Smart Motorways
Smart Motorways were created by
turning hard shoulder into live lane so you have an extra motorway lane keep
traffic moving. ie 3 lanes now become 4 lanes. If hard shoulder can be turned on or
turned off, then its known as Dynamic
hard shoulder. This type of dynamic hard shoulder causes additional
confusion among drivers, as this is new driving rule. Also unless you have done
your Pass Plus you may not be familiar with motorway rules and high speed
driving can be very intimidating.
Smart Motorways also have cameras fitted to spot any
vehicle breakdown and so that affected lane can be closed to keep people safe. Also extra lay-bys were introduced
every 600m where breakdown vehicle could stop.
Initially M42 was converted to smart motorways and it all
went well. Currently many smart motorways are scattered around the country.
AA considers Smart Motorways are dangerous and not fit
for purpose and if you breakdown, ring 999 and either stay inside your vehicle
with Hazard Lights on or leave your car through passenger side and wait on the
verge. Waiting in your car is still dangerous and people has been killed while
waiting for a rescue to arrive.
According to Highway report it takes 17 minutes to spot
breakdown vehicles and 3 minutes to activate
sign and then further 17 minutes to recover that vehicle so basically you are
sitting duck for about 30min.
RISK STATISTICS
Prior to smart motorways there were 72 near misses
reported and in 5 years of smart motorways 1485 near misses were reported, that
equals a rise of 20 folds in risk. There has been 38 deaths while people are
waiting in or outside there cars for recover vehicles to arrive .
WHATS THE FUTURE
Government has now decided to introduce Radars
on all smart motorways and also introduce more lay-bys, although many people
think enough is enough and we should do always with so called smart motorways.
What
do you think, let us know in comments section.
