Are Smart Motorways Safe? And why Net Zero Carbon but not Net Zero Road Deaths...?

[@thamesmud]

Back in the 1980's the A2 in Kent was one of the most deadly roads in the country. Most of the serious accidents were when stationary cars were hit as there were no hard shoulders. Hard shoulders were put in and the problem wet away. All these lessons have been forgotten.

[@daddymulk]

On Purpose for Digital Motorways

[@chriscooper2496]

Not forgotten but re-filed under 'inconvenient data...DO NOT OPEN'

[@brianmays4366]

Not forgotten just ignored as it does not follow the narrative

[@stevesmith7530]

not forgotten, improved. Imagine a road where you dont need to get to the dangerous shoulder, a road where any lane or lanes can be turned into a hardshoulder, and drop the speed of approaching and passing traffic wirh a couple of mouse clicks.

[@-A-lm5xb]

@@stevesmith7530 I assume you're joking. I would like to see you type this with a calm and clear head from a broken down car on the outside lane of the M6.

[@BLOWN8CYLINDER]

Anything ''SMART'' is quite the opposite..... We live in an inverted reality!

[@jamesdecross1035]

Cool!

[@barry5138]

I like the term "smart", easily identifies things to be avoided. Also, do the direct opposite of government advice at all times.

[@alexuk2000]

Yep, glad others see alike.

[@AzanAli-]

@@barry5138 Yup. Exactly like smart for two.

[@chriscooper2496]

As smart as the muppets that design and implement them

[@kieranokeeffe1363]

Smart motorways are ridiculous, if an accident happens the people involved have nowhere to go and the emergency services can’t use the hard shoulder to get to an accident, whoever proposed this should be imprisoned

[@voice.of.reason]

It's like all the progress made over the past 80 years in road safety has been put back by hair brained schemes like 'smart' motorways with no hard shoulder

[@-A-lm5xb]

Yes, for involuntary manslaughter.

[@SteveMcIlhennie]

And what if it was caused by a pissed drunk driver? Who should be imprisoned?

[@Simon-390]

I had 28 years lorry driving and never played the "smart motorway" game . I always stuck to the new lane 2 , the old lane 1 . Much to the annoyance of other drivers but I also never drove my 44 tonner over the top of a broken down car or "shunt" as they call it . I could go on for hours but suffice to say "smart motorways" in conjunction with the "traffic wombles" and Highways Agency never did nor never will be a good idea .

[@Technaudio]

You could also have done exactly the same by driving in the correct lane, and looking where you were going.

[@imwithstupid00011]

@@Technaudio what a stupid comment.

[@thedave7760]

You are denying his lived experience. How many miles have you done in a lorry?

[@daddymulk]

There are good and bad drivers and when you have two trucks barely a car length apart to that is an issue, being that high up there really shouldn't be many times someone driving an artic was unable to see something ahead, unless distracted with something, like a phone or watching dvds like some caught. Dumb Motorways aren't safe though, fact and you would probably be grateful for Simon being in lane 2 if you were the one broke down, I wouldn't fancy a huge truck heading towards me and things happen very quickly, can't always be avoided, end of day, Government don't give a shit about us

[@Technaudio]

@@imwithstupid00011 you may think that it's a stupid comment, but it's a true comment. I've been driving over 25 years, at least 15 of those doing over 35,000 miles a year, and that's just for work. I've never driven into a stationary vehicle on a motorway. And I drive on them a lot.

[@kieranokeeffe1363]

Thank you Geoff 👏👏👏 The amount of debris on motorways is disgusting, the Traffic wombles are useless

[@wearetheremnants1615]

The centre section of the M60 ring is like a scrap yard lol

[@bentullett6068]

The highways agency aren't even cutting back the plant life growing in the central reservation. I travel down the M40 on occasions and there are trees growing up through the barriers.

[@-A-lm5xb]

Yes, which in turn means more punctures. I wonder how many accidents are attributed to a tyre blowing because of debris on the road? Not many I'll bet.

[@wearetheremnants1615]

The "no hard shoulder " at peak hours is probably the highest accident count of the day I'd assume

[@Robholyoake3778]

Its built for driverless cars for the future. No humans will driving by 2050

[@dartskipper3170]

It is on the M1 South between Flitwick, Dunstable and Luton. Listen to the traffic news and at least once a week Junction 12 will be jammed.

[@alcord2540]

The smartest thing about smart motorways(m3 especially)is that when a vehicle breaks down and fails to travel another 2 miles minimum to a safe area,assuming the desk operator spots them,then a police or recovery vehicle will tow it to a safe area while the entire motorway is brought to a standstill for 10 minutes.Pure genius!.

[@jno5]

I think smart motorways are a way to introduce future tax. Once most people are in EV’s income from fuel duty will be decreased. They will bring in pay per mile and smart motorways enables this…..

[@GeoffBuysCars]

It’s in consultation right now. I’m half way through editing the video on it. It’ll be on my channel very soon.

[@jno5]

@@GeoffBuysCars - Has someone who’s disabled and doesn’t pay road tax, if they do scrap it to create pay to drive will they give disabled drivers back anything or like the farmers after Brexit just get screwed over.

[@grantp7975]

The work undertaken to create the "smart" element (potential) also provides opportunities to run all the comms cables required for road charge tracking and billing devices. Mostly down the centre of the roads under or over the concrete where the cables are most protected from any unauthorised interference. Still, at least that means that the n'er-do-wells will have more trouble try to half-inch the fibre optics thinking that it metal that might be worth a fiver.

[@buildup4146]

You think?!!

[@steadyeddie639]

ZERO CARBON = ZERO LIFE

[@Robholyoake3778]

Exactly, just some people cant see the truth when its straight in their face

[@davidbrown5523]

We are carbon based

[@TheStressD]

People seem to complain about carbon but they don't mind spending £1000s for it in the form of diamonds.

