges every 500m. I don't know the current spacing but assumed it had remained at 500m.

I believe I.m right that some of these safe places are now up to 800 apart even a 1000

From Highways England own website....

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[EX51SSS]

Message to Boris Johnson - instead of HS2 widen the most congested motorways and always keep a hard shoulder.

Message to Boris Johnson. Put right the stupidly of previous governments to allow this dangerous practice

 

[PeteH]

First, Drop HS2!, 100`s of billions to get to Birmingham 20 min quicker? (and not central Birmingham either!) Use the money to 1) improve rural/commute Bus/Rail services. 2) Increase Motorway capacity with new or extra full lanes and keep the hard shoulders OR improve existing non motorways (Town/village bypasses are good) and for example Dual the likes of the A15. AND Fill the god-dam Potholes!, not by patching, but proper resurfacing.!

 

[DDJC]

From talking to colleagues, seems to me that the people who think smart motorways are a good idea, all have railway season tickets...
Go figure.

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[Ivory55]

May be this is why they closed the hard shoulders haha.

Lorry driver fined for cooking breakfast on M62 hard shoulder

Trucker caught by police preparing roadside meal

www.examinerlive.co.uk

 

[DuxDeluxe]

I can understand the AA. The M42, and now the M5, near where I live are frightening!

Quite agree with that, both roads during even normal times are busy and a lot of people not watching where they are going either

 

[Beltie]

I think the M42 is ok. It was one of the first and the refuges are very close together. On the other hand I've recently used the M6 between Stoke and Manchester and that was potentially lethal with refuges over a mile apart.

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[romany]

From Highways England own website....

View attachment 358076

Anyone volunteering to walk three quarters of a mile to an sos phone we will have a whip around for the funeral and the coroner will call it death by misadventure so as not to upset the government

 

[Wagoneer]

Anyone volunteering to walk three quarters of a mile to an sos phone we will have a whip around for the funeral and the coroner will call it death by misadventure so as not to upset the government

Besides, it's not safe for the public to walk 3/4 mile, adjacent to a live carriageway, to reach a refuge emergency phone. They don't need to. But have the travelling public been told ??? The emergency phones are intended for use by those drivers whose vehicle has a problem but are able to reach the next refuge.

The Highways Agency cameras should/will pick up any broken down vehicle and expect the occupants to shelter behind the safety barrier until the emergency services arrive.

The critical risk is between when the broken down vehicle stops and the time it takes for the occupants to get out and transfer to a safe place behind a safety barrier. During this high risk period they could get rear-ended but hopefully by putting on hazard lights this risk is mitigated.

 

[PeteH]

Besides, it's not safe for the public to walk 3/4 mile, adjacent to a live carriageway, to reach a refuge emergency phone. They don't need to. But have the travelling public been told ??? The emergency phones are intended for use by those drivers whose vehicle has a problem but are able to reach the next refuge.

The Highways Agency cameras should/will pick up any broken down vehicle and expect the occupants to shelter behind the safety barrier until the emergency services arrive.

The critical risk is between when the broken down vehicle stops and the time it takes for the occupants to get out and transfer to a safe place behind a safety barrier. During this high risk period they could get rear-ended but hopefully by putting on hazard lights this risk is mitigated.

Acording to the T-V quote this morning, It takes up to 17 min, for a "breakdown" to be noticed by the camera "observers", to close the lane reduce the speed sign`s and get the Traffic vehicles informed and mobilised. Sooooo; in the words Of "Dirty Harry", "Are you feeling lucky?".

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[Wagoneer]

Acording to the T-V quote this morning, It takes up to 17 min, for a "breakdown" to be noticed by the camera "observers", to close the lane reduce the speed sign`s and get the Traffic vehicles informed and mobilised. Sooooo; in the words Of "Dirty Harry", "Are you feeling lucky?".

I would imagine the cameras are programmed to detect stationary vehicles without human intervention and inform the duty personnel to review the situation and act accordingly.

 

[RandallC]

I would imagine the cameras are programmed to detect stationary vehicles without human intervention and inform the duty personnel to review the situation and act accordingly.

first rule for Safety NEVER ASSUME. sorry not really shouting, just highlighting.

However that applies to virtually everything!

whilst unhappy with no hard shoulder, remember the old days sat for hours on the M6 J11 - J4. Ditto M4/M5?M32 junctions at Bristol, ditto M4 in Newport. Not smart but the speed cams (hated things) stop the numpties from causing chaos & stop/start trafic.

one comment vis previous posts ""there is no slow lane"" there are ""overtaking lanes""

 

[PeteH]

I would imagine the cameras are programmed to detect stationary vehicles without human intervention and inform the duty personnel to review the situation and act accordingly.

That was one of the things that came up. It is not Automated, Only very few of the latest sections can in fact do that. ALL the older sections have only Human observers. Each has to monitor a bank of camera`s. IF one operator goes "pee pee" the other have to cover. Back "when" you waited for a "cruising" patrol car, who then relayed it to his Station!, whenever the phones went down (frequently)

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[Phill D]

i am happy to be show different but i am not sure there is any camera that can detect "no movement"!! is it possible??

 

[LesW]

to shelter behind the safety barrier until the emergency services arrive.

I think that on parts of the M6 round Birmingham, the other side of the safety barrier is a sheer drop onto the carriageway below.

 

[Eddystone]

That is why here they are every 500m

Sorry, but they are not that frequent on the M1 in Derbyshire and South Yorkshire

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[PeteH]

Sorry, but they are not that frequent on the M1 in Derbyshire and South Yorkshire

Between Refuges on the "Chesterfield" section, M1 measure 1.3 miles on Google maps between them.

 

[hblewett]

The government was told that smart motorways would result in more fatalities by the police when they were first considered many years ago. They decided that the projected increase was acceptable balanced against the increased traffic capacity and ease of widening

May I ask the source of this information please?

 

[gus-lopez]

May be this is why they closed the hard shoulders haha.

Lorry driver fined for cooking breakfast on M62 hard shoulder

Trucker caught by police preparing roadside meal

www.examinerlive.co.uk

If you look closely he isn't " on the hard shoulder" but past it probably on a " police vehiclesonly" pull in or an exit gateway. I changed a core plug on a police vehicles only ramp year before last & they even drove past, so the wife said, & never even stopped.

Sorry, but they are not that frequent on the M1 in Derbyshire and South Yorkshire

But "here"where I live in "Spain" they are 500m apart in the busy sections. & that is as far apart as they should ever be in the Uk which has more lanes , & is far busier.

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