'Smart' motorways

[Sleeper]

You can change your vote, I just tried it , scroll to he top and hit your choice of button...

John ;-)

[ndevans]

Smart motorways are not the problem, dumb drivers are.

[daveejhitchins]

Smart motorways are not the problem, dumb drivers are.

Hmmm ! Can't agree with that, however, we all think differently . . .

Dave H.

[KeithL]

Smart motorways are not the problem, dumb drivers are.

Absolutely right. I knew someone who worked in the Highways Agency control room. The stories he used to tell about the stupidity they witnessed in any given day were frightening.

[ndevans]

Smart motorways are not the problem, dumb drivers are.

I think I could put it a bit more eloquently.

The main problem being addressed is the capacity & ability of the road network to carry traffic.

Smart motorways are a part of the solution to that problem, but only a part. Smart drivers are also an important part of the solution, as without driver education and a general raising of driving standards, there is a limit to how effective any road improvement scheme can be. Smart motorways in themselves are not dangerous. People, drivers, driver behaviour, are the cause of accidents.

There are other solutions that need to be considered as well, such as improvements in public transport, lessening the need for travel etc., and we don't do enough of that, so I'd agree that smart motorways look like a cheap shortcut to a partial solution. Maybe we should consider charging road tolls for motorways, perhaps that is another piece of the jigsaw.

Let's have an enquiry by all means, but if we are serious about reducing congestion, improving traffic handling, and improvements in road safety, we should consider the whole picture, not just scream "smart motorways are bad, let's scrap them".

Edit:-we might also want to be mindful of the fact that as classic car owners we are not liable for road fund duty, yet we still contribute to the demand for the infrastructure that we use. We are therefore asking for changes to that infrastructure, whilst not being contributors to the costs in the same way that users of more modern vehicles are. This is a different argument, and it gets complicated because I am aware that the costs of the road infrastructure are not fully met by the road fund alone, some of it comes from general taxation, some from fuel tax etc.

[MorrisJohn]

What is dangerous about “smart” motorways is the removal of the passive safety feature, the hard shoulder. What is controversial is the removal of that important safety feature.

Humans can, and will, act stupidly from time to time. No amount of education will ever stop that.

Elements of “smart” motorways are useful. Variable speed limits with average speed cameras do help to improve traffic flow. If capacity is an issue then road widening or alternative public transport options need looked at, but safety measures like hard shoulders must be retained.

The “edit” about us demanding a say in how roads are designed whilst not paying road tax is, I think, null and void. I’d wager close to 100% of historic vehicle users also drive modern vehicles, which are subject to “road tax”.We all contribute to the funding. Should views of EV drivers be ignored as they pay zero tax? They’re probably more likely to break down than a well maintained historic vehicle after all…43% of Tesla owners report faults with their cars within one year of ownership (as of 2022) .

[Ingles49]

I live near Manchester and it is all "smart" motorways near us. Last week on the M62 my Minor started "coughing" and there was no hard shoulder. I managed to get to the next Exit before it died, but it was terrifying. The problem turned out to be that the caps on the plugs had vibrated loose.

[Fred900]

I will not use any smart motorway when driving my Morris minor. The chances of breaking down in any classic car is far greater than a modern car. The whole idea of these smart motorways is crazy and they should all revert back to having a hard shoulder. We can only hope that common sense returns to these so called experts who designed them.
Fred G

[geoberni]

I always pick my routes driving Basil to exclude 'Motorways', but I will still frequently have to use the A1, which is a Dual Carriageway, therefore 'motorway speeds', but without a Hard Shoulder.
Both occasions I've had to call Recovery were on the said A1, including the incident depicted on my Avatar image.

This topic has been running 6 years, without any update as such.

Here's an article from the Guardian (I'm not a Guardian reader, it just came up on a search ) from a couple of months ago Feb 2026.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... -report-aa
I've copied it to here as the article might get taken down at some time.

Most of England’s smart motorways are poor value for money, official reports find


AA says long-awaited evaluations show schemes are a ‘catastrophic waste of time, money and effort’

Most of England’s smart motorway schemes have proved poor or very poor value for money, according to assessments by the government agency that built them.

