"Go Left" on smart motorways.

If you get out on the right side you will be dead. Whether you think it puerile or not you have remembered it so it has worked already! Moreover you are talking about it so......

I think the whole project should be abandoned. These deaths were not due to mistakes made by the victims but to an innovation that is clearly dangerous.

Petitions signed

eazybee

I watched this advert in disbelief.
Five people have been killed as a result of smart motorways, and they think to address it with a puerile advert.

from mr/ms google:

The number of fatalities on smart motorways have risen to a record high, figures have revealed. Figures from last year's Stats-19 accident database, which provides statistics on road accidents that are reported to the police, have shown there were 14 deaths on the controversial highways in 2019 and 11 deaths in 2018

This dangerous lunacy should be stopped and we should be getting RAC and AA etc to be organising the lobbying against this idiotic idea of how to save money at the expense of peoples lives and mental stress if you found yourself on one of these motorways. Once again as drivers we pay a fortune out in taxes etc and we get back not only Nothing but worse than nothing by putting our lives at risk. The idea that this government should see us as a cash cow than can be milked for them to waste our money on such rubbish as the HS2 . The only way we will get them to stop this crazy idea is to hit them where it hurts . In their pockets. We need to be talking to solicitors and high court lawyers to bring up the subject of what the damages will be when some one is inevitably killed in this terrible situation. That they could be accused at the least of manslaughter , that they have set up an obviously dangerous situation , being well aware that their decisions are flawed and that they are knowingly putting peoples lives at risk,All the difficulties at the moment with covid and other problems are allowing them to get away with this disgraceful behaviour. Dont forget to lobby your own mp and make them aware that if they do not vote to stop this you will definitely vote them out. We must get everyone up in arms against this. I have been driving for more than 40 years and have lived and travelled abroad and still drive a great deal. I enjoy driving and consider myself a competent and careful driver. I have never heard of such lunacy being allowed to go ahead. I do accept the simple situation where you have a 3 lane road, where you could safely change the centre lane to be changed for rush hour travel with clear and sensible signing. That is an acceptable use of road use. But NOT changing the hard shoulder. Besides the danger to motorists themselves , there will also be the danger and knock on effect if the emergency services cannot use a hard shoulder. So if you are in an ambulance and they have no way to get you through to hospital , they will also be the cause of death to those patients . We must all get together and fight against this.

Also this one which is a government one so if anough people sign it then it will be debated.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/570967

There is this one

www.change.org/p/scrap-dangerous-smart-motorways

I'm on the lookout for a petition against this fool hardy death traps. The sooner I can put my name to it the better.

Never been on one, they sound dreadful!

JackieB smart motorways have had the hard shoulder turned into a 4th lane, so there's nowhere to go if you break down.
Several people have been killed by an hgv driving into the rear of a stationary car.
I've never been on one but I do wonder what they did when they came to a bridge - did they alter the whole bridge??**!!

I thought there had been a decision at government level to abandon the idea of smart motorways? If not, then there should be. Quite agree, they are very dangerous.

A letter in the Times recently said that minister who are insisting that smart motorways are safe, should be made to act a pretend breakdown themselves, with all their family in the car.
Bloody good idea.
I would add, at a peak-traffic time, too, and preferably in the dark.

But we now have the problem that with no hard shoulder there will be problems for emergency vehicles trying to reach you. In theory of course the inside lane should be closed, but that doesn't always seem to happen and there are always the people who take no notice of the signs.

Isn't the advert just telling everyone what they should try to do??

I agree that the lack of verges is scary, especially considering the speeds people drive at even in the left hand lane, but apart from the verges changing all the rest is exactly the same as it always was. It has always been dangerous to break down on the motorway. It has always been necessary to pull over beyond the left hand lane. People have always been instructed to try to leave by the far side door, not near oncoming traffic and get behind the barrier if possible. I suspect that piece of advice is aimed at the people you see hanging round their car with the kids and dogs, instead of retreating away from the traffic.

So apart from the lack of verges all the problems above were problems even before smart motorways.

I really hope there is a rethink on them. As well as your scenario Deedaa there are thousands of others, having kids to get out, a dog, someone who is disabled etc etc

Smart they are not. They are dangerous.

My husband lost all electrics in his car when he was on the motorway so he couldn't even put his hazard lights on. Luckily he was using the inside lane and it wasn't a smart motorway.
Whoever came up with the idea for smart motorways has no common sense.

They would be perfectly safe if all drivers stopped using the left hand lane.

Hate these dangerous motorways we have to use m62 to get to a lot of places advert is stupid .

Living on the outskirts of Manchester, “Smart” ? Motorways are unavoidable,
M60, sections of M62 and M6.
Luckily I have a new car but I still find that I’m tense on these sections and I do remind myself that if anything should happen, I should move to the left, Hazzards on, move the driving seat as far back as possible and crawl over the the seats, then over the barrier, as far away as possible. Call 999.
I’m far from fit but I do know I can do this, as while visiting family a car parked about six inches from my drivers door. I had no option than to clamber over the seats, with much huffing and puffing and looking totally inelegant.
I do think that they should all be changed back to having the hard shoulder.
Who thought of these stupid things?

Luckily, living in Devon, I can for ever avoid these death-trap, so called 'smart' motorways. I hope they don't build one here.

What's a smart motorway? How will I know one (if ever we are allowed to travel again and I will be back in the UK and hiring cars)?

I regularly used the smart section of the M42 when it first opened years ago. The stopping areas were much closer together than on newer smart motorways and the hard shoulder lane was only opened when traffic was heavy. Also cars were only directed into this lane if they were leaving the motorway at the next exit, traffic going beyond that had to remain in the other regular lanes.

It felt safe to me and worked well especially during the rush hour. I now live in the NW and am terrified of driving in the new smart lanes on the M6, I just do not feel safe when basically it is now a four lane motorway without a hard shoulder all the time!

So now you should only use smart motorways if your gymnastic skills are up to moving from the driving seat to the passenger door? That eliminates many of the older drivers - perhaps that’s the idea?

I watched this advert in disbelief.
Five people have been killed as a result of smart motorways, and they think to address it with a puerile advert.