[@TheMentalblockrock]

That is the plan! 2025 D£-P0p agenda!

[@Sh4un1r1k]

People don't realise, no carbon, no food. Grasslands, trees etc need c02 to live. Sustainability really means destruction of life and equity.

[@volvo480]

Greetings Geoff from a fellow Volvo driver in The Netherlands. We have "smart motorways" here too (we call them "spitsstrook" = lit. rush hour lane if the hard shoulder is used, similar to all lane running or "plusstrook" = plus lane if an extra -narrow- lane is used), but the approach is completely different. Speed limit is down to 100 or 80 km/h (60 or 50 mph). The entire section is being overwatched with CCTV, but the cameras do not read license plates. There is no speed limit enforcement through these cameras. The system is augmented with speed detectors in the road, they are fed to a computer and if there's a sudden drop in speed, the system will automatically impose a speed limit on the gantries. A human operator in the traffic monitoring centre oversees traffic also and if the operator spots a broken down car which couldn't reach the refuge bays spaced 1/2 mile apart, they will close the lane, set a speed limit to 70 km/h (45 mph) to the others and an assistance vehicle will be dispatched immediately. If visibility is poor, the lane will be closed or not opened at all. If there is no operator available due to shortage of staff, the lane will not open. The lane will only be opened once a human inspector has driven the entire section and found it clear of obstacles and only if there is enough reason to open it (i.e. enough traffic volume). Red cross above a lane means danger and people are sensible enough to stay out of them, I am pretty sure discipline to comply is over 99%. Yes there are accidents with people who were distracted by their phone or just plain stupid, but in all these years they have been using this system (first one opened in 1996), I have never seen accidents and never heard of horror deaths. Fortunately most of those red cross ignorers crash into the assistance vehicle. Though it is still beyond me how they can ignore them, as it is a big bright yellow Nissan Navara or Toyota Hilux pickup truck with flashing yellow lights and a huge dot matrix display on them with a blinking arrow. Fine for ignored a closed lane is €250 (£225) and frequent offenders have to answer in court. Then again, no horror stories of deaths on smart motorways over here. Is it a different mentality of the drivers? No, the Dutch are VERY aggressive an uncourteous drivers. Is it because more money has been spent on implementation of "spitsstrook"? Probably. Is it that the implementation was done with as much safety in mind as possible? Most definitely.

[@-A-lm5xb]

Yes, there are lots of thing that the UK government hear about overseas and try to implement in the UK but without doing enough research, so they don't have the knowledge or insight into exactly how they operate in those countries. Consequently they don't work here. A classic example was when they converted the promenade in Blackpool into a "shared space". It was absolute carnage, because nobody was used to them and pedestrians were wandering around all over the place, not fully understanding whether they were on the footpath or on the road. It was like watching the Return of The Living Dead.

[@illegalopinions4082]

I saw a car in one of those little bays at the side of the smart motorway trying to get out. It was a pretty powerful car, a Vectra VXR if I recall correctly, but there was no way they were going to squeeze into a gap with nowhere to gain speed. The idea of breaking down in one of those areas is terrifying lol.

[@barry5138]

Old proverb: never remove a fence without understanding why it was erected in the first place!!!!

[@GeoffBuysCars]

Love this.

[@firstnamed1501]

I do a reasonable mileage each year, around 25-30k miles and from the outset concluded that they are just plain dangerous for all the reasons you’ve outlaid. Since diving very deep down the rabbit hole over the last three years and realising that pretty much everything we’ve ever been told is a lie, it follows that my gut instinct was right with these smart motorways too. I now think that they are going to be used as a monitoring/control exercise (when CBDCs are implemented) and that’s why they were introduced and rolled out and not for safety. It’s funny isn’t it…everything sold to us as for our own safety is now a red flag code for meaning the exact opposite! Those purple cables running along the new dangerous smart motorways are data cables for when we won’t be allowed to travel more than 5 miles because of carbon credits. I’m not getting a new lease car next year, I’m just going to keep my L322 V8 and start leaving the matrix at every possible opportunity. Great channel mate👍🏻

[@-A-lm5xb]

Thanks for that, I often wondered what the purple pipes were for.

[@neilbirch3412]

Hi Geoff, must agree with you on these smart motorways that they are very dangerous, I was once going south on the M1 when I had a turbo problem on my vehicle and lost my main power and struggled to get into a emergency bay for safety, after restarting didn't get very far when I lost power again and a lorry blow his horn and nearly hit me as crawled into the next emergency zone, on getting my vehicle going again it was dangerous to get back onto main motorway due other vehicle's in this bay and not being able to get any speed up to rejoin the main traffic, at the next services I pulled in for a comfort break, on leaving I saw the lorry driver and spoke to him who said at first I didn't realise what was going on until he was passing me and apologise and said how dangerous these smart motorways are and he a problem, I must say in 46 years driving (cars, lorries, and coaches) that I never felt so much in danger on any road all Europe as did on these smart motorways, on positive my vehicle was okay for the rest of my journey

[@andyaccount]

I once broke down in a live lane of the M25 at the Staines junction going towards Heathrow and the M4 junctions. I was in the third lane at the time. Luckily for me I was actually in a traffic jam so the other traffic was not moving very fast and the Highways Agency car controlling the traffic was just behind me at the time. so they helped me get onto the hard shoulder ( it wasn't actually a smart section but the outcome could have been equal to that). When I got on to the hard shoulder, I was told off by the HA for not phoning the Police. How many people are actually aware that this is what they should do? I have not seen any information about doing this in the Smart motorways adverts/information films.

[@twig3288]

Phone the police? What, like a 999 call? Do they assume everyone has a cell phone?

[@0skar9193]

@@twig3288 it assumes the police have enough resources to repsond

[@aidy6000]

@@twig3288 It may come as a shock to you, however in the year of our lord two thousand and twenty three it would be safe to assume that 99.8% of the 70million people in this country carry a pocket sized cellular telephony device.

