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Newbury Today Forum _ Newbury News _ Smart roads/ not so smart designers of.

Posted by: SirWilliam Jul 4 2018, 06:56 PM

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-44711454

So the powers that be are proposing to invest eight hundred odd million of taxpayers spare cash on upgrading the M4 to "smart" status. This is all very well but the inclusion that worries me is that breakdown area will be 1.6 miles apart. Now call me old fashioned but surely when a car breaks down the best one can hope for is to coast safely to the side of the road. In order to travel one and a half miles one would need to be travelling at close to 140 mph in order to freewheel to a safe harbour and that is assuming you still have steering and a traffic free carriageway.
On a plus side, it is going to be from junction 12 heading east. rolleyes.gif

Posted by: On the edge Jul 5 2018, 08:49 AM

QUOTE (SirWilliam @ Jul 4 2018, 07:56 PM) *
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-44711454

So the powers that be are proposing to invest eight hundred odd million of taxpayers spare cash on upgrading the M4 to "smart" status. This is all very well but the inclusion that worries me is that breakdown area will be 1.6 miles apart. Now call me old fashioned but surely when a car breaks down the best one can hope for is to coast safely to the side of the road. In order to travel one and a half miles one would need to be travelling at close to 140 mph in order to freewheel to a safe harbour and that is assuming you still have steering and a traffic free carriageway.
On a plus side, it is going to be from junction 12 heading east. rolleyes.gif


It's just cost; we can't afford to do anything else. M4 badly conjested and recent announcement that Heathrow's extension (agreed for much the same reason) gets the green light meant 'they' had to do something.

The UK's economic position is like that of the retired couple, still living in the old family home on which they released the equity. They also cashed in some of their private pension a few years back. Things getting a bit shabby and outlook bleak. So perhaps that big Landie and the 'World' cruise were 't such good ideas after all.

Posted by: Strafin Jul 5 2018, 10:15 AM

We have loads of smart motorways where I live and I travel on them all the time. Nothing Smart about them, they are a complete waste of time and money and are just as congested as they were before. Safety wise, if there is a breakdown they just close that lane and it happens almost immediately so I wouldn't worry too much about that.

Posted by: motormad Jul 10 2018, 10:31 PM

QUOTE (Strafin @ Jul 5 2018, 11:15 AM) *
We have loads of smart motorways where I live and I travel on them all the time. Nothing Smart about them, they are a complete waste of time and money and are just as congested as they were before. Safety wise, if there is a breakdown they just close that lane and it happens almost immediately so I wouldn't worry too much about that.


The idea of smart motorway is to increase traffic flow by adding another lane.
But people can't drive in 3 lanes correctly, let alone 4...... like you say it ends up just as bad as it was before.

Posted by: On the edge Jul 11 2018, 08:07 AM

QUOTE (motormad @ Jul 10 2018, 11:31 PM) *
The idea of smart motorway is to increase traffic flow by adding another lane.
But people can't drive in 3 lanes correctly, let alone 4...... like you say it ends up just as bad as it was before.


Yep, minimal for electoral reasons, but anything more would be wasted. Surely the future will be driverless electric vehicles? Personally, can't wait, the sooner the better.

Posted by: SirWilliam Jul 11 2018, 10:48 AM

QUOTE (On the edge @ Jul 11 2018, 09:07 AM) *
Yep, minimal for electoral reasons, but anything more would be wasted. Surely the future will be driverless electric vehicles? Personally, can't wait, the sooner the better.


Surely a vehicle on the road is a vehicle? The driver /passenger is irrelevant to the congestion. The answer is to leave the self-driving blocks of iron to their own gridlocked dystopia and we all use bicycles. This way it won't matter a jot if BMW close Cowley or the Middle East runs out of crude.
"I have seen the future and it ain't that good". wink.gif

Posted by: Strafin Jul 11 2018, 02:47 PM

Driverless vehicles will help loads. They will stick in the proper lane for starters. You could put 40 lanes in but if everyone stays on the right the queues stay as they are.

Posted by: spartacus Aug 5 2018, 07:14 PM

QUOTE (Strafin @ Jul 5 2018, 11:15 AM) *
We have loads of smart motorways where I live and I travel on them all the time. Nothing Smart about them, they are a complete waste of time and money and are just as congested as they were before. Safety wise, if there is a breakdown they just close that lane and it happens almost immediately so I wouldn't worry too much about that.
Agreed. Smart Motorways provide an extra lane by freeing up the lane that lies dormant for 98% of it's life. The overhead gantries will smartly tell motorists the lane is blocked if there's a breakdon.

Conveniently, those same overhead gantries are strong enough to hold a whole array of speed cameras. The Smart Motorway will pay for itself soon enough..

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