"Smart"?

[Yugguy1970]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-68848418

The scale of failures of tech is staggering but it's ok apparently as stoppes vehicles are detected 89% of the time.

[Bper]

Hi Guy, IMO they should conduct a thorough review of the technology used in smart motorways, focusing on reliability and redundancy. Fix the existing problems and implement fail safes to minimize risk in case of malfunctions. This could involve Investing in more robust technology for faster and more accurate breakdown detection in live lanes. Develop clear and consistent messaging via overhead signs and variable message boards to warn drivers of breakdowns and lane closures during technology malfunctions and encourage widespread adoption of traffic information apps with real time updates and consider a mix of smart motorway sections with hard shoulders in high risk areas or those experiencing frequent technology glitches.

[Haliotis]

This morning there is an article on BBC News about smart motorways.  Telling information is (1) a traffic officer who works the network has said they are no longer safe. (2) the radar that spots stopped vehicles is regularly out of action for days at a time - the traffic officer says that it could be due to a fault, or because it has been turned off for repair work; and the officer says he does not know when it has been turned off.  (3) National Highways claim 89% of broken down vehicles are spotted - leaving 1 in 10 NOT being spotted.  Can you imagine the travel industry bragging that 89% of flights safely reach their destination?   (4) Statistics show that you are 3 times more likely to be killed or seriously injured on a smart motorway refuge than on a normal hard shoulder.

The government has halted the roll out of smart motorways due to safety concerns, but there are no plans to reinstate hard shoulders.  Why cannot we have a government that is gutsy and honest enough to admit that smart motorways are a seriously bad idea?  They claim UK motorways are among the safest in the world.  That doesn’t follow that the “smart” sections are not the most dangerous.

For ages now, the advice to driver and passengers of a vehicle broken down on the hard shoulder, is to exit the car from the near side and to get on the far side of the crash barrier edging the hard shoulder.  There is sound reasoning for that advice - which echos the increased danger of breaking down on the “live lane” of a smart motorway, and even in one of the isolated refuges.

Drivers deserve the best designs for promoting, as far as humanly possible, absolute safety - and road planners need to go that extra distance to help protecting drivers who need to be protected from themselves.

[Cyker]

They don't care about safety, they care about making it look like they did something while spending as little as possible.

Everyone knows the 'smart' motorways are less safe - As I've always said, speed is not dangerous, CHANGE in speed is dangerous, and all smart motorways do is enforce random and arbitrary changes in speeds.

We don't NEED smart motorways - When there's congestion, we slow down naturally, we don't need some stupid sign telling us to - All they do is create more congestion as they cause unnecessary random slowdowns. I regularly see the signs display random speed limits, e.g. 60 then 40 then NSL then 40 then nothing then 40 etc. in a single stretch.

If they actually gave indications of danger in good time, e.g. closing lanes because of breakdowns or notifying us of danger, then at least that'd be something, but they never do until the incident is already well underway which makes them practically useless - When we broke down, it took an hour for them to close the lane we'd broken down in, and we'd called it in to the AA! And then they closed the whole motorway!

The whole thing is just a mess of uselessly late information and overreaction.

The fact that they are *still* trying to say that having no hard shoulder is *safer* is just the typical politician inability to tell the truth when they want to push their own agenda, and that is all this is.

They have literally done nothing other than line their own pockets by wasting public money - The Smart motorways primary stated goal was to reduce congestion, but they have done the opposite; Adding an extra lane has done smeg all to increase traffic flow - My section of the M25 is worse than it's ever been, with rush-hour tailbacks multiple-times longer than they were when it was only 3 lanes!! - and whatever small gains that's done is completely nullified by them randomly imposing inappropriate speed limits whenever they feel like it.

They've sunk smeg knows how much money into these pet projects instead of funding schools or the NHS and what have we gotten out of it? Nothing.

 

[Haliotis]

Cyker, when you say, “….and what have we gotten out of it?    Nothing.”, it made me think this:   Over time, haven’t we become used to our taxes being spent recklessly, with a natural built-in expectation that nothing will change?   I think we have, and that situation is dangerous to the welfare of society in general.  The governments (central and local) get away with their wrongdoings because, unfortunately, The UK population is generally disinterested in politics and only grumble when they feel personally affronted by a result of an authority’s ruling.

