wisdom Posted January 6, 2018 Report Share Posted January 6, 2018 Travelling down a length of smart motorway everyone was moving along fine.Speed limits above carriageway seemed to be working.All 4 lanes were in use. However what happens if you have a breakdown or puncture.I know there are emergency refuse points.But what happens if you'e not near one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old'un Posted January 6, 2018 Report Share Posted January 6, 2018 (edited) You just pull onto the hard shoulder and a central control centre shuts that lane down. There you go…….https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/driving-advice/all-you-need-to-know-about-smart-motorways/ Edited January 6, 2018 by old'un Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lloyd90 Posted January 6, 2018 Report Share Posted January 6, 2018 What’s a smart motorway? is it just when it says “Congestion - use hard shoulder” when it gets busy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
team tractor Posted January 6, 2018 Report Share Posted January 6, 2018 6 minutes ago, Lloyd90 said: What’s a smart motorway? is it just when it says “Congestion - use hard shoulder” when it gets busy? The speeds adjust to suit the conditions. If they have ques in front it drops the speed about . clever and really good on the m42 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wb123 Posted January 6, 2018 Report Share Posted January 6, 2018 24 minutes ago, Lloyd90 said: What’s a smart motorway? is it just when it says “Congestion - use hard shoulder” when it gets busy? Adjustable speed limits to improve flow and in some places hardshoulder use. Vastly cheaper than rebuilding with an extra lane or two, but needs monitoring so the hardshoulder can be shut when people break down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12gauge82 Posted January 6, 2018 Report Share Posted January 6, 2018 I've found them useless to be fair, I've noticed no huge improvement at rush hour and have found they enforce ridiculously low speed limits at times when there's no need, for instance on the M4 near Newport I've seen 20mph speed limit at 5 in the morning because workers were on the other side of the motorway, that leads to you nearly getting rear ended by people ignoring the speed limit coming up behind you so your left with the option of getting hit or getting a speeding ticket by one of the cameras hidden behind the grantries Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fern01 Posted January 6, 2018 Report Share Posted January 6, 2018 Is it legal for lorries to use three lanes on these roads to do their +1mph for several miles overtaking manoeuvres? I see this quite a bit and it really cancels out the extra lane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
team tractor Posted January 6, 2018 Report Share Posted January 6, 2018 1 hour ago, 12gauge82 said: I've found them useless to be fair, I've noticed no huge improvement at rush hour and have found they enforce ridiculously low speed limits at times when there's no need, for instance on the M4 near Newport I've seen 20mph speed limit at 5 in the morning because workers were on the other side of the motorway, that leads to you nearly getting rear ended by people ignoring the speed limit coming up behind you so your left with the option of getting hit or getting a speeding ticket by one of the cameras hidden behind the grantries Try using the m42 . It used to be stop start to Birmingham but I can drive Tamworth to Solihull in 20 mins at 9am . It’s shocking as that’s fast. Anything up to 2hours in the past . I admit sometimes you want to overtake and can’t because of getting a ticket /points but it means missing the junction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12gauge82 Posted January 7, 2018 Report Share Posted January 7, 2018 Obviously works there then, but my experience of them hasn't been great at times and in my opinion to the point of being dangours on rare occasions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
team tractor Posted January 7, 2018 Report Share Posted January 7, 2018 19 hours ago, 12gauge82 said: Obviously works there then, but my experience of them hasn't been great at times and in my opinion to the point of being dangours on rare occasions I think using the hard shoulder is daft tho. No escape lane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12gauge82 Posted January 8, 2018 Report Share Posted January 8, 2018 13 hours ago, team tractor said: I think using the hard shoulder is daft tho. No escape lane Agreed, I have defiantly found "smart" motorways to be dangours motorways on occasion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve d Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 I was always taught to have an escape route/lane on either side of me should the **** hit the fan, if the hard shoulder is already in use it makes it more dangerous imo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oowee Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 Still so much safer than ordinary roads. Traffic should be going all the same way, no sharp bends a barrier between opposing flows. 3 minutes ago, steve d said: I was always taught to have an escape route/lane on either side of me should the **** hit the fan, if the hard shoulder is already in use it makes it more dangerous imo On 1/8/2018 at 09:30, 12gauge82 said: Agreed, I have defiantly found "smart" motorways to be dangours motorways on occasion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yod dropper Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 On the variable speed limits: I remember seeing and working out the cause of the wave effect caused when somebody would brake. It was later found through modelling and formal observation that this wave effect could travel back several miles which is what caused the apparently random stop/ start, brake/ acceleration we used to experience all the time. Remember that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triumphant59 Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 On 6 January 2018 at 20:57, 12gauge82 said: I've found them useless to be fair, I've noticed no huge improvement at rush hour and have found they enforce ridiculously low speed limits at times when there's no need, for instance on the M4 near Newport I've seen 20mph speed limit at 5 in the morning because workers were on the other side of the motorway, that leads to you nearly getting rear ended by people ignoring the speed limit coming up behind you so your left with the option of getting hit or getting a speeding ticket by one of the cameras hidden behind the grantries Totally agree, they slow traffic down, cause accidents and have only one purpose, speeding fines!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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