Smart Motorways!

[Swango1980]

You are right, and I've been arguing it for ages.
This ingrained British idea that the lane on your right is for going faster in- always.!
That is why many people ( and , at present, the Law)will still condemn the motorist doing the max speed limit in any lane when there is an unused lane on his left. Doesn't seem to register that
Anyone going faster is breaking the law!
This mentality is best seen on urban dual carriageways which has a speed limit of say, 40 or 50. Drive at that limit in the right hand lane and soon there is someone tailgating and flashing you to get out of his "overtaking" lane.

What do these people think will happen when driverless cars are on the road in abundance(I'll be too old to see that , I think).? Those cars will never break the speed limit and drivers that do will by then be identified and sorted at whatever place on the road they are at. ( satellite tracking).Speeding will be almost extinct?!

I cannot understand the rationale of this British hatred of undertaking.
Most Countries with Roads with multiple lanes permit and expect undertaking. The British need the Law and the motorist to disenthrall themselves and do the same

Having said that, I do not agree with "smart "motorways. The hard shoulder had an important, vital even, function as a safety feature and to facilitate emergency action. That requirement has not changed. The hard shoulder should remain.

It seems interesting that some people are so quick to criticise the "British Way" of driving, and how this is part of the problem. I don't necessarily have enough information to say you are wrong, but do you have any evidence to say you are right?

I have just seen statistics that suggest UK is the 7th safest country in the world to drive according to road fatalities per 1000,000 inhabitants, and 6th safest place to drive according to road fatalities per 100,000 vehicles (5.7 deaths). Ahead of them is San Marino (1.8 deaths), Norway (3 deaths), Switzerland (3.7 deaths), Sweden (4.6 deaths) and Finland (5 deaths). The Scandinavian counties are obviously doing well, but it seems like the UK are not embarrassing themselves. Incidentally, Germany 12th with 6.4 deaths, Australia 15th with 7.4 deaths, USA 34th with 14.2 deaths.

Places to avoid: Somalia (6532.5 deaths per 100,000 vehicles), Central African Republic (4484.4 deaths), Togo (3653.4 deaths), Rwanda (3521.1 deaths), Madagascar (2963 deaths). In actual fact, avoid mainland Africa generally, Libya has the safest roads in Africa, but with a death rate of 46.3.

Here we are, moaning that we can't undertake. Maybe we just don't appreciate how good we have it in comparison to other nations. I wonder what they are discussing on Somalian forums regarding their road safety? I bet they'd love a bit of consistency in a dedicated overtake lane

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Good luck with that with the standard of driving here.
But if people don’t dawdle in the lanes it would not be nessesary.
We can be doing the speed limit but we like golf have no right to stop someone going faster if that’s what they want to do.

If someone is dawdling i just wait until they get out of the way. The stuff about you having a ‘right’ to go faster - and so you can break the law - really? And if the dawdler is doing 70?

 

[Fade and Die]

It seems interesting that some people are so quick to criticise the "British Way" of driving, and how this is part of the problem. I don't necessarily have enough information to say you are wrong, but do you have any evidence to say you are right?

I have just seen statistics that suggest UK is the 7th safest country in the world to drive according to road fatalities per 1000,000 inhabitants, and 6th safest place to drive according to road fatalities per 100,000 vehicles (5.7 deaths). Ahead of them is San Marino (1.8 deaths), Norway (3 deaths), Switzerland (3.7 deaths), Sweden (4.6 deaths) and Finland (5 deaths). The Scandinavian counties are obviously doing well, but it seems like the UK are not embarrassing themselves. Incidentally, Germany 12th with 6.4 deaths, Australia 15th with 7.4 deaths, USA 34th with 14.2 deaths.

Places to avoid: Somalia (6532.5 deaths per 100,000 vehicles), Central African Republic (4484.4 deaths), Togo (3653.4 deaths), Rwanda (3521.1 deaths), Madagascar (2963 deaths). In actual fact, avoid mainland Africa generally, Libya has the safest roads in Africa, but with a death rate of 46.3.

