Safe Speed Forums

Motorists will be allowed to drive on the hard shoulder of motorways during busy times, Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly is expected to confirm.
The "extra lane" scheme will roll out nationally following the success of a trial on the M42 in the West Midlands.

It is intended to ease morning and evening rush-hour bottlenecks.

Sensors detect traffic build-up, which trigger signs asking drivers to spread out. Reports suggest the scheme will be introduced in the next two years.

During the trial, a 50mph speed limit was imposed while the "extra lanes" were in operation.

The report on the M42 trial is expected to show a 13% increase in capacity and a drop in pollution.

It will also say that journey times north have been cut by up to 25%.

The BBC understands the system will be extended to the M6 near Birmingham at a cost of £150m. The M40 will also be included.

Other roads to be considered include the M1, M25, M4 and M20.

Nowhere to stop

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) said it had reservations about the changes when they were first introduced on the M42, near Birmingham.

Kevin Clinton, from RoSPA, said: "We were concerned that if the hard shoulder is used as a running lane, if there was a major crash it may take the emergency services longer to get there.

"Or when someone breaks down, they may not be able to get their vehicle out of the running lane."

But Graham Bowskill, from the Highways Agency, told the BBC that the hard shoulder would not be opened to traffic if there was a broken down vehicle on it. [Can the system foretell such things?]

"We do actually have cameras that are constantly monitoring to see whether there are any parked vehicles," Mr Bowskill said.

At the same time, we've built additional safety features into the scheme.

"There are emergency refuges approximately every 500 metres along this section of motorway and that's where people can park safely if they break down." [If a vehicle was drivable would the driver simply not stop?]

The BBC's Nicola Pearson said the M42 trial found that lowering the speed limit when the hard shoulder was open significantly reduced accidents.

Paul Watters, head of roads policy at the AA, said the M42 trial appeared to be working well although it had so far not been tested by a major incident. [Looks like they may have been lucky so far]

"It's a much more comfortable experience [for drivers]. They travel slower, but get to their journey destination quicker," he said.

Mr Watters said his organisation backed the expansion if it was done "for the right reasons and in the right manner".

"We wouldn't support just taking the hard shoulder away."

And he added: "There is a risk that rolling it out nationally there could be skimping which would be counter-productive and even dangerous."

I guess that the real reason why this project is a "success" is that when you spend over a hundred million (i can't find the actual cost at the moment) on an experiment, you make damn sure that it won't "fail"!!

mb

The report on the M42 trial has shown a reduction in journey times north by up to 25% ...

...funny that they don't mention any reduction in journey times south?????



mb

Not sure which of the topics on this to ressurrect, just been reading an article on this in "Thinking Highways"

The next phase is m6/m42/m40 and adds an extra 34km of hard shoulder running, with vsl on a further 20km, with the first stage due to be opertational (for testing) in December.

Interestingly, unlike the current m42 set up the hard shoulder running includes running through the junction, which seems better in many respects but also rather challenging !

And as an interesting aside - there's no way ,under normal circumstances that the concept of fixed cameras on motorways could/would be introduced /tolerated - but bring in hard shoulder use ( as a cheapskate way of adding another lane ) and "in the interests of safety " -all is possible .

I've never noticed any discernable improvement, although a friend claims he has.

I do notice the East/Northbound M42 backing up on entry to the section and I notice that the VSL seems to be in place long after the congestion has dissapated, presumably this is a mechanism to claw back the £100m.

The cameras create an active source of funding.

But Graham Bowskill, from the Highways Agency, told the BBC that the hard shoulder would not be opened to traffic if there was a broken down vehicle on it. [Can the system foretell such things?]

"We do actually have cameras that are constantly monitoring to see whether there are any parked vehicles," Mr Bowskill said.

So this will require there to be spy cameras watching us on every single bit of motorway....

already are.

Not every bit.
Also why aren't we fighting this?

because that kind of intelligent traffic management is actually quite a good idea ?

because that kind of intelligent traffic management is actually quite a good idea ?