[@twig3288]

@@aidy6000 it may come as a shock to you that people sometimes are without a phone for a number of reasons, including that they left it at home. Good luck to you the next time you break down in a live lane with a container truck barrelling along behind you. Let’s hope you’ll be quick enough to dial the number and explain where you are to get the lane closed before the aforementioned truck collides with you.

[@voice.of.reason]

@@twig3288 Yes, and maybe some people just do not wish to carry a mobile phone (that can track you). You know, mobile phones, that they like to fine you to use in a car even when stationary with the engine on.

[@thehouseholder5468]

Imagine the police chasing you , lights flashing horn blaring lights on radio on … 23 miles batteries left …. 🙄🥴🤣🤣🤣

[@bentullett6068]

Criminals will be using diesel's and driving normally as their range will be greater than the police cars.

[@thehouseholder5468]

@@bentullett6068 exactly

[@salibaba]

The highways agency isn’t the police genius. Police vehicles weren’t the subject of the video.

[@thehouseholder5468]

@@salibaba thank you for recognising my genius, I know it’s difficult for retarded people to actually “ imagine “ things

[@salibaba]

@@thehouseholder5468 perhaps imagine yourself having better grammar before referring to others as retards.

[@jamesdecross1035]

Q: what should you do with an historic vehicle? Or, with children in the car? Find alternative routes?

[@GeoffBuysCars]

The thought terrifies me

[@geoffwright9570]

There used to be three lane roads , the middle lane was for overtaking when it was safe to do. It was known as the suicide lane. Now we have made a new version and called it a smart motorway.

[@gd3782]

Nearly three years ago driving down the M6 I noticed a strange smell coming into the car. As I was approaching a service station I decided to pull in and check under the bonnet. The regulator on the alternator had failed and I was over charging the battery causing it to boil. If I had not pulled over when I did the battery would have died, possibly exploding. This would have left me with out an electrical system so so not only would the engine have cut out but I would also lose hazard lights and brake lights so no way to let the traffic behind me know I was now a hazard slowing down and no hard shoulder to pull onto to get out of the way. The AA guy who came out to recover the car said in his opinion I had narrowly avoided a fatal accident.

[@GeoffBuysCars]

Wow...

[@petersmith5723]

Excellent Geoff , I understand that the roll out programme has been suspended after it was discovered that the tech was not up to the job . I live close to M1 J28 and used to take my TR3 up to J30/31 ,not any more .I now go towards J25 , which was a 4 lane motorway before smart motorways were thought of . It also has the luxury of a hard shoulder .

[@Andy-185]

I think the “red X compliance” thing refers to closed motorway lanes indicated by the gantry sign. They seem to be routinely ignored by people who don’t know what it means.

[@GeoffBuysCars]

Yeah I think I misunderstood that

[@bentullett6068]

This is noticeable around the Birmingham area but there are a lot of people round that area who don't have a license or someone else has past their test for them and they have no road knowledge of the signs.

[@salibaba]

@@GeoffBuysCars then amend it from the video, you go in a rant for no reason about it. Red X has nothing to do with the average speed limit. Everyone who drives a car should know it means a lane is closed. It always has even before smart motorways.

[@ExpanseRoci]

​@@bentullett6068 Those signs are complete BS, 90% of the time they are telling you lies, tell you to slow down, there is debris or an incident or whatever, everyone slows down, then turns out nothing is going on, I totally ignore the signs and use my own eyes, relying on those signs is like relying on a sat nav.

[@bentullett6068]

@@ExpanseRoci I know that they tell lies but especially the speed restriction ones. For the past how many months they have purposely being slowing people down by the HS2 on the M42 so you can gaze at the lovely destruction the government have done to make a half speed/half distance railway line. Although I wouldn't risk going down the hard shoulder if the red X is displayed as I have seen someone do it and wonder why a car was stationary on the hard shoulder then decide to cause more issues trying to get back into the slow lane.

[@davida2653]

I think you're right about overall 24/7 surveillance as the real aim of these dangerous motorways

[@tomsurrey2252]

I go, quite often, to my daughters house, in Lancs... some 400 miles there. The amount of times I have been on the M6 where they drop the MPH down for NOTHING!!! Control? Probably OR, they are sitting at their controls board!

[@GeoffBuysCars]

Sometimes I think it’s just to get us used to it...

[@tomsurrey2252]

@@GeoffBuysCars Most annoying, though!

[@Sh4un1r1k]

Or possibly an addition to that probably a guise to reduce c02 and so called air quality. Motor vehicles have never been cleaner. If a dead person from 50 years saw the amount of traffic today will be baffled on not seeing any smog and clear air.

[@kennethmaley2443]

How do you think they get there fines from.

[@organickevinlondon]

@@Sh4un1r1k NOx and ozone are basically invisible to the naked eye, during WW1 the Germans used to use virtually invisible Phosgene gas instead of Chlorine, and Phosgene was MORE LETHAL than Chlorine, "IF you had been in the trenches in WW1, you would have been gassed to death, while looking out through the clean??air??? over no mans land"

[@AlfaBmwKarma]

Great video Geoff, thanks for reading through all the boring bumpf for us, to be honest I'm sick to the back teeth of all this spying and monitoring in the name of safety. It reminds me of the saying "Those that give up their freedom for security deserve neither". Take care bud. 👍🏻

[@chevchelios8582]

The solution to every problem does seem to be surveillance cameras, restrictions and tax doesn’t it! Hmm.

[@Robholyoake3778]

It's all about controlling what we own etc.. wake up

[@cornovii3012]

You will own nothing and be happy

[@Robholyoake3778]

@@cornovii3012 exactly

[@Hasdac]

My 20y old Audi a2 passed another MOT. No Advisories. Everyone should get one.😁

[@GeoffBuysCars]

I like an A2! It was different

[@-A-lm5xb]

An A2 or an MOT?

