Smart Motorways

[OnHellas]

You’re not wrong with the continuation of cock ups from which ever political party or group of politicians we have in charge.

I voted for the blue crowd as I have done for virtually every election over my voting life. Not all, but most.
You and I differ greatly on our political points of view but I always think that you put your points across very well even if I don’t always enjoy reading them...haha.

However, you ride and enjoy motorcycles and certainly make me smile with some of your antics so you must be a good bloke overall....???

[zimtim]

Technically I think you will find that all the detritus, litter, and shite belongs to the highways agency so you are well within your rights to lob it back over on to their land.

[Richard Simpson Mark II]

Sadly not...if anyone dumps rubbish on your land, it's your problem.

It's not clear how that pans out if the stuff dumped is of any value, though...I guess the owner could demand its return if it was stolen goods that had been hidden, for example. A mate of mine once 'found' a car dumped outside his lock-up garage and broke it for spares.

He got convicted for handling stolen goods.

[daveuprite]

You’re not wrong with the continuation of cock ups from which ever political party or group of politicians we have in charge.

I voted for the blue crowd as I have done for virtually every election over my voting life. Not all, but most.
You and I differ greatly on our political points of view but I always think that you put your points across very well even if I don’t always enjoy reading them...haha.

However, you ride and enjoy motorcycles and certainly make me smile with some of your antics so you must be a good bloke overall....???

YOUR FIRST PARA: Agree!

2ND PARA: More fool you for voting tory - you will reap what you sow! And thanks for the compliment!

LAST PARA: Jury is still out. Any evidence for how you arrive at that conclusion very welcome.... Personally I don't really subscribe to the good bloke theory

Best wishes, dave


(Actually I should correct myself when I earlier implied that we should only blame the current government for stuff when it's been in charge for 10 years. It sounds like I'm exonerating Thatcher and I would never want to give that impression, because she was of course responsible for most of the UK's inexorable decline. There, that feels better... )

[DavidS]

Smart motorways are thick. No intelligence was ever used in creating or running them.
I have been in a car that barely made it to the hard shoulder after a totally unpredictable mechanical failure. The thought of being in a live lane as my place of ‘safety’ is bizarre. However many refuges you put in, that wheel wrecking blow out won’t get you to the next one, even if it’s only 500m away. A good idea would be a continuous refuge.......aah!

I can understand why they have been thought up though. The cost of using the hard shoulder would be peanuts compared to adding an extra lane. If you can build in immediate sending of a problem with lane closure, you may be on the way but it will never work all the time. The lack of proper human involvement in switching signs on and off clearly isn’t working sufficiently well either.

[garyboy]

Just read that the Environmental Protection Act 1990 compels Local Councils to keep their highways clear as practicable.. if they not .. a private individual can take them to a magistrate's court to clear it away.

If rubbish is fly tipped onto your land, you must pay for its removal.

[garyboy]

Don't know much about smart motorways, but obviously a dangerous but cheap 'solution' to underfunded infrastructure.
As already said, they could work if breakdowns were automatically detected and that lane automatically shut down, and using ai to sign it instantly (causing mayhem to other lanes.

What could be a better solution would be to move the barrier a bit, as said, and slightly narrow the lanes, to add another lane, but keep the essential hard shoulder, Reduce the speed limit to 50mph
Admittedly this results in a hairy situation, and there is a narrow lane area near me ..but perhaps a 40mph speed limit for this idea would keep the traffic flowing continuously.

[Crossrutted]

, Reduce the speed limit to 50mph
Admittedly this results in a hairy situation, and there is a narrow lane area near me ..but perhaps a 40mph speed limit for this idea would keep the traffic flowing continuously.

Reduce the speed limits - are you completely mad?

Next you'll be blaming Margaret Thatcher, proving your insanity beyond doubt!

[bill_qaz]

No matter how quick the signs are activated it will not get the required action for some of the living in a bubble drivers using the road whilst engrossed in other things, phones etc.
Recently watched a driver for a couple of miles continue in the closed lane,red x on gantry until almost at the accident scene then force his way into the next lane. I read the AA has refused to attend breakdowns on smart motorways and highway agency has to take the vehicle to a place of safety. No matter how smart the motorway it's only as smart as those using it

[SteveW]

I thought I'd take a spin down to the motorway and check the rubbish situation.
Its actually not bad.....I had a clear-up at the weekend. Plus it's been windy so most of the light rubbish has blown further into my land.
You can see the refuge area through the fence, but I've got to say when the M6 was three Lanes and a hard shoulder at this time 15:40 it would be stationary or at best crawling at walking pace every weekday at this time.
The congestion on this section of motorway has definitely greatly reduced.

IMG_1817.PNG (788.37 KiB) Viewed 1970 times

I've got about a quarter of a mile of motorway frontage, there are several clumps of trees. Here is the clump most used for a shit by drivers using the refuge area.

IMG_1818.PNG (800.64 KiB) Viewed 1970 times

I find it hard to be too critical of folk taking a desperate shite on my land......how do I know it's not fox or badger shit?
Foxes and badgers don't wipe their arses.