New advice for recovery on smart motorways
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Here’s a car with nowhere to go, classic manoeuvre on a four lane, no hard shoulder stretch of M6.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CpuSvLP7UE4
The lorry driver was shocking, but luckily the car driver kept going, or he would have been rear ended by whatever was filming.
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Discussion on this BBC Radio4 "Today" programme: those choosing to install Smart M-ways were encouraged by the assurance that equipment would spot broken down vehicles within minutes. Current time in reality is up to 30m on the M25 for one.
They were led to expect there would be emergency laybys ( if that's how the plural is spelt!) at short intervals. In fact they're being built much further apart.
The interviewee commented that because they were so short, recovery vehicles had difficulty fitting in, and there was not only no pull-out space left, but they were working while projecting into the live traffic lane.
Death toll on these motorways has measurably risen compared to pre-smart state.
The speaker had been responsible for encouraging their go-ahead originally, but based on what he now regards as false evidence. Now he seriously advised the gov't to at least pause building, and seemed to argue that the "smart" lanes should be switched back to hard shoulder use immediately.
If I hadn't been towards the end of an unusually busy week and preparing to head out to work again I could tell you more accurately the speaker's exact role, and even whether this was today or yesterday, but he sounded like one to be taken seriously.Meanwhile if I'm in the "slowest" lane I work to keep a good gap in front of me, and will be working to keep it longer now.
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Not sure who was the man on Radio 4 today Hedgehurst, but on TV t'other evening the man who actually gave the Go Ahead for the expansion of the Smart System was holding forth, quite angrily !!.
He was saying that the information they were given was based on the M42 where Emergency Lay-Bys were at 600 yard spacing, etc etc.
But the Highways Agency had used adjusted plans where the laybys were at anything up to two and a half mile spacing. I think we can, all of us, understand that he was not best pleased that he was likely to be in the sights of some stroppy political point scorers !!
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Sounds very like the same gent. Thanks for being more thorough, ABM!
As I said, it's an unusually busy time for me and I was attempting to multitask while listening.... something the smart motorways do even less successfully than me, it seems.1 -
It is a great idea when using a "smart" motorway to increase the size of the gap between oneself and the vehicle in front. Unfortunately this usually means that three vehicles pull in to the space instead of the two one attracts on a "dumb" motorway.
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I have only had two 'catastrophic' breakdowns and thankfully on neither occasion was I on lane 4 of a 'smart' motorway.
One was around 45 years ago in the third lane when the engine blew. I was doing around 70 mph when a bolt came undone on a crankshaft bearing, the conrod went out through the sump and rear wheels locked. I dropped the clutch and coasted across the next two lanes onto the hard shoulder.
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We drive on local roads and get on at a lower junction, cuts “Smart” distance down. I would rather not have the hassle.
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Near impossible to do on a Smart motorway ET. If something didn’t get you crossing the lanes, you would get rear ended in lane one. ☹️
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Think I might, just might, cuddle my piggy bank and head to the N E C soon to look at different PVC vans . I rather fancy one where the Toilet compartment is in the middle as opposed to being at the rear where it is on my Jazz.. Well if I read the info correctly I would be expected to sit in the 'van while I wait for the Breakdown services
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One was around 45 years ago in the third lane when the engine blew. I was doing around 70 mph when a bolt came undone on a crankshaft bearing, the conrod went out through the sump and rear wheels locked.
On the M6 the way it used to be going up Shap I was looking in the rear view mirror and thinking that the weather must be changing fast as it had become very dark behind. Then on came the oil light and the expensive noises. Traffic was very quiet so despite the incline I was able to make the hard shoulder where I sat totally enveloped in a blue/black cloud. No chance now with all lanes runing and folk behind not able to see something in the black cloud.
[I rebuilt that engine with much skimming of the head and shortening of valve stems only for it to be stolen a few days after being back on the road before I could get the advert in Autotrader]
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Posted on 02/02/2020 15:31 by [Deleted User User]I set the adaptive cruise control to maintain a gap of 1.1 seconds.
That's not a big enough gap DD, never heard of the 2 second rule at any speed on any roadSometimes it’s better to say nothing.
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DT, can I ask if you would mind using the quote button please, or at the very least putting your copy and paste quotes in inverted commas when you post other folks' words?
It would be a great help as it’s often difficult to work out what you’re saying and what's already been said by other posters. Thanks! 👍🏻
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The M62 between Manchester and Liverpool is being altered at the moment to a so called "Smart Motorway" and it has been reported that there will be NO cameras. That's not smart, that's corporate failure for our safety.
I have put the telephone number for Highways England 0300 123 5000 in my mobile phone contact list, with a letter A in front so it appears at the top of my list and is easy to find.
If I dial treble nine the Police don't have any patrols on the motorway, and will simply pass my details to Highways England, more delay?
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I doubt you would even get connected Nuggy quite frankly. It took 56 seconds for an HGV to plough into the back of a car that had broken down on M6. Poor little boy killed instantly. Statistics are absolutely shocking.
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The 2-second rule. As the car in front passes a fixed point, such as a sign or a bridge, start to say 'only a fool breaks the 2-second rule' at a normal rate. The phrase takes about 2 seconds to say, so if you pass the same fixed point before you've finished saying it, you're too close and should leave more room.22 May 2014
https://www.gov.uk › news › highw...
Highways Agency warns tailgaters that 'only a fool breaks the 2-second rule' - GOV.UKQuote min distance @ 55 mph 3 sec.
4 secs if wet.
So glad we have such knowledgeable people to keep us informed of fake news by government.
thanks DD.
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If Volvo advise that 1.1 second gives a safe distance at any speed one has to concede to greater knowledge, if following their advice led to injury it could leave them open to some sort of claim.
Also could it not cause some sort rear end impact as not all vehicles are so equipped and unless all use the same rules could it be dangerous? as it removes human reaction/ action time for those following, not sure?
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If you can read the small print on the numberplate, you're too close.
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Given this tech is still in its infancy, I would want to set it a greater time spacing than 1.1 seconds. At least that would give me a chance of stopping if it failed to react. The human is the one responsible for the reactions of the car, at the moment at any rate.
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and the only problem I can see is the lack of trust shown by the driver / passengers.
I can't say I'm surprised. As you can see from my post I would be sceptical about trusting its full potential. Having tech fail / lock up on you is still fairly common, until that changes I think folk will remain uncertain.
Just a thought, do these systems have any redundancy built in like those in planes / space craft?
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