[@Jonny_The_Organism]

From 2009 through 2015 I was working on various motorways in traffic management on these so called smart motorways...the early ones were actually good and worked well...I took two years out in 2011 to 2013...I discovered the cost cutting in 2013 which meant the systems installed were never gonna be upto the standard of the original ones that were installed on the M42 & M6....those were overrun with cameras every 100 meters and loops every 400 meters....the later ones like the M3 I worked on had cameras every gantry and loops every mile....I left the profession in 2015 because I didn't believe this was a good idea... I even gave up my driving license!

[@GeoffBuysCars]

Wow...

[@-A-lm5xb]

Loops?

[@a53-platty78]

Great video, Geoff. Smart motorways are pointless & dangerous. I drive the smart section of the M42 twice a day at peak, Monday to Friday. Very rarely is the hard shoulder opened as a running lane even when the traffic in all 3 regular lanes crawling at less than 20 mph. They said it would ease congestion... Instead they cause more accidents because you have to drive with 1 eye on your speedo & 1 on the matrix, leaving none to look out for actual hazards. So I use the cruise control to take half of that problem away. I happen to know that my speedometer over-reads to falsely increase the advertised service interval, so always set the speed to the posted limit +10% and 2mph more. What's also infuriating is how many times the lane closure signs are left on after the actual hazard has cleared, or the speed limit drops 20 mph from 1 overhead to the next, then goes back up to 60 at the 3rd and there's no incident to justify it. On those rare occasions when the matrix system is not working, there is no difference in my journey time either. I have had the misfortune to break down on this stretch once. Inevitably it was when the hard shoulder was a running lane. On a motorbike. Fortunately I could park the bike tight against the armco & hop behind to protect myself on that occasion.

[@GeoffBuysCars]

Agree with all of this, but I’d like to add... narrow lanes. M5 south ar J6 is very narrow at the moment, it’s painful!

[@cuckingfunt9353]

@@GeoffBuysCars I broke down on a stretch of m25 clockwise just before the Epping turn off, there was a concrete barrier with an 8 foot wire fence over it. I felt like I was in a scene from 'the running game' , god help you if you had to get a child out of there. I had my head under the bonnet trying to fix the fkkking car while looking through the gap under the bonnet out the back as the cars came bombing up and swerving at the last second. There is nothing smart about these motorways

[@afreeman1980]

Your maths analysis of smart motorway deaths is first chass. I worked in local government for 30 years and analysed a lot of accident data. I sometimes had difficulty stopping the occasional traffic scheme that the council wanted to put in when in my opinion it would cause more accidents than leaving it as it is. I did, however, put in quite a number of schemes that subsequently showed a reduction in accidents. I would turn every smart motorway back to having a hard shoulder.

[@IvanovichIvanov]

I would take traffic volume into account. Not just the length. However, generally I agree that numbers are being made to support certain trends.

[@gar6446]

Smart M1 around dunstable seen countless vehicles driving along on the hard should with a huge red X above it. Also seen all lanes blocked with traffic due to a rush hour pile up Inc the hard should and emergency vehicle unable to get there easily. These are not unforseeable problems.

[@jimp1646]

Forget about Net zero by 2050. They will have priced the typical driver out of existence long before then.

[@GeoffBuysCars]

Worse than that. Keep an eye on my channel.

[@wearetheremnants1615]

If they implement their plans in total it will be many times worse than all the dystopian films put together portray

[@henryhyam5148]

Interesting boating video. If you feel vulnerable on a smart motorway in a car spare a thought for motorcyclists - its a horrible feeling even without a breakdown. And it's hardly reassuring that your life is in the hands of a government contractor dozing in a call centre while "closely monitoring" the cameras.

[@waynemillard8412]

Modern cars and modern technology are making people stupid behind the wheel. Real car people don’t need auto lights, auto wipers etc. I don’t think real car people would but anything after the late 90’s with maybe a couple of exceptions like a Monaro. Modern car owner don’t even know how to switch there lights on if they’ve had an mot or service and someone with some common sense has switched the lights off manually. I don’t need stop/ start, if I know I’ll be waiting for a while say at a level crossing I’m intelligent enough to switch the engine off myself, however if I’m approaching a junction and am preparing to stop but the roads clear enough to go straight away but start/stop function has switched the engine off that’s dangerous. I could rant for days about modern cars, electric spastic cars and modern lazy stupid people that shouldn’t be behind the wheel of a car. That’s why I love and share your content.

[@waynemillard8412]

Don’t even get me started on cycle lanes. A few roads near me have been upgraded with cycle lanes wider than the width of a road lane and these roads are used frequently by HGV’s. The roads have been made narrower for these cycle lanes which are kerbed between the cycle lane and the road. I see maybe 2 cyclists to hundreds of cars on that stretch and most are still using the road and their excuse is they’re leaves on the cycle lane. Cycle lanes in certain areas a pointless, it would be like re-routing a flight path leading to an airport to accommodate 2 people that might fly their kites 3 times a year f**king pointless.

[@johnashleyfinlayson]

A bit off topic of talking of net zero, I'm an architect and have recently submitted a planning app for client doing a self-build house in the UK, and the planners have specified that NO parking spaces are to be provided at the house - despite there being adequate space for a normal drive to cater 2-3 cars. Instead they want a cycle shelter at the front of the house. I mean, this is within a typical UK residential area in the suburbs, not a city centre - nearest bus stop 1km away and they've claimed a petrol station 600m away is close enough for essentials.

[@paulbiggs5523]

The Smart Motorway issue seems to be concomitant with current thinking in that the powers that be do not really care about safety, usage or, indeed anything much at all. As ever the new "idea" was rolled out on a "lets see what happens" basis and was, undoubtedly, really about saving money. I certainly feel vulnerable when using a Smart motorway, and dread the day that I might break down one - I sincerely doubt I am alone in feeling this way.

[@cbrowst]

The death rate on smart motorways as well as all other roads will inevitably go down as most of us are priced out of driving in the future. Keep up the good work Geoff.

