Until the driving public are sufficiently educated (never going to happen), then there has to be better monitoring of smart motorways. I was surprised to learn that monitoring is often non-existent, as I thought that was a condition of smart motorways.
That is the bit where government (both parties) has been derelict. As soon as these things started to go live there should have been telly ads/public information films and a fully updated Highway Code to explain how they work.
There should have been a focus on exactly what the red cross means; it's like a red traffic light and passing it is an absolute offence. Same with breakdowns or 'fender bender' accidents; get to a refuge.
It isn't just that - I and others think that the system was implemented years, perhaps decades before the technology and backup was anywhere near ready - it was obvious from previous commmitte meetings - as I explained to you in a thread a year or two ago when I watched an entire meeting.
If you are going to change a way of doing something and in a substantive way (as this is), the explanations and training come before implementing it.
One of major flaws in the scheme- one which thus far I cannot ever see being fixed, is how do you teach foreign drivers, especially HGV drivers, who are not based in the UK these new ways? It's not as though the UK authorities know who will be coming in and from where all over Europe, and no way can we afford to train every foreign driver.
We see in reports on so many occasions where foreign drivers (and us the other way around) don't know the rules of the road, so what hope is there when some roads have this, rule, others that, and no training is provided?
How can those civil servants saying the programme should keep going justify their argument? How can you? I'd put good money on you thinking differently if you found yourself with loved ones in your car in a live line in heavy traffic, perhaps bad weather and/or the dark, sitting in a broken down (including flat tyre) car hoping that the Highways system/people do their jobs within seconds AND that everyHGV driver is paying attention.
It would certainly scare the living daylights out of me relying on 100% of all traffic to see me and take avoiding action, assuming the gantry systems worked - which they often don't( or quickly enough)
At least with the hard shoulder, no-one apart from broken down and pulled over vehicles SHOULD be there, plus you can far more easily get to safety out of your vehicle. Being able to make it 800m (or even half that) to a (short) refuge that may already be occupied is not my idea of a safe way of stopping, especially if you're in the middle and outside lane and cannot coast for a long distance.
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