‘Go left’ TV ad is an insult to victims
THE ‘Go left’ promotion for smart motorways must be one of the most stupid and pointless TV and radio adverts I’ve ever seen. Since the M1 was opened in 1959 by Minister of Transport Ernest Marples, motorists have known that if their vehicle starts to fail they should seek sanctuary by moving left to the safety of the hard shoulder. However, despite an outcry from motorists, rescue services and the police, the Government is continuing with its conversion of the hard shoulder into another motorway lane. If you break down suddenly and catastrophically, you won’t be able to drive to a refuge area a mile away. You can either sit in a live lane, terrified of being hit by another vehicle, or try to exit your car on the passenger side, which is no mean feat. How many more lives will be lost before the Government listens to reason?
TONY BEVERLEY, London SW10. THE Highways England advert shows how little consideration has been given to the safety and wellbeing of motorists using smart motorways. It is insulting that the issue has been trivialised by cartoonish singers dressed as squashed flies on the windscreen. The car in the advert breaks down close to an emergency layby. And the driving conditions are not typical: there is a light volume of traffic, no real speed, clear weather and no HGVs. On which motorway do you experience conditions like this?
GRAHAM NICHOLSON,
Shifnal, Shropshire.
I FIND the ‘Go left’ TV advert to be misleading. The warning lights shown on the vehicle’s dashboard are for low oil level or oil pressure and high water temperature. Both issues can result in sudden engine failure, so driving to a safe area may not be possible. Bring back hard shoulders. DAVE SAUNDERSON, Barnsley, S. Yorks. ANY driver will know a multitude of problems can occur without warning, rendering you instantly immobile, such as a tyre blow-out, transmission and engine seizure, ignition failure or a snapped cambelt. You won’t be able to coast to reach a refuge area. Smart motorways should be abolished. As it is, the title is an oxymoron.
BRIAN SYKES, Sudbury, Suffolk.
ANY potential traffic flow improvement thanks to smart motorways is negligible compared with the welldocumented safety breaches and deaths that have occurred as a direct consequence of there being no effective escape from live traffic lanes. Not all mechanical issues allow the driver to continue to a refuge area. The absence of 100 per cent camera surveillance demonstrates the gross lack of forethought given to safety.
G. R. SALISBURY,
Crowborough, E. Sussex.
THE crass ‘Go left’ Highways England advert is disrespectful to all those who have died on smart motorways.
MIKE RAWSON, Cheshunt, Herts. THE advert jingle should be ‘Nowhere left to go’.
DAVID FAULKNER, Oldham, Lancs.