[@stevebaker9709]

Hi Geoff 30 or so years ago when catalytic converters became law we were told that they take all the harmful emissions out of the exhaust gas and turns them into they said harmless co2 .so why are they putting in ulez to make us pay for the pollution that our cars are supposed to be making .if cats don't work then we have been ripped off hundreds of pounds on the price of the exhaust systems .but if they do work the ulez is a big con and will cost us god knows how much over the coming years and take away our freedom to drive our cars

[@saqibmulla2811]

I work as a mobile tyre technician within and on the M25 … Straight up they’re very dangerous and plain stupid and my employer prefers not to take jobs on smart motorways but if we actually have to do the caller fee would double if not triple just for me to attend because I really don’t want to take the jobs on anymore on the smart motorways

[@GeoffBuysCars]

Thanks for the comment and you’re spot on. I’ve had to change a tyre once on a smart motorway, and even in a ‘safe area’ it was nerve wracking.

[@waynemarriott7641]

love your vids, im on the same page 100%, your analysis of facts data etc is very informative

[@mattmanning9267]

I had to go on a safety course a while back. During the day we had to watch a video featuring cartoon cars. On the cars all there reg no. were THX1138. I’m old enough to know that’s a film about a dystopian future. Made me chuckle.

[@martinf8508]

It`s also the number plate of the yellow car in American Graffiti. ( THX138) A favourite number of George Lucas.

[@Jonny_The_Organism]

People in offices shouldn't make rules for the real world!

[@tedfoster295]

I often tow a caravan on smart motorways and will never travel in the inside lane. The reason for this is that often when approaching a junction the inside lane disappears up the slip road and trying to push into lane 2 with a 13m rig is very dangerous, the lane might appear again after the junction. I also want somewhere to go if I have a problem Also the saftey areas are to far apart and too short, try stopping a car and 2t caravan or a heavy 42t artic n that distance without getting shunted by somebody in the inside lane

[@SBsoton]

Lethal idea to have no hard shoulder.

[@bushcraftdadgary5381]

Hey Geoff Good vid, and great location, i don't know if u noticed, but a boat went by? Smart motorways. Imagine for a moment, you're in the fast lane and you lose all power? On your right is a concrete barrier that you can safely stand on. surely you're way better off putting your hazard lights on, hoping the vehicle behind you is on the ball and well aware, when you come to a stop, exit stage right, and jump onto the barrier, the traffic can then makes its own arrangements. You're gonna save yourself the hassle of coasting over to the left, crossing 3 lanes, and hoping all the vehicles help you out, if you do make it to area formally known as hard shoulder, you've then got 40 ton artics coming up you backside. So why bother? it seems to me the safest place to be, believe it or not? is the so called fast lane. i say so called fast lane, as half the time we've all gotta do 60MPH. Which means there is no 'fast lane' as we're all doing the same speed. I reckon i could go from drivers seat onto barrier in under 10 seconds, its gonna take you longer to get out on the right, avoiding traffic on your right if you were in the so called slow lane. You,ve then gotta cross in front, or behind your vehicle to get to left side barrier once you've exited your vehicle. Hope all that makes sense? In short, balls to the former hard shoulder, your number 1 concern is you. So i say, stop on the right, jump to the right, for your own safety. I am basing this on me alone in my van, as for a family of 5 in a hatchback, that would have to be in the top 5 of every parents worst nightmare. Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my somewhat unusual emergency plan? For the record. 25 years a van driver, and said from day 1 that using the hard shoulder as a 'live' lane was a bad idea. Love your channel mate Keep up the good work Gary (white van man) Watford Herts

[@jamie0193]

Geoff I had seen the broken down car incident statistic before…it’s very obvious that taking the hard shoulder away is dangerous and the fact they’re still installing these is insane! I would like to point out though, that the miles/death ratio isn’t a very accurate way to get danger stats as the motorway are the busiest roads in the country so would make sense for those to be above average in accidents. Not trying to criticise as I love these videos you do.

[@PadreAlan67]

Love your videos. If you want to go down a rabbit hole, then have a look at our road deaths compared to the rest of the world. I have learnt that before you say something is good or bad, a good question to ask yourself is "Compared to what?". Compared to a large chunk of the world our road death toll is a rounding error and not something we should be overly worried about. And this comes from a motorbike rider who has ridden all around Europe and Africa, so I know a thing or two about the standard of driving and roads in our country - and I have to say both are excellent. That doesn't mean there are no bad drivers or roads, but that there are significantly fewer than elsewhere.

[@roberthiggins6401]

It was obvious to anyone with just a couple of brain cells that smart motorways are not smart. We could ask see the danger. If you don't get hit, you have a heart attack. I broke down on the A/M2 a year ago and even with a hard shoulder it's scary! I was in my keen and I have to use a wheelchair, so there's no chance of getting out the car. I was lucky the RAC got to me within an hour. Bloody dangerous job for them too, might I add. He's was a very nice man.

[@yonmons]

Answer = No they are not safe as a member of that now extinct breed know as a traffic Bobbie of my 25 yrs service I served 16 years as a traffic officer, and 6 of those years (split into 2 , 3 years stints with 5 years in between ) as a Motorway Patrol Officer in Greater Manchester who had the biggest area of Motorway to cover in the UK. You will never find an experienced officer from back in the day give the thumbs up to smart motorways, they have always been a dangerous place but now even more so. Another failed exercise in cost cutting.

[@Hasdac]

Thanks for doing these videos.

[@richardminkler9681]

Hi Geoff, I think you mean RED X Compliant = a lane you must not be driving in while the X is on

[@GeoffBuysCars]

Oh did I misread that bit?! I understood it as speed, my bad if I was wrong

[@richardminkler9681]

@@GeoffBuysCars great video. I understood the point and you right the figures have been distorted and made in favour of smart motorways.

