Driving back from Bristol to london on the recently completed smart motorway section after Reading and was nearly involved in a pile up Car broken down on the inside lane ( now no longer a hard shoulder) and cars swerving round it and other slamming on the brakes to avoid them. No overhead signs working to close the lane. No wonder so many people drive in lanes 3 and 4…………
This is not the first time I’ve seen near misses on smart M-way’s. Broke down a few years back ( puncture) and managed to get into a pull in bay to await the AA ( not stupid enough to try to change an OS tyre on an M-way). AA man called ahead to get a lane closure so we could pull out safely but lorries continued to use it…… 2012 TDV8 Vogue (L322)

Nowt smart about them. Thankfully even pre Covid I didn't need to travel much other than locally, but any future travel plans will will avoid them. I wonder if / when satnavs might get such an option??

But they'll come good when cars are driverless........ they couldn't be all about that, could they? Surely not!

Chris

The problem is they are not smart enough. They are meant to know of a stationary vehicle immediately and warn other traffic as quickly. Thats the theory, you discovered what happens in the real world. letters not necessarily in the right order

The issue with these systems is that they still rely on a human operative to change the signs. there may be some AI Or other intelligence, but If they are not paying attention then that situation can occur.

I’ve travelled along a few smart motorways over the years, but fortunately never seen that situation. I have, many times, seen 1, 2, or 3 lanes closed for no clear reasons with chaos with cars trailing back for miles trying to squeeze into the few open lanes, and with other cars (normally the usual German subjects) driving up the closed lanes to push in at the last minute!

Another example is with the yellow matrix signs in the middle of the motorway divider. They “advise” slow speeds for no reason, or even fog on a blisteringly hot day… so people simply ignore them.

And that’s the biggest issue…unless they are quick to react and accurate the people ignore them. Currently driving: 2012 L322 SE Overfinch 4.4 tdv8

Past rides:
2014 Audi Q7 3.0d (good riddance)
2010 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged
2011 L320 HSE 3.0 sdv6
2014 Jaguar XF-RS 5.0 supercharged
2007 BMW 535D
2005 Mini Cooper S

https://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic59478.html

Those yellow lights advising speeds are also now used to try and drive speeds down where emissions are high. The same reason around Birmingham the average speed cameras are turned on when the traffic is light or heavy.

I had thought it was linked to EU regulations, but the government seems to be sticking with it.

If the outside lane became dedicated to EV’s with no restrictions that would probably drive the behaviour the government wants!

Smart motorways can work but unfortunately the clowns that design them don't do a good enough job. If you look at the M1 around the Luton area they have cameras along that section every 100yards as well as the hard shoulder but if it's clear and there's heavy traffic it can be used too aid the flow of traffic. Unfortunately the regular motorways like the m25 they don't have cameras every 100 yards so the traffic wobbles I mean highways are usually none the wiser of this. I see a young woman with 3 children and 2 dogs once stuck inbetween Lane 1&2. The public was going all the way up too her and having too swerve out the way as there wasn't no gantry signs etc so ended up going off the next junction and back so could use the lorry and put in a fend off to at least give her, the kids and dogs some protection.

Did I get a thank you from the traffic wombles? Nope they moaned at me saying what I done was dangerous. Told them well would you like 4 dead people and 2 animals because you can't manage the traffic properly given I've managed too travel 5 miles and you still haven't put no signs up

The original design was refuge lay-by every 400yds. But the budget was cut and this the distance between them is far too much.

Anyone would think that when they first designed motorways with a hard shoulder they actually knew what they were doing! Just saying

Bean19844 wrote:

Smart motorways can work