Motorway Gantry Warning

cyberyacht!  Total agreement on that one!

It all stems back to the very early days of the Motorways, when a number of Politicians and Senior Civil servants, talked about Slow lanes, and Fast lanes etc.  That was crass, as it failed to recognise that Physiologically  few people wanted to think of themselves as being in the slow lane and therefore stuck to one of the other two lanes.

After a lot of pressure from the Police and the motoring organisations they finally changed the titles to lanes 1,2,and 3 etc.  Sadly the original description of Lane 1 being the slow lane hung on for decades and still exists today.

The morons who still cling to lane 2 as their normal running lane will never be eliminated until the Police start stopping and issuing process against them.  Sadly the days of  Forces having proper motorways and major route Police patrols are a thing of the past.

TF

Was there not an experiment somewhere down the M5 where this was tackled using nothing more than white paint?

Lanes one and two were merged and a new lane three started at a number of locations about five miles appart.  The "middle" lane hoggers kept getting moved across to lane 1 as as they were not observant enough to realise what was happening.

Cyberyacht,  that  attitude  still  exists  on  the  Smart   m/ways  when  the  hard  shoulder  is  opened  to  traffic  in  times  of  congestion.

It  almost  seems  like  the  traffic  moves  to  the  right  in  order  to  avoid  using  the  Hard shoulder / First  lane.

I  understand  that  money  comes  into  the  equation  but  I  have  long  held  TF's  views  that  bad / dangerous  drivers  need  to  be  punished  sharply  to  break  their  bad  habits.  I  know,  I  know  not  enough  police  or  courts to  handle  the  job,  but  I  still  keep  wishing  &  twitching  when  I  see    a  Hogger  or  a  phone  user.  I  dont  give  a  tuppenny  damn  about  them  but  I  do  care  about  the  rest  of  us   !!

P.S. / edit  --  I  wonder  if  Tigerfish  has  any  data  to  hand  on  the  relative  safety  of  Managed / Smart   motorways  as  opposed  to  the  original  motorways  ?

Just  wondering  'cos  I  understand  that  M/ways  are  supposed  to  be  safer  than  dual  carriageways  etc

Sorry, No really up to date data as I retired from the Police after 30 years in 1999.  Then went into Local Govt as an elected Councillor and became a Cabinet member with Transport Responsibilities but stood down from that in 2015 due to declining health. So my comments are based on experience rather than backed up by data.

TF

See here for ROSPA details, other comments from the AA etc are out there on the web if you google smart motorway safety. 

The PDF fact sheet on the ROSPA site is a good read (if you can call it that!) 

The club could be pro-active in offering advice on these new systems?

Did you know that if you use a refuge you have to be escorted off it because of traffic volumes and speed in adjoining lanes.

 Just  had  a  look  at  your  ROSPA  link  Brue,  for  which  I  thank  you.

I  was  hoping  TF  might  still  have  access  to  data,  because  I'm  a  cynical  old  { ++++++++++++ }  and  accept  that  politicians  of  national  and  local  grouping,  Road  Safety  Groups  etc  etc  all  have  an  axe  to  grind  and  any  figures  they  put  out  are  more  than  likely  to  be  skewed  in  their  favour.

Brian  A B M

Cyberyacht, that attitude still exists on the Smart m/ways when the hard shoulder is opened to traffic in times of congestion.

It almost seems like the traffic moves to the right in order to avoid using the Hard shoulder / First lane.

ABM I think some of the fault for this can be put down to poor signage. On the M42 past Birmingham, you get signs saying congestion use hard shoulder, then a few hundred metres further, hard shoulder for junction x only. If towing you barely have time to move in, before having to get out again. So when folk get to a sign that actually means you can use the hard shoulder for a decent distance, they are ignored.

I didn't know that brue. However, when passing one on the M1 the other day, I mentioned to the OH that if we were ever forced to use one, when towing, we would have to wait for the police or highways people to slow traffic so we could get out again.

Yes,travelling north recently, OH commented on the signs at the refuges saying just that.

With the volume and speed of the traffic on the M ways these days, it is only sensible.

Always glad as we get further north and the traffic calms down!

It does increase as we near Glasgow, but for some  reason it does not stress me as much.

I must say, my impression is that the further south  we go the worse the drivers are overall.......faster.....more impatient......more tailgating.....more unsafe overtaking....less sympathy for those not used to the area and the road layout.

Not that there are not plenty of idiotic drivers up here!!!