[Bper]

3 hours ago, Haliotis said:

Cyker, when you say, “….and what have we gotten out of it?    Nothing.”, it made me think this:   Over time, haven’t we become used to our taxes being spent recklessly, with a natural built-in expectation that nothing will change?   I think we have, and that situation is dangerous to the welfare of society in general.  The governments (central and local) get away with their wrongdoings because, unfortunately, The UK population is generally disinterested in politics and only grumble when they feel personally affronted by a result of an authority’s ruling.

Albert, you are right we are force fed taxes, promised a return on our investment in the form of functional public services, and what do we get?. It's become a racket the government preys on our labour through taxation, then squanders it with little regard for the people it's supposed to serve.

This apathy you mentioned is a symptom, not the cause. We've been conditioned to expect this. We grumble when potholes swallow our cars, but rarely dig into the root of the problem wasteful government spending.

Frankly, it's outrageous. We deserve better! Our tax pounds should be building strong roads, not lining the pockets of bureaucrats. We need a government that operates with laser focus on efficiency and effectiveness. Here's the thing they're only getting away with this because we let them. We need mass civil action. We need to make our outrage heard loud and clear. Attend town halls, bombard representatives with emails, and hold them accountable for every penny they spend.

Remember, taxation is supposed to be a social contract, not legalised theft. We the people have the power to demand change. We have to somehow take it back.

[Haliotis]

Bob, as a country I doubt we have the guts to “take it back”.  There is more chance of the illegal migrants eventually taking our country over, rather than we, the rightful citizens, taking back control.

I was born in the UK, from uk-born stock.  As a young man I had pride in my country - now, in my twilight years, I do not recognise it as the place where I grew up.  Sad to have to admit that, but there is no sense in denying the facts.

[Cyker]

Indeed - I'm not opposed to paying taxes, but I want to know where all the money is going! I don't understand how I can not have had a pay rise in a decade but I'm still managing to keep my head above water, while councils have been increasing taxes year on year yet still be going bankrupt while at the same time cutting services and ignoring as many of their responsibilities like road repair and park maintenance as much as possible! It doesn't add up.

By their standards I should be declaring bankruptcy and having all my debts written off!  

I really want to know where all the money is disappearing to - I strongly suspect it is mainly gross incompetence; For instance in one of the boroughs I work in they have fired almost all the long-term council staff and half the council is run by agency staff, and I'm pretty sure that is costing them far more than employing staff directly!

 

[Haliotis]

The first priority of any government body (central or local) should be to check their departments for signs of inefficiency, and rectify accordingly in order to make savings.  The aim should be to set zero annual increases - no increase should be applied “because it is in line with inflation” - and then only a limited increase where necessary to maintain the safety margin of balances.

[Primus1]

I think people should watch the excellent documentary yes minister, this gave an insight int how our government works…

[Haliotis]

In they last few months alone, the amount of sleeze that has been revealed in government circles makes me wonder how shocked and disillusioned we would all be if that which we don’t know was ever given the light of day.

[Tee_J]

On 4/23/2024 at 5:59 PM, Cyker said:

For instance in one of the boroughs I work in they have fired almost all the long-term council staff and half the council is run by agency staff, and I'm pretty sure that is costing them far more than employing staff directly!

Yikes!! That is gross mismanagement!!!

[Tee_J]

On 4/23/2024 at 6:55 PM, Haliotis said:

The first priority of any government body (central or local) should be to check their departments for signs of inefficiency, and rectify accordingly in order to make savings.

Hi Albert - good point. Here is the issue: a lot of the folks who "make that determination" of efficiency gains etc don't know by or with what yardstick to measure - or even if they do know, they don't know how true that measure is. So they rely on what others - the experts - tell them, e.g. "With this process implemented, you'll save £MMM!" and all they see is the £MMM amounts - not bothering to check how the figure was really arrived at, by what measure and against what yardstick.

Oftentimes, as @Cyker mentioned, this figure is arrived at by letting go of profitable knowledge i.e. terminating the services of long-serving fully knowledgeable staff! Then they wonder why all of a sudden things are not running as smoothly as the were before!  These experts are there predominantly to make a coin - that's what their business is about, so it is of no consequence to them in a large number of cases, what happens after they've been paid.

So yes the government body made their savings thinking they were eradicating inefficiencies, but it very soon spins a full 180 degrees and begins to bite - painfully as they see increasing issues and rising costs! Seen it happen so many times...

Sorry about the mini-rant... I'll go get a drink of camomile tea to calm down...so I can sleep! 😂