[Soul_Glo]

https://www.inyourarea.co.uk/news/se...s-this-autumn/

[Tengocity]

I mainly use the M4 and M40 and have been enjoying their lack of 'smartness'... knew it had to come eventually :

[....,,,,..,,..]

It's not the smart motorway that is an issue, it's the dumb roadworks it will generate over 2-3 years.

Just look at the M6 Smart Motorway upgrade roadworks.

Living life in the fast lane...well 51mph.

[SkyJawa]

Originally Posted by Brigand

Living life in the fast lane...well 51mph.

51mph? That would be a speed increase for most motorways in the south east during rush hour

[Watsey]

Originally Posted by Brigand

It's not the smart motorway that is an issue, it's the dumb roadworks it will generate over 2-3 years.

Just look at the M6 Smart Motorway upgrade roadworks.

Living life in the fast lane...well 51mph.

Why have roadworks for a year when three will do (nicely, ching ching).

I was in the M3 southbound from the M25 on Wednesday night at around 10pm. 50mph average speed zone, and the motorway was all but deserted. All the Hadecs cameras would have been live of course. Ridiculous.

[chris-c]

Screws my route to work quite nicely. I live just off of junction 11 so this will piss me off for the next few years I'm sure

[Bryans69]

Problem is they are not smart at all. They use historical data, so set limits based on what the traffic may have been at some point in the past, not what it actually is at the time

[stefan4]

definitely more of the train for me then!

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by Bryans69

Problem is they are not smart at all. They use historical data, so set limits based on what the traffic may have been at some point in the past, not what it actually is at the time

And bar the Windsor junction at rush hour the M4 barely has any issues.

[Jeff123]

Originally Posted by SkyJawa

51mph? That would be a speed increase for most motorways in the south east during rush hour

Thats probably true.

The M62/M60 has been going on for 4 years now and on the M62 bit there was an 18 mile stretch that started in 2014 and some of it has re-opened as smart motorway now. Its better than before, but what a price to pay in the meantime. You can NEVER cruise at 50mph through the roadworks, its gruelling and virtually every day a minor accident closes one lane and the others just back up for miles.

[TodmordenLad]

Complete and utter waste of public money

[Wills2]

Smart motorways are a total and utter waste of our money, spending untold millions on not fixing the issue and just handing out speeding tickets is not progress and yet we all seem to accept it.

They are more dangerous than before with speed limits reduced for no reason bunching the traffic up, putting you right along side huge lorries for miles on end, forcing everyone to do nothing but monitor their speed when you should be looking at the road up ahead.

They are nightmare and I cannot believe that people are putting up with it, the M62 was crap before and crap now the only difference is you get the chance to be fined every 400 yds....

[TodmordenLad]

Originally Posted by Wills2

Smart motorways are a total and utter waste of our money, spending untold millions on not fixing the issue and just handing out speeding tickets is not progress and yet we all seem to accept it.

They are more dangerous than before with speed limits reduced for no reason bunching the traffic up, putting you right along side huge lorries for miles on end, forcing everyone to do nothing but monitor their speed when you should be looking at the road up ahead.

They are nightmare and I cannot believe that people are putting up with it, the M62 was crap before and crap now the only difference is you get the chance to be fined every 400 yds....

Yep
It's all about revenue generation. The safety and efficiency arguments are pure bollox

[Wills2]

Originally Posted by TodmordenLad

Yep
It's all about revenue generation. The safety and efficiency arguments are pure bollox

There is a massive industry lobbying hard for this stuff and plenty of NGO's doing the same whilst making the general publics lives more difficult.

The police like them because they don't have to patrol like they used to, the government likes them because they can say there are green and saving lives (which is the biggest lie) The construction industry likes them for the ££££ as do the camera companies, it's like some dystopian nightmare come true.

I was on the M1 on Tuesday near Sheffield clear dry day only a smattering of cars on the road and limit was set at 60mph....pathetic.