[@NigelsModellingBench]

Great video Geoff, however.. here we go.. I think your "deaths per mile" calculation would be better done by comparing non smart to smart motorway miles. For example, the road I live on would be counted in your "total miles", but the fastest anyone ever goes on said road is about 15 mph, so the risk of death or injury is very low compared to a strip of tarmac with 3+ lanes travelling at 70mph+. Also, while I'm moaning... I believe your percentage compliance at the end was for observing the Red X symbol, meaning the lane was closed rather than observing speed limits.

[@MrPaulMorris]

In fact, 'local' roads are likely to have a higher accident rate due to the greater chance of traffic contention. That is to say, motorways were designed to reduce the chance of vehicles coming into conflict by reducing exit and entry points to a minimum, having all junctions filtering to allow for gradual acceleration, deceleration, separating the carriageways to virtually eliminate the risk of head on collisions and providing safe overtaking lanes. Despite the higher speeds, motorways consistently come out as the safest roads based on miles driven. How long that will remain true if the flawed all lane running schemes roll out across the network remains to be seen. The other advantage of motorways is, of course, the absence of pedestrians. Not having children pursuing footballs, mindless teenagers absorbed in their phones and the self-absorbed and unobservant general public wandering amongst the vehicular traffic makes things a lot easier and safer. Only recently a neighbour's daughter was killed in traffic moving at less than 5mph.

[@davearmstrong2296]

Smart motorways were created to support more traffic which was expected to go up by 50%, however, adding a single live lane only added 33% capability, so did not answer the problem. The original motorway expansion plan was to build a new section of each motorway alongside (to the left or right) with 4 lanes and a hard shoulder (5 in total), but that required rebuilding lots of bridges that cross them. So while this would have been much better, to save money, Smart motorways were created which are not fit for purpose, and they are very dangerous. Neither the AA nor RAC support Smart motorways.

[@philgooders2660]

Geoff, Surrey Police had delivery of a Electric Ford Transit, once they have added all their lights. sirens and radios etc they took it out and its battery was drained in 18 miles!!! How do they think this will every work for emergency vehicles?

[@cathrynpaterson7539]

Some of the Oregon smaller highways have sleep ridges down the middle strip and on the side of the roads. Sometimes I have to drive on one locally called "Blood Highway".

[@zionasharp4986]

It is ridiculous to think that as soon as a vehicle breaks down, the camera detection, to gantry warning signs going on, to vehicles slowing down and leaving that lane (that's if the drivers are paying attention) would be immediate! It is dangerous and stressful enough to break down on a hard shoulder, to try to quickly in a opportune moment get out of your car with vehicles speeding past you, to stand behind the barrier. It must be terrifying to breakdown on a smart motorway.

[@ThePuggle999]

Another good vid Geoff. With regards to the traffic wombles having a fleet of EV’s. I would like to know how long they could stay at an incident using their cars to fend off as they do with those ever so bright flashy flashy lights. I would imagine those lights would soon drain a battery. Presumably they would have auxiliary batteries for this. I can’t see them being able to stay on scene for extended lengths of time before having to find a charging point. I will guess the charging point will only charge the vehicle battery and not any auxiliary batteries. Seems pointless to me especially as they spend their time on open stretches of road and not built up urban areas.

[@101projects2]

They aren't EV's they won't go flat, they are PHEV's, petrol Hybrid electric vehicles.

[@allandavies9488]

I agree with your conclusions. About 20 years ago I looked into a so called statistically based report by the OFT (Office of Fair Trading). A Government body. I quickly came to realise all the reports conclusions were written first to support Government policy at the time, and the so called statistics written later were skewed to support the policy and it was nothing to do with factual reporting. I am a former professional driver and have covered over a million miles. So called smart motorways in my view are dangerous and should be done away with. I have seen incidents where people from broken down vehicles are wandering about the motorway in extreme danger. I try not to use these roads as they are a danger. They were introduced as an increase of capacity on the cheap, at the expense of safety. I agree, the huge proliferation in cameras all over the road network, is for eventual road charging. They want to tax our freedom and restrict our free movement. The electric car nonsense is all part of this. For 'smart' anything, read surveillance. Keep voting for the same old parties if you want more of this.

[@marc87supra]

I can only imagine how scary it would be to suffer a breakdown on a smart motorway!! People will do whatever they can to make sure they don’t have to stop on a smart motorway, only 2-3 weeks ago I saw an E Class going slowly on the smart motorway part of the M1 with a completely blown out tire and literally driving on the wheel rim as they obviously would rather continue driving to a safe stopping place than stop on a smart motorway.

[@oojimmyflip]

in other countries they have a run off lane for breaking for vechicles out of control and no nearside lane, we have no nearside lane but no other escape route, even with a nearside lane accidents still happened when you put a stationary vechicle in the nearside lane, you see less policing now the nearside lanes are shut but more 50 mph speed limits, I tend to avoid the 50 mph motorways and go the back routes these days believe it or not the back roads are empty and the journey takes much less time, I went from Kettering to Wales recently by motorway and I came home on the old back roads and it was a really nice faster journey we miss so much in scenery when we are rushing down a motorway a little slower pace, get yor timing right and hardly any traffic at all. love the Boat scenery biut then 2 boat races to look at can be distracting at times.😂

[@johns66723]

Your analysis at 6:20 isn’t quite right though. Because while there may be 247000 miles of road in the UK, not every road is equally busy. More cars -> higher chance of accidents

[@johns66723]

Also all you’re proving at 9:24 is that you don’t understand statistical significance. Because the number of KSI collisions is a result of random events, influenced by many factors, that 1.03 to 1.18 change may not (and in this case does not, according to the paper) mean anything. It’s not just a case of “too small who cares” it literally can be mathematically proven that the change is within expected variance

[@paulmatthews9366]

Yeah they are quite selective in what they will and won't virtue signal about

[@petergaskin1811]

Maybe it's because aiming for zero carbon will benefit everybody; whilst aiming for zero deaths on "smart" Motorways will only save a few sodding car drivers and their families.