Official evaluations from National Highways, some of which had been held back by the Department for Transport (DfT) since completion in 2023, showed that a slew of big projects to convert the hard shoulder on the M1, M4, M6 and M25 were rated as “poor” or “very poor” value.

The AA said the long-awaited reports revealed smart motorways had been a “catastrophic waste of time, money and effort”, although the government said they showed the project could allow more vehicles to travel safely.

National Highways was given the go-ahead by the DfT to finally publish 16 reports known as “popes” (post-opening project evaluations) on Thursday. Of the 11 motorway schemes that were evaluated over a five-year period since opening and given a financial assessment, only two were rated positively.

Smart motorways, which were rolled out widely in England from 2013, were designed to increase capacity relatively cheaply, by converting the hard shoulder into a live lane and using electronic overhead signs to manage traffic and close lanes in emergencies.

But surveys show many motorists fear driving on them, with a number of fatal collisions occurring after breakdowns – even if official statistics maintain that smart motorways are relatively safe, particularly after a series of works since 2020 to add more emergency laybys and improve monitoring.

The 11 schemes with five-year assessments, completed between 2017 and 2019, cost a total of £2.3bn at 2010 prices. In a foreword to the reports, the National Highways chief customer officer, Elliot Shaw, said the schemes were “on course to deliver benefits, but will not deliver all the originally expected benefits within the 60-year appraisal period”.

He said value for money had been affected by lower traffic growth than expected since the 2008 financial crises, but also as “traffic on some smart motorway sections is not travelling as quickly as was forecast”.

However, the reports argued that other sections would have been unable to cope with increased traffic volumes had they not been upgraded.

The reports showed a mixed safety record, with a slight increase in the numbers killed or seriously injured on the M3 and on the M1 between junctions 29 and 42. National Highways said nearly all the schemes had met their safety objectives, although it has since carried out further work to improve safety on smart motorways, including 150 more emergency areas and more technology to detect stopped vehicles.

One scheme to exceed original projections for economic benefits, as well as improving safety, was between junctions 16 to 23 of the M25, a stretch that was widened and turned into a “controlled motorway” – with gantries and monitoring technology installed but retaining a hard shoulder. With faster journey times and an improved safety record, it was rated high value for money.

The AA said such controlled motorways should be the standard bearer for motorway improvements – but the reports showed most smart motorways were not easing traffic and costing the economy.

Edmund King, the AA president, said: “This has been a catastrophic waste of time, money and effort. Many of the schemes have slower journeys which causes traffic jams, loses the country cash and worsened the safety record of motorways.

“Motorways which have been widened, the hard shoulder kept and safety technology added have proved the most successful.”

He said drivers were increasingly fearful to use smart motorways, and recent AA polling found 47% felt anxious or nervous using them. He added: “We need the return of the hard shoulder to help give confidence to drivers, both now and in the future.”

Chris Todd, the director of Transport Action Network, said: ““The reports display a remarkable lack of curiosity over how the danger has increased from vehicles stopped in live running lanes … they raise more questions than they answer.”

A National Highways spokesperson said: “Our latest analysis continues to show that overall, smart motorways remain our safest roads. They are also providing much-needed extra capacity for drivers, helping to reduce congestion and lower carbon emissions.”

A DfT spokesperson said: “These reports show that smart motorways can make journeys reliable and increase road capacity, so more vehicles can travel safely.”

[ndevans]

I find it interesting that we are all too keen to blame so-called "experts" but not the politicians and Whitehall civil servants who make the decisions. In the end, smart motorways are just an extra lane done on the cheap.
Ask yourself why it has to be done on the cheap? Who is behind the desire to deliver as cheaply as possible? Us, the voters who put the politicians in place.

[svenedin]

I try to avoid smart motorways but sometimes there is no choice. This morning my modern Audi is having an electrical hissy fit and I am going to have to take the Morris on a work trip. I just don't have time for the scenic route so smart motorways it is. Once more unto the breach dear friends........

