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[Varche]

Government plan to use 100miles of hard shoulder to relieve congestion. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25619343

I hope their traffic management system(i.e. closing hard shoulder off for broken down vehicles) works well.

I also see that a 60mph limit is going to be introduced on parts of the M1 (jct 28 to 35A) to cut pollution! I suppose if it reduces stop start motoring in heavy traffic it will be a good thing. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25619914

What do you think?

[05omegav6]

Mindless rubbish from brainless idiots

Well you did ask

[Marks DTM Calib]

Hard shoulder use with traffic management already exists and works pretty well so I see no issues.

[cleggy]

They should put the speed limit up on that section of the M1 to 90, cut pollution my bottom

[aaronjb]

Hard shoulder use with traffic management already exists and works pretty well so I see no issues.

Yeah, usually once you've battled your way across four lanes of slow moving traffic (usually joining the M42 from the M40) you have a nice empty hard shoulder to cruise down*


*When it's in use as a lane, I mean

[Gaffers]

The problem is that these monitoring systems also come with those average speed cameras.

[chrisgixer]

In heavy congestion areas by definition, it does seem to work well on the systems I've seen.

But you do need your wits about you, which buggers up half the population straight away.

[Lizzie_Zoom]

It is not a good idea in my opinion.

Apart from the panic that will be caused when someone breaks down and has nowhere to go, what will the emergency services use to reach incidents when all lanes are blocked with held up traffic?  They all often have to use the hard shoulder when currently all running lanes are congested.

[dad1uk]

I must be honest I was the biggest supplier of negative thoughts when they first tried the idea on the M42.
It certainly works, it does not cure all problems but certainly helps keep the traffic moving better.
To my knowledge, I prepare to be challenged, there has never been an accident due to or caused by the use of the hard shoulder as a live lane.
They are in the process of adjusting the carriageway between the M54 and the M42 on the M6 where, if you travel this way, there is almost a permanent traffic jam during the day and the night.
I will be interested to see if it makes any difference to the traffic flow. If this doesn't help then we will see if the government buys the infamous Toll Road.

[Marks DTM Calib]

It is not a good idea in my opinion.

Apart from the panic that will be caused when someone breaks down and has nowhere to go, what will the emergency services use to reach incidents when all lanes are blocked with held up traffic?  They all often have to use the hard shoulder when currently all running lanes are congested.

In the incidents I have seen, they change the signs from the previous junction to show the hard shoulder as closed, the traffic then moves off and around the blockage and the hard shoulder becomes free for service use.

[tunnie]

Works well enough on the M42 and M4, clearly indicated, only used at times when congestion is heavy. They built a large number of "emergency" points, which appeared to work well enough.

[chrisgixer]

It is not a good idea in my opinion.

Apart from the panic that will be caused when someone breaks down and has nowhere to go, what will the emergency services use to reach incidents when all lanes are blocked with held up traffic?  They all often have to use the hard shoulder when currently all running lanes are congested.

In the incidents I have seen, they change the signs from the previous junction to show the hard shoulder as closed, the traffic then moves off and around the blockage and the hard shoulder becomes free for service use.

It is a very highly monitored system, for this reason it has to be Lizzie. It's not a case of open the lane to traffic and leave it un attended, there's CCTV and god knows what else to close the lane again if there's a hard shoulder incident.

The intensive monitoring obviously includes varying speed limits and speed cameras on the stretches involved. It's clearly not a cheap system, but it does work. Ime.

[2boxerdogs]

More mindless nonsense from our "leaders", far more important things to deal with at the moment, but just push out more rubbish ideas..

[Lizzie_Zoom]

It is not a good idea in my opinion.

Apart from the panic that will be caused when someone breaks down and has nowhere to go, what will the emergency services use to reach incidents when all lanes are blocked with held up traffic?  They all often have to use the hard shoulder when currently all running lanes are congested.

In the incidents I have seen, they change the signs from the previous junction to show the hard shoulder as closed, the traffic then moves off and around the blockage and the hard shoulder becomes free for service use.

It is a very highly monitored system, for this reason it has to be Lizzie. It's not a case of open the lane to traffic and leave it un attended, there's CCTV and god knows what else to close the lane again if there's a hard shoulder incident.

The intensive monitoring obviously includes varying speed limits and speed cameras on the stretches involved. It's clearly not a cheap system, but it does work. Ime.

Thanks Chris, and Mark. If that is the case then perhaps it can work, but I still have reservations especially as I have heard police officers voicing their professional concerns

[chrisgixer]

It is not a good idea in my opinion.

Apart from the panic that will be caused when someone breaks down and has nowhere to go, what will the emergency services use to reach incidents when all lanes are blocked with held up traffic?  They all often have to use the hard shoulder when currently all running lanes are congested.

In the incidents I have seen, they change the signs from the previous junction to show the hard shoulder as closed, the traffic then moves off and around the blockage and the hard shoulder becomes free for service use.

It is a very highly monitored system, for this reason it has to be Lizzie. It's not a case of open the lane to traffic and leave it un attended, there's CCTV and god knows what else to close the lane again if there's a hard shoulder incident.

The intensive monitoring obviously includes varying speed limits and speed cameras on the stretches involved. It's clearly not a cheap system, but it does work. Ime.

Thanks Chris, and Mark. If that is the case then perhaps it can work, but I still have reservations especially as I have heard police officers voicing their professional concerns

That's interesting, what did they say?