April 25, 2019
Smart motorways were created to control and decrease traffic on motorways, a big issue on traditional motorways. Another benefit is to help climate change and the ongoing problem with pollution, as they could act to diminish carbon emission by reducing the number of cars on the road much quicker than a traditional motorway.
This has been done by replacing the hard-shoulder lane with a running-lane. Highways England said that “smart motorways are good for drivers; they add extra lanes to give extra space so more people can travel” instead of forming long queues of traffic.
However although, Highways England have claimed that smart motorways are just as safe as traditional ones, in the event of an accident, police and emergency services have criticised them, stating that the time taken to get to the scene is now considerably longer as they have to battle through stationary traffic when they would, in the past, have been able to use the hard shoulder.
Sally Jacobs lost her husband on a section of smart motorway when he was crushed getting out of his car. She told the BBC that it took the emergency services one-hour to get to the scene because there was no hard-shoulder to enable them access the scene quickly.
PC Stuart King, Motorway Police, said that “[they] have to force [their] way through the small gap between lorries and cars whereas before [they] would use the hard-shoulder to get there much quicker, no we’re” in the even of an accident.
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In most European countries it’s common to leave a rescue lane as soon as the traffic slows down.
It’s means that cars move to the right and only cars on the very left lane stay left. (It would obviously be the other way around in England)
Adverts on radios helped promoting this and it works really well now.
Below a link from the German AA:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfiLITNZudE
As a former EMT I have to agree with PC King’s assessment, in Germany and elsewhere it is a legal requirement that traffic slowing and potentially stopping has to move to the sides of the roadway to leave a clear path for the emergency services, and it works.Somehow I can’t see either such a law, or drivers obeying such a law, happening. As a motorist, and more over a motorcyclist, I hate using ‘SMART’ motorways, especially with tailgating truckers and cellphone distracted drivers.
By restricting access for emergency services lives are being put at risk. In a breakdown situation there is very little room to get away from your vehicle safely. It’s a motorway capacity extension on the cheap putting lives at unnecessary risk.