Posted By alex mccreadie


Eddie they are in use on the M42 around Birmingham and I feel they work very well. They are opened and closed with Lane closure signals and policed by cameras to eliminate the lane changing idiots.

I would like to see them on the M4 and M3 London bound and on the M25 in places.

I felt they stopped a lot of congestion.

Ta Alex

Posted By Raymond Rapp
I personally think it is a band-aid remedy and I am not convinced of its long-term safe use. It may work well where there is a 'controlled' section of the motorway, but I fear problems when either emergency vehicles need access or broken down vehicles block the hard shoulder.

Ray

Posted By J Knight
For a friday slant on this see http://newsbiscuit.com/a...lane-is-the-pavement-225

John

Posted By Pete48
Interesting that the Highways Agency website carried a story about breakdowns on motorways earlier this year. Amongst other things it noted that just one TOS (South East at Jct 6-M25) was handling an average of 245 incidents every day, more than half of which were on the motorways. Some 93 per cent of these breakdowns were on the hard shoulder.

I think it is a pity that such a positive safety element of motorway travel is being removed. It has saved my life on more than one occasion.
Anybody want to join the sweepstake for how long before some thoughtless person gets frustrated and starts using the hard shoulder; lets say on the M5 South of Bristol and ploughs into a stationary vehicle at 80 mph?
"Sorry Officer, I thought the rules had changed and we can use the hard shoulder whenever the lane hugging idiots and HGV are in the way."

Posted By Phillip
Accidents have been reduced. People are driving more carefully knowing that if they are involved in a pile up, the emergency service cannot get to them.

Posted By Bob Shillabeer
I drive on the motoway quite a lot as do most others I suppose, but I find that it is not used very often only when it needs to be. I expect the areas where the lane is used at peak times as an additional carriageway it is monitored by CCTV and can be closed off remotely when necessary and drivers instructed to rejoin the main carriageway thus removing any obstructions to emergency vehicles, which incidentally rejoin the main carriageway after the pickup is completed. Anyway it is intended for use only in busy parts of the system not for general use.

Posted By Peter Moran
I spend most of my time driving and working on the UK motorway system in a H&S capacity.

Other countries have utilised the h/s system for some time now notably Holland where it has worked very well (along with 'zip merging' and other measures at roadworks)

I do however share the worries of some other contributors as, on a daily(or increasingly nightly) basis, certain members of the UK travelling public seem to be incapable of reading diversionary signs/obeying 'works traffic only' signs and showing consideration for those of us that have to work in this high-risk environment.

Much of this stems from an inadequate test system containing no motorway element, sheer ignorance and an increasing diminishment in general driving skills exacerbated by a lack of Policing and enforcement.

The M42 pilot has worked well but the system will only be suitable for appropriate networks and will always carry added risk with the generally poor standard of driving in the UK.

Posted By Pete48
Alex, I agree. It often feels like I imagine the Wild West felt 150 years ago.
"There ain't many lawmen out there and the bandits and cow ranchers rule the roost" or so it seems sometimes!

This latest move will improve flow patterns and reduce congestion simply because it increases the "diameter" of the road by at least 25%. Remarkably just like the widening of the M25 and various other motorways did at first.
Why have we thought that a hard shoulder was so essential since the inception of motorways in this country? And what has changed to allow this reduction in safety?
Is it just commercial/political pressure or is there predictive data to support this reduction in the engineered safety of our motorways?

Posted By Dave West
I use the M42 everyday and found that this works great! The people in control of the lanes do a spot on job too. There is a 50mph speed limit but if anything slows you down to a 40mph limit they up it to 60mph further on.

On the M42 they built laybyes every 500 yards or so and it is monitord constantly. In fac i would say the laybyes are safer than th hard shoulder system as it is.

The only problem i see is building these laybyes on areas like the M6 in brum where the motorway is bilt on concrete stansions.