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Smart motorways with a temporary hard shoulder are 'too complicated' for motorists, sparking safety concerns

Smart motorways with a temporary hard shoulder are “too complicated” for motorists to handle, the chief executive of Highways England has admitted.
Jim O’Sullivan told MPs that no more dynamic smart motorways would be built, amid growing concerns over their safety.
The controversial initiative, which sees a “dynamic” hard shoulder turn into a fully-functioning lane for traffic at certain times, is already operational on parts of the M1, M4, M5, M6, M42 and M62.

Mr O'Sullivan told the Commons Transport Select Committee that drivers are confused about when they can and cannot use the hard shoulder, with some opening only at peak times.

'Too complex'

"People whose normal daily commute takes place at 8am or 9am, if they've been to the dentist, then come out at 11am they drive down the hard shoulder," he said.
"When we close it at other times of the day, people still drive down it. We get people who stop there when it's a running lane.”

He added that at other times of day the lane is barely used because motorists are unsure if it is open or not.
Highways England chief Jim O'Sullivan insists smart motorways are safer than conventional highways (Photo: PA)
"I don't think we will be building any more dynamic hard shoulder smart motorways,” he said. “They're just too complicated for people to use."

Smart motorways have been developed as a way of increasing capacity and reducing congestion without the more costly process of widening roads.
Safety fears spark debate
But their introduction has been blighted by a spate of accidents, with some drivers killed after stopping in live running lanes.

In March, Derek Jacobs, 83, died when his car was hit by a coach when he stopped in the fast lane on a smart section of the M1 in Derbyshire.
A woman had been killed on the same stretch of road after leaving a broken-down car a few months earlier.

Err, there is no such thing as a fast lane or a slow lane, there are lanes 1,2,3,and 4 on this section of motorway as I can do 70 MPH in all four lanes and the Highway Code clearly states you drive in the left except when overtaking or turning right, I personally think lane 2 on 3 lane motorways have invisible rail tracks installed as so many people get into this lane and erefuse to move back to the left.

In May 2018, eight year-old Dev Naran died instantly after his grandfather pulled onto a "dynamic" hard shoulder on the M6.
Smart motorways have been developed as a way of increasing capacity and reducing congestion without the more costly process of widening roads (Photo: PA)
They were stationary for just 45 seconds before being hit by a lorry travelling at 56mph.

Four people were killed on the same stretch of the M1 northbound in 10 months after they became stranded on a hard shoulder turned into a live lane.
'They are safe'
In September 2018, a 62 year-old woman died after she stepped out of her broken-down car on the M1 near Sheffield, while Jason Mercer, 44, and Alexandru Murgeanu, 22, were fatally struck after they failed to reach a lay-by on the 16-mile stretch.

Mr Mercer's widow Claire sued Highways England for manslaughter after her husband's death, fearing that more motorists would be killed if they continue to be "robbed" of a place to quickly stop.
Steve Godbold, 52, was killed on an M25 smart motorway in September 2017.

Mr O'Sullivan insisted that smart motorways are "as safe or safer than conventional motorways".
He added: "I would prefer to break down in the live lane of a managed motorway or a smart motorway than I would prefer to break down on a live lane on a conventional motorway or on a dual carriageway."
Steve Gooding, director of motoring research charity the RAC Foundation, welcomed the move being halted.
He said:"The simpler motorways are to understand, the safer they will be, as motorists concentrate on the hazards ahead rather than grappling with which lanes are available to them and which are not."

Now, I totally agree they are unsafe and with the excessive mileages I travel I see the worst of these accidents all too frequently and not having a hard shoulder is very dangerous, so as for smart motorways being safer? total B/S as far as I am concerned as you only have a small lay by type run off to get off the motorway adjacent to the SOS telephone and they are not really visible.

Only a couple of weeks ago I drove a company pick up which failed, I was in lane 4 overtaking and I lost drive (automatic) at 70 MPH and I banged on my hazard lights and tried to cruise across four lanes of traffic in heavy rain and if it hadn't been for an excellent lorry driver who saw me and dropped his artic across two lanes I would have been stuck in a live lane of traffic in poor driving conditions.
I knew this stretch of motorway and managed to glide to one of these lay by's as I knew where it was and I contacted the office who sent out one of our winch equipped plant trucks to recover me, while I waited I saw it all. Lorries travelling at 60 MPH with no lights, idiots driving with rear fog lights, morons using mobile phones and lap tops while driving and even some prize plum fondling his girlfriend/wife/someone elses wifes breasts while driving, you can imagine my thoughts comparing him to what he was fondling.

But, this goes much further, imagine my hated electric cars and if there had been a major accident or pile up and one of these was involved, quite possibly the occupants of all these vehicles involved could have been electrocuted and killed when ordanarily they would have walked away, and you're a long time dead.

If you have, or drive a new car they come with some wonderful systems and many are integrated, many also contain speed camera detection and if you drive up the motorways they begin beeping as you pass under the new sign gantries and most of the bridges as they all contain speeed cameras, most over each individual lane. All smart motorways are connected and these cameras are increasingly linked to form average speed zones and these can be for many miles, eventually they will all be connected so if you drive a lorry over 60 MPH or tow a caravan or trailer over 60 MPH, or a car over 70 MPH its instant ticket time, so more revenue. One of these average speed sections is now over 60 miles long and in the near future they will cover the entire length of every motorway.

Smart motorways are all covered with cameras for operators to reduce speeds in individual or all lanes and if an incident occurs and if the cameras fail or there is human error then its an accident waiting to happen, it only takes one operator to go and fetch a coffee or go to the toilet and the signs are not instantly activated in response to an incident. Many motorists ignore the speeds when they are reduced in a specific or all lanes and continue at their previous speed and brake at the last minute as they approach an incident, and many reduced speeds are left on long after an incident occurs and has been cleared and this is well known.

Interactive motorways is a term currently bandied about but do people actually understand the term? actually no, plans are already in place for regional enforcement centres which catch the data and automatically issue tickets to the registered keeper without human intervention, so no outlay and a ready supply of income as these are totally automated and have no humans working there other than to load the machines with their specific letters and integrated envelopes, a sure profit maker. It gets worse, if you are caught then traffic recognition cameras kick in, they photograph the vehicle from all angles at every camera you pass and they also use facial recognition technology.

They don't care how many this idiocy kills. All part of the drive to make manual driving as difficult as possible in order to roll out driverless vehicles so you can be easily tracked and optionally controlled to drive you somewhere else. I had to get shot of my car last year bc it failed on the stricter MOT rules implemented last May.

Another brilliantly articulated and comprehensive post from assassin, thank you.

Yes its nice to see the night shift are keeping busy.

Dave, errrrrrrr all three shifts.