Quote:
Originally Posted by macafee2
Andy, unfortunately those that control the overhead gantry's also have to take some responsibility for people ignoring the signs. Time and again overhead gantry's are not updated. I would be very scared to stop in a lane with a red cross, I'd look to change lane and keep going and I would seriously have to consider if to keep going at a reduce speed if all lanes showed a red cross but no one was stopping, I would be terrified of being rear ended, I would not be being arrogant, just fearful of my and my passengers safety.
I have seen the red cross on smart motorways over the "hard shoulder" ignored.
Going North or South I cant recall the hard shoulder is often "open" to traffic but at the next junction it is for the exit only then after the exit for all traffic and then for the exit only and so it goes on..... I don't consider this clever but bordering on dangerous as vehicle's are in and out of lanes and for those towing is more of a problem.
smart motorways...... not the best decision but a lot of money has been spent creating them and so doing away with them is probably not an option.
macafee2
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Totally agree.
Sorry if I didn't make it clear in my post. By "Driving through" I meant making a choice to ignore the signs and deliberately not change lanes. In my case there were 3 other lanes available - I accept only 2 for HGV's but still 2 - and free running. The M'way wasn't congested. IMHO it was a deliberate choice to stay put and "not be bothered" to move out into Lane 2.
And yes, I've driven many, many miles when the overhead gantry signs are simply stupid and asking to be ignored.
I and all the other cars have been in Lane 4 at 40mph with red crosses on Lanes 1, 2 & 3. Guess where the HGV's were? Yep, Lane 1 undertaking all of us at 60mph. And no, as far as I could see there was no reason whatsoever for any of the lanes to be closed off. Actually really dangerous with cars all bottled up in one lane.
IMHO the signs must be "real time" to be trusted and effective. I've posted elsewhere about "crying wolf" with these things.
In one instance there was a 60mph limit for several miles for no reason I could see. There was one gantry which had 50mph on it - so I slowed down. The next one was back to 60mph - so I speeded up again. Still couldn't work out why or what was causing the speed reduction. There was simply nothing to see. No breakdowns, no maintenance, no congestion, perfect visibility, clean, dry road etc. nothing.
Guess what else was on the gantry with the 50mph limit?
If you guessed a speed camera you'd be absolutely correct.
And yes, it flashed several folks by the time it disappeared from my mirror.
How to lose the respect of the general motorist in one easy lesson.
The whole thing needs seriously overhauling maybe by folks who actually have lots of real life experience of what actually happens rather than someone in an office who travels by the Tube......
Stay safe.
Andy.
PS On my journey North yesterday up the M1 there was something "new" to me. The gantries with speed cameras had the National Speed Limit symbol illuminated and the words "Speed Camera." But the gantries before and after were blank........