Date: 29-03-24  Time: 11:10 am

Author Topic: "Smart" motorways, 1 in 10 cameras not working...  (Read 2918 times)

Grahamm

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"Smart" motorways, 1 in 10 cameras not working...
« on: 28 September 2021, 06:20:13 pm »
The Highways Agency are being urged to reopen hard shoulders immediately after an investigation found that one in ten cameras weren't working. Also equipment failures have left operators unable to change signs or speed limits for an hour.

53 people haved died on these roads between 2015 and 2019 and analysis suggests that drivers who break down on motorways with no hard shoulder are actually at three times greater risk of tragic consequences than on normal motorways!

Smart motorways: 1 in 10 safety cameras ‘not working’, undercover probe finds

Also, down here in Hampshire, the M27 has been being "upgraded" for a couple of years and the completion date has been put back from September 2021 to Spring 2022.

This has resulted in an interminable 50mph average speed section and, last week, when I was coming back from Bristol, I was literally almost falling asleep, having to sing songs or recite sections of the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy in my head to stop my concentration from drifting :(

As soon as we were out of that section and I could crack the throttle open I was wide awake again, watching vehicles ahead, checking traffic coming up behind, looking for people changing lanes unexpectedly etc... but we're stuck with the slow stuff for at least another 6 months.

FazThou

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Re: "Smart" motorways, 1 in 10 cameras not working...
« Reply #1 on: 28 September 2021, 07:01:29 pm »
The highways agency and highways england need to have all them cameras shoved violently up their holes.
They are completely useless and soo much money is wasted on these schemes which turn out to be useless and a waste of money
As Grahamm stated above it is far more dangerous if you breakdown in the live lane rather than being able to pull over onto the hard shoulder.
Mind you the Police do love to shut a few lanes now and again...... it makes them feel powerful !!!

Trebus

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Re: "Smart" motorways, 1 in 10 cameras not working...
« Reply #2 on: 28 September 2021, 10:29:07 pm »
Stop this….. you’ll start panic buying of cameras just in case we might run out!

FazThou

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Re: "Smart" motorways, 1 in 10 cameras not working...
« Reply #3 on: 29 September 2021, 04:57:25 pm »
Stop this….. you’ll start panic buying of cameras just in case we might run out!


 :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

Grahamm

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Re: "Smart" motorways, 1 in 10 cameras not working...
« Reply #4 on: 03 November 2021, 10:52:44 am »
An update to this thread, the Transport Select Committee, a cross-party group of MPs, is urging the Government to stop the rollout of "Smart" motorways until the safety issues can be properly addressed.

They want no more motorways "upgraded" until they have five years of safety data from the existing ones and they have called for Emergency Refuge areas to be retrofitted to existing smart motorways at a maximum of one mile apart.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/smart-motorways-uk-government-mps-b1949163.html

BBROWN1664

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Re: "Smart" motorways, 1 in 10 cameras not working...
« Reply #5 on: 03 November 2021, 11:49:31 am »
There is nothing smart about a "smart" motorway. The smaller brained people who thought it up thought that the general public had even smaller brains than them as their key selling point was "more lanes available reducing congestion and tailbacks".

How many brain cells does it need to calculate that a 5 mile tailback with 3 lanes will obviously be shorter if theres 4 lanes to fill up instead? (just in case you are struggling, it would be 15 miles of traffic between the 3 lanes and still 15 miles of traffic between 4 but only tailing back 3.75 miles instead of 5)

What they failed to remember was that cars and trucks breakdown regularly and are not always able to travel the extra 0.5 or 1 mile needed to get to a refuge. Previously we could pull/roll straight to the hard shoulder. This results in a lane being blocked so down to 3 lanes again. Only needs one breakdown on a stretch of road and you may as well have 3 lanes for the whole stretch.
Once a car/truck has broken down, you then need people to expect a stationary vehicle in lane 1 and take avoiding action quickly now where as before, they were on the hard shoulder and more or less out of harms way but certainly less of a risk to traffic that's still moving and therefore safer for the broken down vehicles occupants.
The hard shoulder was removed as it is cheaper than building a whole new lane. No compulsory purchases, no more embankment work to make the available space bigger, no real money being spent apart form strengthening the surface which the contractors seem to drag out for far too long.
Retrofitting refuges to the existing not-so-smart motorways will bring years of traffic chaos. You would have to shut at least 2 lanes so they could work safely - see the point above about lane reduction


Another ex-Fazer rider that is a foccer again

b1k3rdude

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Re: "Smart" motorways, 1 in 10 cameras not working...
« Reply #6 on: 03 November 2021, 01:32:21 pm »
Yep, not a fan of theses SM's either. That said I try and avoid MW's where I can A) because its boring and B) so I don't wear out the center of my tyres.
« Last Edit: 03 November 2021, 01:36:18 pm by b1k3rdude »

agricola

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Re: "Smart" motorways, 1 in 10 cameras not working...
« Reply #7 on: 03 November 2021, 03:02:27 pm »
An update to this thread, the Transport Select Committee, a cross-party group of MPs, is urging the Government to stop the rollout of "Smart" motorways until the safety issues can be properly addressed.

