smart!! motorways.

agreed

One very popular thing Starmer could do, is get rid of them!

It seemed a stupid, dangerous idea from the outset.

Travelling on the M3 has been a nightmare over recent years, with 50 mph limits for many, many miles. Now they've found that many drivers simply avoid driving in the inside lane because of the risks, so not much has been gained in return for the danger caused by the loss of the hard shoulder.
Did you know that they are now adding extra "refuges" (i.e. laybys) as they've decided that they had dangerously few before? It might have been simpler to simply add a whole lane all the way along, where this was possible.
And the money it must have cost is astronomical.

I think they are unsmartening the M1 near us.

As we used to say "When in doubt use brain!!" If this stupid idea had been shown to drivers , long before it was put into practise it would not have happened at all, and saved a lot of money that could have been used to patch up potholes or make more hard shoulders !

Witzend

One very popular thing Starmer could do, is get rid of them!

They’re already either going or gone.It was an experiment to see if they were useful to unglue jammed motorways.

There was another thread on this not that long ago.

Death traps and proven to be so. Sunak has stopped further smart motorways and promised (ha,ha) to return the existing ones back to motorways with hard shoulders. Whoever wins the GE needs to deal with this asap.

I hate driving on smart motorways but have to do it to visit my daughter. Those emergency laybys are much too far apart to be of any use at all and I am always relieved when we get back to having a hard shoulder. The messages on the overhead gantries are another concern as they are sometimes meaningless and therefore disregarded. I once saw a car breakdown and get stuck in the middle lane on a very busy smart motorway because the poor driver had nowhere to go. I have also been involved in a queue of cars trying to pull over to let an ambulance through. I will be happy to see the back of those smart motorways.

No hard shoulder is extremely dangerous, it beggers belief that motorists have no ' escape route' in a mechanical or medical emergency. As for emergency vehicles getting through - !!!??

Oreo

Witzend

One very popular thing Starmer could do, is get rid of them!

They’re already either going or gone.It was an experiment to see if they were useful to unglue jammed motorways.

Sadly I believe that all they've actually said so far is that there won't be any new ones. They are actually adding extra refuges to some stretches of road to make them safer, instead of simply reinstating the hard shouldter - yet more unnecessary expense.

sorry, typo, "shoulder"

We usually select the shortest route to our destination on the sat-nav, that way it mostly avoids motorways and takes you through places that you wouldn’t normally see

5 Lorries crashed on. M6 smart motorway this morning. Virtually closed all day. Being Smart has not helped. A recent Panorama program gave details of how many times the camera system isn’t working. It is not easy to get from the south of England to the North west without using a smart motorway.
I see no advantage has been gained from the years of roadworks. They are scary.

It was a stupid idea to save money widening motorways at the expense of an increased risk to people's lives.

Not one of TonyBlair’s brightest ideas, he introduced the first smart motorway in 2006.

Rishi Sunak has cancelled all new ones and is (was) looking at restoring hard shoulders on existing smart motorways.

I spend a fair few hours on the M25, and it is always at the back of my mind what would happen if I need to stop

I think they are so dangerous, as has been shown by terrible accidents. I avoid them at all costs, it was a ridiculous idea.

Smart motorways are stupid and very dangerous. Bonkers idea from the start!

I watched a programme about smart motorways a month or so ago, and resolved never to drive on one. It was frightening; cameras that are supposed to tell the control centre instantly when a breakdown occurs were pointed into the meadows either side of the road, or at the sky, some didn't work, and several people told horrific tales about their experiences. Other drivers involved in breakdown incidents didn't have an opportunity to tell their stories as they had died trying to get out of the way of fast traffic - one man was killed trying to squeeze out of his van, parked as far up the verge as he could, and he was hit by several other vehicles.

They are already disappearing. No new ones and refuges being added to on existing roads.

Definitely nothing Smart about them!