As the government pushes ahead with three new smart motorway schemes, should motorists be concerned over their impact on speed and safety?
Earlier this month, the UK government announced plans to push ahead with three new so-called 'smart motorway' schemes – two on the M1 and another affecting traffic on the M3.
For the uninitiated, this will involve installing traffic management systems that alter speed limits on the fly, informing drivers of changes via electronic signs. They will also keep motorists up to date on lane closures and other incidents.
Perhaps more pertinently, smart motorways bring significant changes to the way Britain's hard shoulders are used. Affected stretches of highway will no longer feature permanent emergency stopping lanes, but rather use the hard shoulder as an extra lane for running traffic. This might just apply during busy periods, but could also be the case 100 per cent of the time.
The Department for Transport has pushed hard for the three new schemes, shunning proposals from the Highways Agency that a more air quality-friendly solution would be to simply limit speeds to 60 mph between 7am and 7pm, seven days a week. The department argues smart motorways will improve journey times by ten per cent on the M1 and 15 per cent on the M3 – something direly needed, as rush-hour speeds on both motorways average just 45 mph.
In announcing the move, transport minister Patrick McLoughlin argued that while blanket reductions in motorway speeds are unacceptable, using variable limits "sometimes makes sense".
"Smart motorways are an effective and cost efficient way of increasing space on our roads, cutting jams and speeding up journey times and I am pleased to announce the start of work on these schemes," he commented.
For obvious reasons, though, smart motorways have their detractors. These include environmental groups, which claim they represent an underhanded bid to widen Britain's highways and encourage more drivers to use busy roads to the detriment of air quality.
Then, of course, there's the issue of safety. Without permanent emergency stopping lanes, motorists run the risk of having to stop in the middle of traffic flow if their cars break down mid-journey – something that can be fraught with dangers for a novice or even an experienced driver.
This was commented on by David Williams – chief executive of GEM Motoring Assist – back in January, when he cautioned motorists over "obvious and worrying concerns" inherent in the smart motorway system due to the lack of a fixed hard shoulder.
Admittedly, Mr Williams also noted that said concerns should be remedied somewhat by the fact that smart motorways are closely monitored, meaning assistance arrives quickly when a breakdown victim ends up stranded mid-traffic. Nonetheless, the worry persists that many motorists will be unaware of how to act in such a scenario.
More recently, the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) called attention to exactly that problem. In May, it published the results of a survey that found almost three-quarters (71 per cent) of drivers would feel less safe without a hard shoulder to rely on while travelling via motorway.
Surprisingly, advocates of the smart motorway system such as the government have done little to allay these concerns. The IAM survey also found that two-thirds (67 per cent) of respondents hadn't seen any publicity about the schemes, leaving them in the dark as to what, exactly, they entail.
Do you support the increased use of smart motorways in the UK? Or should the government first work harder to ensure drivers can use them with safety and in confidence?