Driving down the M4 ( once the safest motorway in the U.K. ) this evening in the dark with heavy rain .
The M4 is in the process of being changed into a smart motorway .
We were talking about this .
It’s a recipe for total disaster.
There is no way one could get out of a car before being hit .
How could anyone with more than two brain cells NOT see that ?
.
I completely agree.
Some bright spark came up with the idea that another lane was needed, but that money could be saved by converting the hard shoulder to an extra lane.
He (I assume it’s a he, because the dimmest humans on God’s earth are male) was so proud of his genius idea that the possibility of danger due to lack of a hard shoulder never crossed his tiny mind.
I shall here predict that eventually all smart motorways will be restored to those having a hard shoulder,
but not until the requisite number of fatalities has been achieved. :roll:
So called Smart Motorways are complete madness, I try to avoid going on one if possible.
We have a number of sections around here on the M5 and M42 and there was a programme about them the other night which I found very frightening.
There is a Panorama programme about them on tomorrow night apparently they are subject to a review that will lead to changes but we don’t need changes they should be scrapped.
Absolutely agree JBR and Muddy.
People with this sort of brainwave need their heads examined. :shock:
So now, if we break down, what are we supposed to pull over?
Will they also be taking the emergency phone’s away, as it sure won’t be safe to use them!
Crazy, mental people given the power to implement these decisions is scary stuff.
Hopefully they will ban this nonsense. It’s amazing that people are paid lots of money to come up with these crackpot ideas.
I think that the best thing we motorists could do, to avoid harm to ourselves and others, is to voluntarily avoid using the inside lane.
If everyone decided to do this, the dangerous smart motorways would, through our own actions, be restored to safe traditional motorways.
They will not scrap this idea until they have wasted vast sums of money changing things first, followed by multiple deaths, then they just might scrap the idea.
They should never be in the job, Annie.
They are totally bonkers.
According to a woman on the programme the other day SMs were introduced by Chris Grayling who was Transport Minister at the time. She blames him for the death of a family member .
Another point that was made was they don’t all have the same rules which makes it difficult for even the most experienced driver to understand them.
The same types have likely planned HS2 and other bonkers ventures. Drinking champagne on a yacht no doubt once they have picked up their massive consultancy fees. Perhaps it’s all the same people?
That’s exactly what I thought, too. 
How can these people make such massive c***-ups, and still keep their jobs?
If any of us in our working lives had cost the company wasted billions, we’d have been out on our earhole in a jiffy!
Some people lead a charmed life flitting from top job to top job like a butterfly. Leaving the mess for others to sort out. They take the glory and others have to pay the price for their mistakes. I think the culture is that nobody wants to be the one to say that the emperor is in fact naked.
What on earth is a ‘Smart Motorway’?
Aha - all is revealed - just found this:-
Eh? Have you been on another planet? 
ST it is where at certain times but not always the hard shoulder is used as an extra lane.
If you break down you are supposed to limp to a 'refuge area ’ a little layby that may be a mile away . Or in some places you can stop on the hard shoulder and theatrically, alerted by cameras (I think) the motorway knows you have stopped and a restriction on driving on the hard shoulder comes into force and this is announced in a message on the overhead gantry . But it doesn’t always work like that so cars are breaking down/having accidents and people are getting killed and seriously injured by others driving into them .
To me it is like playing Russian roulette in a vehicle …
I’ll stick to my jolly old broomstick - it’s probably a lot safer!
Can’t beat a Firebolt 2020.
Very wise ST
No - but I don’t often travel on motorways!
The Telegraph has an article, today, “Scandal of deaths on the smart motorway network”.
They reveal that 38 people have died, on the new roads, in the past 5 years.
They are quoting these numbers from a parliamentary report!
They say that the high-tech radar system, used to detect breakdowns more quickly, is only in place on 25 of the 400 miles.
Apparently drivers drivers who break down are waiting an average of 17 minutes to be spotted and another 17 minutes to be rescued.
:shock:
