"Smart motorways" - or are they?
Like all drivers who occasionally have to use motorways I have been concerned by what I hear about the accident rates on so-called "Smart Motorways" and particularly the "Dynamic" kind where the same lane is sometimes a hard shoulder and sometimes an active lane.
I've had the experience of breaking down at midnight on a section of the M6 without streetlights or a hard shoulder and not being able to get the car onto a refuge. I and my passenger had to get out, get on the other side of the barrier, and call the police - and I was convinced that the car was going to be flattened before they got there. Fortunately for everyone concerned we got out and behind the barrier safely and the police arrived before any of the HGVs which were passing at 70mph converted my car into metal splinters.
It was, however, an extremely frightening experience and I must confess I have never been so glad to see a police car in the whole of my time as a motorist.
Grant Shapps, the Secretary of State for Transport has, in my opinion done exactly the right thing by setting up an inquiry, to look at the evidence and report urgently with recommendations, into the safety of these systems for managing motorways to establish which is the safest form of motorway and what can be done to make the travelling public as safe as possible.
I've had the experience of breaking down at midnight on a section of the M6 without streetlights or a hard shoulder and not being able to get the car onto a refuge. I and my passenger had to get out, get on the other side of the barrier, and call the police - and I was convinced that the car was going to be flattened before they got there. Fortunately for everyone concerned we got out and behind the barrier safely and the police arrived before any of the HGVs which were passing at 70mph converted my car into metal splinters.
It was, however, an extremely frightening experience and I must confess I have never been so glad to see a police car in the whole of my time as a motorist.
Grant Shapps, the Secretary of State for Transport has, in my opinion done exactly the right thing by setting up an inquiry, to look at the evidence and report urgently with recommendations, into the safety of these systems for managing motorways to establish which is the safest form of motorway and what can be done to make the travelling public as safe as possible.
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