[@GeoffBuysCars]

@@petergaskin1811 zero carbon benefits nobody.

[@organickevinlondon]

@@GeoffBuysCars What a CRASS sweeping comment that is, almost 1/3 of Holland is below sea level for starters and about 9 MILLION Dutch people live below sea level, then you can add China, Bangladesh, India, Egypt, U.S.A. Brazil, Australia and New Zealand, to the growing list of countries that are at risk as a result of Man Made Global Climate Change, but, hey "Geoff the Nimby" you don't care about them do you.

[@GeoffBuysCars]

@@organickevinlondon oh have they declared a state of emergency? Are all the big companies based in Holland panicking? Have the banks all pulled out of Holland, and are they refusing to invest there? Go and find what warren buffet said about climate change. It’s along the lines of ‘when I see it mentioned in investment portfolios then I’ll know it’s a concern, but I haven’t seen it - ever - so for now, it’s clearly not a concern’

[@organickevinlondon]

@@GeoffBuysCars Holland has just had to invest about £500 million in extra sea defences, then there was the massive lock built in 1997 to protect Rotterdam from Man Made Climate Change induced sea surges too, thats another £400 million, spunked up the wall, by the Dutch, over the genuine threat of Man Made Climate Change to their below sea level nation, I'm 100% SURE if Holland's sea defences are breached, they would certainly declare a state of emergency there, BUT, they have to spend money, to ensure that won't happen, imagine if they spent NOTHING on sea defences, to protect their nation, from Man Made Climate Change induced sea surges, no wonder that Holland comes 4th on the list of, nations with the highest number of EVs per population, as "the Dutch aren't thick people". Hm, Warren Buffet, hey, Geoff, yer aint done any proper research into him either, You Tube "Warren Buffet & Charlie Munger: Global Warming (2007)" he certainly comes out with some "right old interesting stuff about Global Warming as it was called back then", Warren Buffet is far from a Man Made Climate Change denier.

[@pemj7360]

Billions wasted on a dangerous idea . Who ever thought this was a good idea needs to swing . I remember a woman on the news a while back her husband was killed on a smart motorway his body was on the motorway for hours. Before he was removed. Makes my blood boil.

[@venataciamoon2789]

So we get range anxiety with EVs and then even more anxiety when we run out on smart motorways and then death anxiety. Wonderful world this is turning into.

[@salibaba]

Easy solution, don’t put yourself in a position where you run out on a motorway. It’s illegal to knowingly drive on a motorway knowing that you’re in danger of running out of fuel. Same rules and common sense applies as petrol / diesel. I’ve never run out of petrol, plan my stops to fill up.

[@peterwright9546]

I will not drive in lane one of a smart motorway, reason I joined the M62 smart section speed limit was 50mph ,as I joined a HGV moved over to lane two to allow me on , so i was along side the HGV going slightly slower than the HGV to allow it to pass me, It was then I saw the brake lights of the HGV come on so I braked (lucky I did) the HGV braked to allow a car with hazards on to pass in front of him to lane one, I braked to a stand still the car now in front had stopped, leaving me stranded about 15yds behind the broken car and no gaps to get into lane two, I was stuck there until a HGV saw what was happening he pulled to lane three and flashed me to go. I can tell you I was crapping it. That is the reason I will never use lane one ever again. give me a ticket for lane hogging but i will not use it. I dont know what happened to the broken car I was just glad to get out of that lane.

[@MrGeeyess]

Surely the red X denotes lanes closed'. It has nothing to do with speed limits.

[@johnnyhollis9977]

I think that I can remember hearing that the expansion of these death traps had been suspended due to concerns?

[@sydsnott5042]

Excellent video. Well said 👍👏

[@GeoffBuysCars]

Thank you!

[@LeMagnum440]

You need smart people to make smart motorways work.

[@mrhead8175]

former hgv driver at one time was averaging 2k miles a week trunking to london and back, never went into the back of a car...to be honest smart or not so smart, motorways are a doddle just use the dormant organ inside ones skull and you will be fine.

[@Yorkmedia1]

I live near m1 junction 39 in Wakefield accidents are happening on a weekly basis junction 39 to 42 is a accident black spot for accidents

[@tonymcfeisty2478]

Totally agree about the dangers of smart Motorways , I used to have to travel to London from the West Midlands each week for work, When they started work on permanent all Lane running on the M1, my first thought was has how stupidly dangerous it would be, After a few journeys I started using M40 instead to limit my exposure to using all lane running Motorways.

[@amcluesent]

Very simplistic interpretation of data.

[@GeoffBuysCars]

Feel free to take a look at the data and make your own conclusions, come back to me :)

[@raymawm]

I believe that improving safety on smart motorways could involve specific lane restrictions for lorries and HGVs, such as prohibiting their use of lane 2, and ensuring vans do not use lane 3, regardless of whether they are overtaking. This could address issues related to vehicle collisions. It's rare to see a van or lorry maintaining a safe 4-second stopping distance. Often, one must brake suddenly or maneuver quickly to avoid HGVs or LGVs occupying lane 2 or 3. Merging onto the highway can also be challenging when HGVs do not yield on slip roads. In my experience, there have been several close calls, particularly when lorries do not reduce speed in slow-moving traffic. These situations highlight my concerns about vans and HGVs on motorways.😅

[@MrDavidfball]

Red x compliance is the lane is closed, as someone who drives through these routes i wonder how many % ignore the red x between jct 7 and 10 on the m6

[@adambane1719]

Very well done mate !

[@thedeadstig123]

The worst situation on a smart motorway I've ever seen was driving at night, a bloke had broken down in a transit van and the van was stopped in the 1st lane, on a stretch of motorway with no lights! The guy was stood behind his van (that had no lights on) waving his mobile with it's flashlight on to warn people

[@guy4469]

People donr realise in a manual put the car in second gear hand break off hold the key down you will get a mile on the batterie untill you can pull in .