They want no more motorways "upgraded" until they have five years of safety data from the existing ones and they have called for Emergency Refuge areas to be retrofitted to existing smart motorways at a maximum of one mile apart.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/smart-motorways-uk-government-mps-b1949163.html


Isn't that the same a saying "we're not going to do anything about this for at least 5 years"?

Captain Haddock

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Re: "Smart" motorways, 1 in 10 cameras not working...
« Reply #8 on: 03 November 2021, 04:35:30 pm »
You can have a smart motorway and still have a hard shoulder, surely the variable speed limit is the smart bit which does reduce the stop/start queues as it slows some of the traffic before it gets there.Losing the hard shoulder is a crap idea for sure.
Save the planet...It's the only one with beer!

Grahamm

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Re: "Smart" motorways, 1 in 10 cameras not working...
« Reply #9 on: 03 November 2021, 05:00:38 pm »
How many brain cells does it need to calculate that a 5 mile tailback with 3 lanes will obviously be shorter if theres 4 lanes to fill up instead?

A new question for the GCSE maths exam? ;)

Quote
What they failed to remember was that cars and trucks breakdown regularly and are not always able to travel the extra 0.5 or 1 mile needed to get to a refuge.

Yep, if your engine suddenly quits, or you get a puncture because of something that came off another vehicle, exactly how far are you going to be able to roll before you run out of momentum?

Quote
before, they were on the hard shoulder and more or less out of harms way

Even that isn't (wasn't) guaranteed. I've just had a look and found this...

24 vehicles crash into stationary cars on the hard shoulder every week

Between three and four vehicles crash into stationary cars on the hard shoulders of major roads every day according to new data

(My emphasis).

What change are you going to have on a motorway where there is *no* hard shoulder? At least a bike is narrow enough that it's less likely to get hit.

Also it's easy enough to get off such that you can get over the safey barrier before someone who's on their phone or daydreaming ploughs into your pride and joy... :(

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The hard shoulder was removed as it is cheaper than building a whole new lane.

What? It was done because it was cheaper than the safer option? Say it isn't so...


Grahamm

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Re: "Smart" motorways, 1 in 10 cameras not working...
« Reply #10 on: 03 November 2021, 05:01:44 pm »
Isn't that the same a saying "we're not going to do anything about this for at least 5 years"?

Not quite, but close...

agricola

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Re: "Smart" motorways, 1 in 10 cameras not working...
« Reply #11 on: 03 November 2021, 08:50:50 pm »


What? It was done because it was cheaper than the safer option? Say it isn't so...


I suspect you know the answer.


In the 90s and noughties, I did a lot of campaigning on local and national issues, including motorway widening. I can confirm that additional lanes AND retention of the hard shoulder was discounted due to costs. In my area, it would have led to a huge compulsory purchase exercise and wholesale demolition of communities. This was the plan put forward by the Highways Agency in the early to mid nineties, indeed some properties locally were purchased and blighted as a result, but the scheme was abandoned, to be replaced with the SMART scheme, which(as previously stated) did not include the vast cost of widening elevated sections and cutting away embankments. Once officially abandoned, the properties appeared on the market and were subsequently sold as dwellings again

beuleux

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Re: "Smart" motorways, 1 in 10 cameras not working...
« Reply #12 on: 03 January 2022, 11:54:07 pm »
In time the smart motorway system will be known as one of the biggest *$#&-ups in the history of the DOT, these days I try to keep my motorway driving to late eve or early hrs, I've spent many years of working life on motorways both on bikes and vans, I can tell you things have got progressively more dangerous especially areas where there is no hard shoulder
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Grahamm

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Re: "Smart" motorways, 1 in 10 cameras not working...
« Reply #13 on: 15 January 2022, 06:27:40 pm »
Smart motorway rollout to be paused as government responds to Transport Committee report

Government pausing the rollout of new all lane running smart motorway schemes until 5 years of safety data is available.

Good!



beuleux

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Re: "Smart" motorways, 1 in 10 cameras not working...
« Reply #14 on: 15 January 2022, 11:32:28 pm »
I've never liked them, a disaster in the making, I don't like them much in the car even less on a bike, try to avoid them if I can but not always possible as the M25 and M1 both have them, whoever had that bright idea in the first place should be sued
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Grahamm

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Re: "Smart" motorways, 1 in 10 cameras not working...
« Reply #15 on: 16 January 2022, 12:49:13 pm »
Unfortunately if you're heading west from Portsmouth and you don't want to get stuck in traffic etc, the M27 is the only option.

Currently there's about 20 miles between J2 and J11 that's being "upgraded", but it's got 50mph average speed cameras all the way down it because they're still working on it and I've literally almost fallen asleep a couple of times because it's so tedious :(