[MashinBenzin]

Originally Posted by TodmordenLad

Yep
It's all about revenue generation. The safety and efficiency arguments are pure bollox

Spot on fellas. I suffer the M4/M5 smart motorways around bristol. The years of disruption putting it in were a bloody nightmare and it's made sod all difference. Just driven up the M5 with a 50 limit, traffic crawling at 40 and the smart hard shoulder resolutely closed (and free of any obstruction). Brilliant.

[TodmordenLad]

Originally Posted by Wills2

There is a massive industry lobbying hard for this stuff and plenty of NGO's doing the same whilst making the general publics lives more difficult.

The police like them because they don't have to patrol like they used to, the government likes them because they can say there are green and saving lives (which is the biggest lie) The construction industry likes them for the ££££ as do the camera companies, it's like some dystopian nightmare come true.

I was on the M1 on Tuesday near Sheffield clear dry day only a smattering of cars on the road and limit was set at 60mph....pathetic.

Yep
Safety, my arse. I was on the M20 yesterday in Kent when the variable speed limit suddenly came on and indicated 40. Hardly any warning. People were braking hard and backing up suddenly. It then went back to NSL with a few hundred yards. All because there was a turn off. Absolutely f***ing nuts.

[JustChris]

Another death blow for fast cars.

[chris-c]

Originally Posted by Tengocity

And bar the Windsor junction at rush hour the M4 barely has any issues.

J10 often gets snarled up just before/after during rush hour.

[335d Rocco]

Originally Posted by chris-c

J10 often gets snarled up just before/after during rush hour.

Mainly due to people refusing to leave the motorway from lane 1, people insist on staying in lane 2 until the last second which effectively brings lane 1 & 2 to a standstill. It’s the same at any busy junction on any motorway & no smart motorway is going to cure that.

[Jeff123]

One of the problems is that with smart motorway drivers know that its the yellow cameras that clock you. If its set at 60, most people speed up to 80+ and then slow down to 65 for the cameras. If you drive on a similar stretch each day, you know where the cameras are.

Its pathetic, really. Just slows everyone down at certain points.

[GEP77]

I'm now enduring the start of works on the M23 to make it 'Smart'.

The smartness of the road seems to be rather dependent on whereabouts it happens to be from my experience. The M3 seems particularly dumb, the M25 South East section seems to be reasonable on the whole, and the M1 smart section around Luton has always been fairly sensible in my view.

Moving back to the M23 though, a road that I know intimately well, the issue for most of the road is not actually the number of running lanes. For the vast majority of the time 3 lanes is more than adequate. Congestion is almost entirely down to the junction capacity. Particularly Junction 8 Northbound going onto the Clockwise M25 and Junction 9 Southbound going on to Gatwick Airport. Both of these at peak times can result in very long delays. All Lane running isn't the a solution, in fact it may actually make the problem worse.

One of the main issues is being resolved, and I have to say quite dramatically as well. The M23 Northbound at Junction 8 will go from 3 to 6 lanes, 2 going to each M25 carriageway and 2 continuing North as at the moment. This in my view is actually a very sensible change and could massively reduce delays (typically about 30 mins on a Sunday evening in the Summer for instance, not that I use the M23 then - there are better alternatives but that would be telling).

The other issue is the traffic going to Gatwick Airport. Currently there is a lights controlled roundabout over the M23. This unfortunately will remain! Yesterday morning the queue for this junction caused 7 miles of slow / stationary traffic which cannot possibly be resolved without upgrading the junction to a proper interchange.

[chris-c]

Originally Posted by Uk 330d

Mainly due to people refusing to leave the motorway from lane 1, people insist on staying in lane 2 until the last second which effectively brings lane 1 & 2 to a standstill. It’s the same at any busy junction on any motorway & no smart motorway is going to cure that.

For my 11 -> 10 (morning) route I disagree. It just queues back because everyone slows down far too much to join the A329.