[@2neanderthal602]

That last table was red X compliance, ie people complying with lane closures not speed limit compliance. Obviously it is incompetent driving to break the speed limit, but even more so to drive in a lane closed because of a breakdown or whatever. So even scarier.

[@EvilGav]

Given the date of that report, the data regarding the "most compliant" smart motorway is basically covering the M3 not long after/during them actually turning it into a smart motorway. The M25 being low makes sense, it's one of the oldest smart motorways. Basically, the longer a thing exists, the less people pay attention to it.

[@Manc268]

great video of several issues never talked about... its being 'managed' disgracefully & has nothing to do with safety, if they cared about that then the driving test would be more difficult not easier.. everything about the roads here is a mess

[@mercedescamper308]

I used to work as a breakdown mechanic, glad I left that job, as this was being implamented.

[@SIMRACINGTRUCKER]

Everyone should see this. 😲 Great video!

[@beardyface8492]

Think they're terrifying for you? Try with a wheelchair user on board who couldn't get over the barrier even if you could safely get them out of the vehicle. I'll add hours to a journey to avoid them.

[@AndreaPick]

Exellent work, Geoff.

[@sherihancroft]

the one thing that confuses me is why the speed limits are lowered to 50 or 60 for so called clean air zones if the speed is lowered then we are in tat area for longer producing more fumes the idea would be to keep speeds high to lower the time we are there or have i missed the point totally

[@dudeleboski2692]

Geoff, as a Continental Chap,who spends some time here in the UK. There would be NO way in Hell, that on Mainland Europe, would that the Powers that be, even consider to implement a Highway W/O a shoulder. Even in Spain, its Ilegal to install CCTV on the OUTSIDE of your property, as to Not to invade the privacy of your Neighbour………..

[@grahamheath3799]

In fact, in the UK, if your CCTV system monitors outside of your property you can run into problems with data protection.

[@GeoffBuysCars]

Great commment

[@davejohnson3474]

Listened to report in must be 2017/18 from highways when there were accidents happening and highways might've been grant shapps saying we're leading the way in europe to be the first smart motorways. Funny no one ever gets a vote on these "good on paper failures in practice" government initiatives that they always roll out year on year trying show boat. Every other country just looks at us and saids nope what a failure

[@dotherightthingbro]

SMART is an acronym, secrete research artificial research technology. Anything smart is tracking and collecting data on YOU! Remember we are living in times where everything is the opposite to confuse and therefore control you. Smart is indeed smart but not for your own benefit however the actual word lends itself to be good, this is not by accident as the controlling force understands psychology. Top video Geoff, thanks👍

[@Jonny_Red]

Secret Monitoring Artificial Research Technology

[@spindelnett6315]

I nearly got wiped out last year on a SM. Coming round a sharp LH curve on the nearside lane, only to find someone broken down & no hard shoulder. I had to cut a driver up on the middle lane to prevent a 60mph rear-ender. SMs are clearly for tracking and not safety. Total dystopia!

[@arthur1670]

How does he drive along duel carriageway? Like m42 to m1

[@mikeymike3240]

Shmockdown lolol 😊 and I even had to think about it for a nanosecond, good one Geoff 😊

[@barrybrewer4944]

Thanks Geoff love your volvo 850 I have had all volvo types for the past 20year. Sold my 850 t5 for a skoda octavia yes you heard right skoda.

[@TCbiker2916]

I noticed the report doesn't cover the two stretches of smart motorway on the M62

[@dennisphoenix1]

I think you have misinterpreted the red X figures . They are for when a red X is displayed over a lane indicating an issue but people continue to drive in them instead of changing lanes . It's nothing to do with speeding or average speed . The reason there are less accidents on the M25 is because it's that congested it moves slowly so more reaction time for drivers .

[@GeoffBuysCars]

I realise this now, my bad...!

[@chrisktm2010]

I live around junction 14 of the m1 and use it a lot for work. From junction 10 to 16 is now apparently a SMART motorway but even at midnight when the road is empty it is still showing 60 mph on the gantries. It’s a money making scheme.

[@lancethrust9488]

THERE BEING KILLED BROKEN DOWN WERE THEY CANT GET ON THE HARD SHOULDER , IT BASICALLY LIKE BRAKING DOWN ON A RAILWAY TRACK WAITING TO BE HIT BY A TRAIN AND PRETTY SURE THAN NUMBER IS OVER 100 DEATHS NOW IN THAT MANNER !!!!

[@pauljenkins4987]

Any idea how many deaths per railway mile, for purposes of comparison?

[@chrislucy3778]

Big money to be made for health to get in way👍. Swarco (Swarovski family), install the road tech & speed measure/capture kit. 2020 most profitable year. Kier contractors also huge profits (while rest of us lost businesses). 2500% increase in speeding fines since variable speeds til 2016 (likely much higher now). Despite public backlash 70% against ‘Smart’ roads (70+ deaths claimed now), another £600m to be invested. More fines needed to maintain this kit (including more revenue stealing kit to make sure you don’t even touch your phone - even if satnav). More taxation via GPS tracking. 🙌

[@paulie-Gualtieri.]

Geoff, buy Greta Thunbergs new book and do a Top Gear-style challenge with it, something along the lines of dropping a piano on a Morris Marina or something much more creative.

[@arunparkin2552]

A Morris Marina costs about five grand nowadays

[@peterwright9546]

Cant we drop a Morris marina onto Greta.

[@jamesdecross1035]

Dropping a piano in the slow lane…?

[@HandsUpforThePanther]

Greta has been controlled by her parents, she doesn't believe what she is saying. She has been brainwashed.

[@bentullett6068]

Dropping it on a Tesla

[@andyxox4168]

My experience of the M25 is that mostly the traffic is so slow (or stationary) that it would be hard to have a serious accident.