Stephen

[geoberni]

This recent Bank Holiday Monday, I had reason to use, for the first time, the 'new' A14 link between the A1 and M11 which opened about 5-6 years ago.
Until about 10 years ago I have been a frequent user of the old duel carriageway from Alconbury to the M11, which evolved from the A604, to A14 and is now the A1307 .... but I digress.
This new stretch of A14, not A14(M) is 3 lanes in each direction. So it's not a 'Smart Motorway' but has all the issues of multiple lanes, 70 limit and no hard shoulder.
It has all the look and feel of a major motorway, but with green signs instead of blue...

Image courtesy of Google Streetview.

A14.JPG (108.36 KiB) Viewed 28052 times

[svenedin]

Broke down on the M4 this morning! Sudden loss of power, misfiring. Managed to get to an emergency lay-by (no hard shoulder). First guess, ignition coil. Quick continuity check on low tension terminals. Open circuit. Changed for a spare. Back on way in less than 10 minutes.

Stephen

IMG_3198.jpeg (4.5 MiB) Viewed 27961 times

[geoberni]

Broke down on the M4 this morning! Sudden loss of power, misfiring. Managed to get to an emergency lay-by (no hard shoulder). First guess, ignition coil. Quick continuity check on low tension terminals. Open circuit. Changed for a spare. Back on way in less than 10 minutes.

Stephen

Have you still got the Coil on the Engine?
I had an exchange of comments today with Claire Atkinson (of gearbox rebuild fame) over on a farcebook group that was not the MMOC one, so for club politics reasons I won't post a link
But an American owner was asking about Coils, as they have been through 5 in 3 years.
Claire mentioned modern Coils failing frequently and even said she had fitted a Resin Core Coil to a customers car and had it break from engine vibration.
I did think the Owner was asking for problems with the spare Coil strapped to the engine as well.....
Their photo:

Double Coil.jpg (590.98 KiB) Viewed 27947 times

And I've no idea what they are doing with the 'spare' Coil LT connected to "whatever"....

[svenedin]

Coil that failed after 60 miles was an oil filled coil branded “Remax” and mounted on top of the dynamo. Replacement coil is a Pertronix coil that has been in use for about 5 years, resin filled and again mounted on the dynamo. I only changed the coil because the Pertronix coil needed painting

I hope the irony is not lost that I posted this morning about my trepidation at using a smart motorway only to break down on a smart motorway a few hours later!

Stephen

[ndevans]

My coil is now mounted on the inner wing, partly because I have an alternator so it doesn't attach as it would to a dynamo, partly because I've never been happy with it being mounted on the engine and subject to all the heat and vibration from the engine.

[Mr Spigot]

Edit:-we might also want to be mindful of the fact that as classic car owners we are not liable for road fund duty, yet we still contribute to the demand for the infrastructure that we use. We are therefore asking for changes to that infrastructure, whilst not being contributors to the costs in the same way that users of more modern vehicles are.

I'm not aware of anyone having to pay 'road fund duty'. We all pay taxes and they contribute towards the road infrastructure, so we are as entitled as anyone else to hold governments to account.

[myoldjalopy]

Coil that failed after 60 miles was an oil filled coil branded “Remax” and mounted on top of the dynamo. Replacement coil is a Pertronix coil that has been in use for about 5 years, resin filled and again mounted on the dynamo. I only changed the coil because the Pertronix coil needed painting

I hope the irony is not lost that I posted this morning about my trepidation at using a smart motorway only to break down on a smart motorway a few hours later!

Stephen

Failed after 60 miles! Oh my! And I thought Remax was meant to be one of the better modern coils
I have an old 'proper job' coil in my car - and an even older one as a spare!

[KeithL]

I swapped our coil for a Pertronix Flamethrower from Distributor Doctor six years ago and the engine has run better ever since.

[michael4]

I know it was common practice but I was never happy with coils mounted horizontally, old ones could be encouraged to leak...

On our MM our coil is vertical, mounted on the inner wing.