• Home
  • New Cars
    • First Impressions
    • Road Tests
  • Classics
    • Classic Profiles
    • Classic Driving Impressions
    • Classics Information
    • Events and Days Out
  • Motoring For Fun
  • News & Views
  • Bookshelf
  • Technical
    • Grumpy Old Mechanic
    • Kim’s Tips
  • Features
    • Visits
    • Track Days
  • Contributors
    • About our contributors
    • Kim Henson
    • Chris Adamson
    • Kieron Fennelly
    • David Miles
    • Dave Moss
    • Dave Randle
    • Robin Roberts
    • Tom Scanlan
    • Glen Smale
    • Keith Ward
    • John Price Williams
  • More…
    • About Wheels Alive
    • Tips for using this website
    • Useful Links
  • Contact
  • A-Z

Wheels Alive

Old cars, new cars, borrowed cars & blue cars. If it steers it's here!

Motorway Madness? Turning hard shoulders into running lanes is a dangerous idea…

Author/Source: Kim Henson

30th June 2016

 

Motorway Madness?MPs want the brakes applied to Government plans for motorway hard shoulders to be turned into regular lanes.

The concept has been suggested as a quick way of increasing motorway capacity but it has attracted criticism from motoring and road safety organisations.

RAC chief engineer David Bizley, “Whilst supporting smart motorways as a cost effective and relatively rapid way of increasing motorway capacity, the RAC has repeatedly expressed concerns about the latest design which turns the hard shoulder on motorways into a permanent running lane. These concerns are widely shared by other industry groups, as well as by our members and others who regularly use motorways.

“We therefore welcome the Select Committee report and are pleased that this influential group of MPs has concluded that the decision to adopt ‘all lane running’ on all future smart motorways may be premature.

“The safety of motorists must come first and therefore new designs need to be trialled for sufficiently long to demonstrate their safety before they are introduced more widely. This was precisely the approach adopted by the Highways Agency, now Highways England, when a smart motorway with a dynamic hard shoulder was first introduced on the M42.

Wheels-Alive comments, “We have been very seriously concerned for a long time about so-called ‘Upgrades to smart motorways’ (which in fact are nothing of the sort) that involve doing away with the hard shoulder which is there for safety reasons. If a vehicle breaks down and comes to a halt in a section of motorway where there is no hard shoulder, so in effect there is nowhere to escape to, this represents a serious accident (or many) just waiting to happen. In addition, in the event of an accident or breakdown in a section without a hard shoulder, long queues are inevitable as the vehicle(s) involved cannot be moved off the carriageway in the short term, and indeed this makes life difficult for emergency services trying to reach the scene of an incident. Let’s hope that  more thought is given to this, on safety grounds.”

Save this article as a PDF file

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Share on Skype (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)

Categories: Kim Henson, News & Views

Tip: For improved search accuracy, enclose search terms for multiple words in quotation marks. For example:
"Land Rover".

Advertise with us
A-ZPlease visit the A-Z page for listings by make, model, year etc. and an advanced search form.

Recent Posts

DS 7 Crossback SUV – Road Test

DS 7 Crossback SUV – Road Test

Book Review – An Austin Anthology

Book Review – An Austin Anthology

Land Rover Love on a Mountain Top… 70th Anniversary Celebrations with Defender Outline in French Alps

Land Rover Love on a Mountain Top… 70th Anniversary Celebrations with Defender Outline in French Alps

Vauxhall Corsa – Driving Impressions (after 25 years!)

Vauxhall Corsa – Driving Impressions (after 25 years!)

Hevengham Hall Concours d’Elegance set for its third year, Saturday 30th June/Sunday 1st July

Hevengham Hall Concours d’Elegance set for its third year, Saturday 30th June/Sunday 1st July

Motorsport Vehicle to Vehicle Technology Aims to Improve Racetrack Safety

Motorsport Vehicle to Vehicle Technology Aims to Improve Racetrack Safety

Skoda Karoq – Road Test

Skoda Karoq – Road Test

Volvo’s XC40 breaks UK sales records…

Volvo’s XC40 breaks UK sales records…

Contributors

contributors

Our well-respected contributors live and breathe motor cars; aren’t we lucky?

Contributors to the site include talented, highly-respected people (so they tell me) on the hallowed membership list of the Guild of Motoring Writers, and from the similarly well thought-of Western Group of Motoring Writers. In addition there are valued contributions from other knowledgeable and capable motoring writers who have something useful to say about all aspects of driving and running vehicles in the 21st Century. All of our team are passionate about motor cars!


Read about our contributors  ››

Save this article as a PDF file

Popular Tags

4x4 A3 Astra Audi Beaulieu BMW c'eed Citroën City car Compact SUV Convertible Coupé crossover Dualjet Electric electric vehicle estate Estate car Fiat five door hatchback five door SUV Ford Golf hatchback Honda hot hatchback Hybrid Kia Land Rover large SUV Mazda MG mid-size SUV Mini Mitsubishi MPV Nissan Outlander People carrier Peugeot Pick-up Porsche range saloon Seat Seven seater SUV Skoda Sport Utility Vehicle Sportage sports Sports saloon SUV Suzuki three door hatchback Tourer Tyres Vauxhall Volkswagen VW VW Golf
All Tags ››

Wheels Alive Social

  • E-mail
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Like us on Facebook

Like us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

My Tweets

Contact us

We welcome your questions, comments and feedback. Please click here to contact us.

Save this article as a PDF file

Advertising Opportunities

Please contact us if you would like to discuss advertising opportunities on Wheels Alive.

Save this article as a PDF file

Please share our website

Copyright © 2018 Kim Henson, Wheels Alive