Here we are, moaning that we can't undertake. Maybe we just don't appreciate how good we have it in comparison to other nations. I wonder what they are discussing on Somalian forums regarding their road safety? I bet they'd love a bit of consistency in a dedicated overtake lane

Its mainly just Piracy and getting your AK47 custom fitted.

 

[clubchamp98]

If someone is dawdling i just wait until they get out of the way. The stuff about you having a ‘right’ to go faster - and so you can break the law - really? And if the dawdler is doing 70?

I never said a right to go faster I said “we have no right to stop someone else”
If they want to break the law that’s up to them.
Even doing 70mph you should not hold anyone up if they wish to go faster.
That’s the polices job!

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I never said a right to go faster I said “we have no right to stop someone else”
If they want to break the law that’s up to them.
Even doing 70mph you should not hold anyone up if they wish to go faster.
That’s the polices job!

Sorry - I misunderstood ...

We can be doing the speed limit but we like golf have no right to stop someone going faster if that’s what they want to do.

And you have surely no right to break the speed limit.

Why not just wait...and not break the law or create a risk to other road users (as you cannot always predict what other road users will do).

 

[clubchamp98]

Sorry - I misunderstood ...

We can be doing the speed limit but we like golf have no right to stop someone going faster if that’s what they want to do.

And you have surely no right to break the speed limit.

Why not just wait...and not break the law or create a risk to other road users (as you cannot always predict what other road users will do).

Other people can do what they want 100+ If they like .
I just don’t get in their way !

 

[Jamesbrown]

I always keep to the left when not overtaking and find myself overtaking on the left. The closer I get further down the M1 the driving gets worse. Southerners can’t drive.

 

[USER1999]

I would drive at two trillion miles an hour if I could. I just would. Please just get out of my way, and we will all be happy. I will be happy zipping by, and every one else will be happy tutting as I go past. Sorted. Can't see the problem.

 

[Blue in Munich]

Sorry - I misunderstood ...

We can be doing the speed limit but we like golf have no right to stop someone going faster if that’s what they want to do.

And you have surely no right to break the speed limit.

Why not just wait...and not break the law or create a risk to other road users (as you cannot always predict what other road users will do).

How do you know that? What is the car; who are the occupants; what is it being used for? Does that vehicle or driver have no right to break the speed limit...

 

[Swango1980]

I would drive at two trillion miles an hour if I could. I just would. Please just get out of my way, and we will all be happy. I will be happy zipping by, and every one else will be happy tutting as I go past. Sorted. Can't see the problem.

You can't and you wouldn't. That would be faster than the speed of light, and you can't travel faster than the speed of light as your mass would become infinite as you approach that speed.

However, long before you reach that speed, and probably long before you reach 200-300 mph, you'd probably be squashed up against a wall as you failed to negotiate a gentle bend

 

[USER1999]

You can't and you wouldn't. That would be faster than the speed of light, and you can't travel faster than the speed of light as your mass would become infinite as you approach that speed.

However, long before you reach that speed, and probably long before you reach 200-300 mph, you'd probably be squashed up against a wall as you failed to negotiate a gentle bend

True, but I reserve the right to try.

 

[USER1999]

Having driven round the M25 and up and down the M3 laot over the past year, I do have a few comments.
The variable limit is there as a random money maker.
The refuge areas are insufficient in a real emergency.
The speed limits are not there to reduce congestion.
People with cloned plates can ignore all speed limits, and have zero chance of getting caught.

 

[SocketRocket]

Smart motorways with no hard shoulder are death traps, imagine breaking down in the inside lane between refuge areas with trucks coming at you. The inside lanes need closing down now until a better system is put in place.

 

[stefanovic]

yet when you get to the gantry with the camera on it, funnily enough the reduced limit isn't displayed on the overheads.
Its another tax, and has sod all to do with congestion, casualty reduction or any other made up rubbish.

Similar to my experience on the M42 last July.
6.40 pm with virtually no traffic in front and some gantry signs not working I was done for driving at 70mph. £100 fine and 3 points.
Next time I drove past I had difficulty even spotting the camera, as it was partially hidden on the side of the gantry.
The technology comes from Australia and I don't think it's reliable because it doesn't know if the signs are even working.
There is also likely to be a tailgating heavy lorry behind which is illegal but never picked up on.