Are Smart Motorways Confusing for Drivers?
Date: Friday, October 25 @ 12:58:31 UTC
Topic:


pocketgpsworld.com
The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, is to review the safety of smart motorways after allegations that they are too confusing for drivers. In the most simplistic terms smart motorways are fairly easy to understand: you have a speed limit of 70mph unless the signs say otherwise. The issues apparently arise over the use of the hard shoulder. On some smart motorways the hard shoulder is always closed and only for emergency use but, during congestion, smart motorway signs may state that the hard should is open for all. On other smart motorways there is no hard shoulder as such with a small orange layby every half a mile or so for emergency use - the smart motorways signs can, however, close the inside lane if needed. All it takes is to look at the signs to see which lanes are open and what the speed limit is - it's not that confusing and we would always recommend being alert to your surroundings when driving.

From a personal point of view, while I am driving on the smart motorways without the hard shoulder I often worry about how safe it would be to stop in the event of a breakdown when you are essentially stopping in an active lane of traffic. While I keep an eye on my surroundings when driving I can only assume, judging by the number of near misses I've seen while driving, that not everyone does... It will be interesting to see the results of the upcoming review and whether they somehow decide that more speed cameras would help...!

Source: BBC News

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