The future of smart motorways

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Glom
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Re: The future of smart motorways

Post by Glom »

Was your daughter okay?
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ManomayLR
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Re: The future of smart motorways

Post by ManomayLR »

I feel like there should be DHS opened as a HOV lane. Lots of you will say that’s even more ambiguous but all we need is alternating MS4 messages:
Hard shoulder
for HOV 2+
only
And
HOV 2+ is
2 or more
persons per
vehicle only
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bart
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Re: The future of smart motorways

Post by bart »

HOV/Carpool lanes used to be 3+ in some US cities but they got very little use and people complained about the waste so they were reduced to 2+. Which led one comedian (I forget who) to comment that "Two people in a car isn't a carpool, it's a date."
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ManomayLR
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Re: The future of smart motorways

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bart wrote: Fri Jan 04, 2019 23:16 HOV/Carpool lanes used to be 3+ in some US cities but they got very little use and people complained about the waste so they were reduced to 2+. Which led one comedian (I forget who) to comment that "Two people in a car isn't a carpool, it's a date."
That's why I don't like the word carpool, and HOV doesn't seem to fit it either. I think they should be called MOV (multiple occupancy) if it's 2+ and HOV (high occupancy) if it's 3+.
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ManomayLR
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Re: The future of smart motorways

Post by ManomayLR »

But still HOV 2+ lanes work, and may help to bring some purpose to a running hard shoulder. Less vehicles buys time for any occupants of a broken down vehicle to escape. And MS4s can vary from 2+ to 3+ and then possibly to buses/coaches/NationalExpress only if the traffic is too bad.
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Re: The future of smart motorways

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Glom wrote: Fri Jan 04, 2019 11:36 Was your daughter okay?
Yes thanks - she randomly sprayed the back with what seemed buckets of sick the first time so that was fun trying to clean/change her and her seat on the HS (age 3). Second time turned out she had a chest infection hence the horrendous coughing fit which I’d thought was choking (their mother opts not to pass that kind of info on!).

I’ve also pulled over numerous times for “daddy I need a wee” and “daddy my wee is coming out” (which can vary from them short-term panicking and obsessing on something they can hold for an hour, to it is actually happening!). I guess refuges would work for that - services intervals don’t with kids that young! Someone told me you aren’t supposed to stop on HS for wees but they (and probably the rule writer) haven’t had to deal with a wee &/or poo aftermath in a car! In the rain I’ve stopped under overbridges - noisy!

Fortunately they are pretty good going before trips and holding it, but with the hot summer we had, I was pumping water in them to keep them hydrated.
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M4 Cardiff
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Re: The future of smart motorways

Post by M4 Cardiff »

The other night I was coming back from seeing some friends in Leeds and there was a vehicle stopped in Lane 1 of the smart section just south of Lofthouse on the M1. Must have just happened as there were no messages on the MS4s. Unfortunately the breakdown was on a viaduct, so the car occupants had nowhere to go. Must have been terrifying!
Fair enough, they were really unlucky to have come to a stop where they did, and I appreciate that bridges cannot cheaply be widened, but at least if there had been an intermittent HS before the viaduct, they may have chosen to stop earlier and safely rather than hope they could get to the next refuge with the car to just wait for it to fail where it did.
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Ruperts Trooper
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Re: The future of smart motorways

Post by Ruperts Trooper »

marconaf wrote: Sun Jan 06, 2019 22:39
Glom wrote: Fri Jan 04, 2019 11:36 Was your daughter okay?
Yes thanks - she randomly sprayed the back with what seemed buckets of sick the first time so that was fun trying to clean/change her and her seat on the HS (age 3). Second time turned out she had a chest infection hence the horrendous coughing fit which I’d thought was choking (their mother opts not to pass that kind of info on!).

I’ve also pulled over numerous times for “daddy I need a wee” and “daddy my wee is coming out” (which can vary from them short-term panicking and obsessing on something they can hold for an hour, to it is actually happening!). I guess refuges would work for that - services intervals don’t with kids that young! Someone told me you aren’t supposed to stop on HS for wees but they (and probably the rule writer) haven’t had to deal with a wee &/or poo aftermath in a car! In the rain I’ve stopped under overbridges - noisy!

Fortunately they are pretty good going before trips and holding it, but with the hot summer we had, I was pumping water in them to keep them hydrated.
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Berk
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Re: The future of smart motorways

Post by Berk »

More Smart Motorway sections to be rolled out as network doubles...

