Fashionable motorways
I don’t use the motorway system daily or even weekly, but do generally get to drive on one once a month.
In general, I’m a happy motorway user, but there’s something that has been bothering me for some time. It has to do with this new concept of ‘smart’ motorways and the use of variable speed limits to control traffic flow. My question is: does this system actually work or does this new(ish) technology actually cause more traffic congestion on our busiest motorways? I can’t work out if I am right or wrong – or even how I could prove it either way.
It seems to me that taking traffic from a 70mph maximum down to 60mph then 40mph will surely causes a ripple of brake lights further back in the traffic queue and end up with stop-start traffic miles before the initial speed reduction? I’ve been caught in this situation so many times and there is no reason for the delay other than the weight of traffic and the variable speed system being in operation. Is it just me or did motorways run more smoothly before the advent of ‘smart’ motorways?
What really gets me frustrated, though, is the constant changing of speed limits on the overhead gantry signs. One will say 60mph, then the next will say 50mph, then back up to 60mph for the one after. All these signs are obviously being controlled remotely from a regional traffic control centre – somewhere.
If you drive regularly through the roadworks (‘smart’ construction) on the M6 between Junctions 16-19 – a distance of some 20 miles – at an enforced maximum average speed limit of 50mph, while mixing with juggernauts travelling at the same speed, it can be both demanding and exhausting. With the constant fear of being zapped by a speed camera, you end up looking at the speedo for 20 miles while also trying to keep your vehicle within the usually narrower white lane markers. Cruise control helps, of course, if you have it fitted.
Despite financial cutbacks all around, money seems to be available to update UK motorways to ‘smart’ motorways, which includes the installation of new overhead gantries – some with speed cameras – along with the ability to operate the hard shoulder as a ‘live’ lane when required. Plus the creation of refuge areas for emergency breakdowns, if the hard shoulder is operational.
If you have an opinion of the latest motorway operations, please write to me at the email address above.