‘Unsafe’ hard shoulder to be removed from roads

I like the way HE are trying to twist it back round, now claiming the presence of hard shoulders makes them unsafe...
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ScottB5411
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Re: The future of smart motorways

Post by ScottB5411 »

That is utter nonsense and totally untrue, someone needs holding to account for that. All so they can widen on the cheap :@
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odlum
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Re: The future of smart motorways

Post by odlum »

:lol: How the hell is having a hard shoulder unsafe?
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nowster
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Re: The future of smart motorways

Post by nowster »

It's a tactic straight out of 1984...
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Re: The future of smart motorways

Post by WHBM »

Berk wrote: Mon Apr 08, 2019 01:20 I like the way HE are trying to twist it back round, now claiming the presence of hard shoulders makes them unsafe...
What an absolute disgrace. Presumably sneaked through while Grayling is occupied with other government events.
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Re: The future of smart motorways

Post by Chris Bertram »

WHBM wrote: Mon Apr 08, 2019 09:27
Berk wrote: Mon Apr 08, 2019 01:20 I like the way HE are trying to twist it back round, now claiming the presence of hard shoulders makes them unsafe...
What an absolute disgrace. Presumably sneaked through while Grayling is occupied with other government events learning how to tie his shoelaces.
FTFY :D
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Re: The future of smart motorways

Post by Helvellyn »

ScottB5411 wrote: Mon Apr 08, 2019 05:06 That is utter nonsense and totally untrue, someone needs holding to account for that. All so they can widen on the cheap :@
Most of the bit I can read of that makes it sound like they're just a week late in publishing that story. Are we sure it's not an April Fool that's slipped through the net?
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Re: The future of smart motorways

Post by ScottB5411 »

Helvellyn wrote: Mon Apr 08, 2019 09:48
ScottB5411 wrote: Mon Apr 08, 2019 05:06 That is utter nonsense and totally untrue, someone needs holding to account for that. All so they can widen on the cheap :@
Most of the bit I can read of that makes it sound like they're just a week late in publishing that story. Are we sure it's not an April Fool that's slipped through the net?
It'd be a very poor choice of April fool tbh
How about some more beans Mr. Taggart?
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Helvellyn
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Re: The future of smart motorways

Post by Helvellyn »

ScottB5411 wrote: Mon Apr 08, 2019 10:00 It'd be a very poor choice of April fool tbh
It reads like one though.
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A303Chris
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Re: The future of smart motorways

Post by A303Chris »

Berk wrote: Mon Apr 08, 2019 01:20 More Smart Motorway sections to be rolled out as network doubles...

‘Unsafe’ hard shoulder to be removed from roads

I like the way HE are trying to twist it back round, now claiming the presence of hard shoulders makes them unsafe...
Could the dangerous hard shoulder be from the first tranche of smart motorways which were dynamic hard shoulder running, M1 J10 to J13, M6 through Birmingham, M42 , M5 / M4 around Bristol, M62 around Leeds. The M1 and M6 are the worse with all lane running through the junctions and dynamic hard shoulder running between. These to me are confusing and more dangerous than ALR where you know where you are. Could they be turning the earlier versions into ALR under there new tag line "Digital Motorways"
Last edited by A303Chris on Mon Apr 08, 2019 15:16, edited 1 time in total.
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Big L
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Re: The future of smart motorways

Post by Big L »

Being on the hard shoulder is the most dangerous place to be on a motorway. Solution - because they are dangerous we will get rid of them. The same sort of logic would lead to water being banned because it is dangerous.
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Helvellyn
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Re: The future of smart motorways

Post by Helvellyn »

A303Chris wrote: Mon Apr 08, 2019 10:21
Berk wrote: Mon Apr 08, 2019 01:20 More Smart Motorway sections to be rolled out as network doubles...

‘Unsafe’ hard shoulder to be removed from roads

I like the way HE are trying to twist it back round, now claiming the presence of hard shoulders makes them unsafe...
Could the dangerous hard shoulder be the from the first tranche of smart motorways which were dynamic hard shoulder running, M1 J10 to J13, M6 through Birmingham, M42 , M5 / M4 around Bristol, M62 around Leeds. The M1 and M6 are the worse with all lane running through the junctions and dynamic hard shoulder running between. These to me are confusing and more dangerous than ALR where you know where you are. Could they be turning the earlier versions into ALR under there new tag line "Digital Motorways"
That would at least make sense, although "Digital Motorways" is a bit of an eye-roller.
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