I went to sunny Yorkshire over the weekend and travelled on the newly "Smart" M1. The extra lane and probably the lower traffic level meant the journey was much smoother.
On the way back however a few miles from the Mansfield turn off the overhead lights went on. They suggested the outside lane was closed which meant the reasonable people moved out of it and then you saw lots of performance German cars and Range rovers move into it. Of course when the Fire engines and various support and tried to get down it they had to wait for the stationary Audi & BMW drivers in the outside lane to get out the way. This was about a mile from the accident.
They closed the 3rd lane which people ignored on the overhead signs which are too far apart anyway. Rinse & Repeat.
In the end as the accident was between the on ramp and the exit ramp of the junction the Police decided to close the Motorway and direct us over the junction though they only had pictures of closed lanes to tell us.
When we got to the junction there was no traffic control so the few people on the roundabout were doing 50+ while the whole M1 was trying to join the roundabout from a standing start, a set of traffic lights would have helped.
All in all not impressive for smart motorways while the emergency services did a very good job dealing with the incident they were severely hampered by the new design of the motorway.
Personally the sooner they prosecute people for being in a closed lane the better. Also they should have sensible plans for alternative routes that they should invoke as soon as they can, the rear of stationary traffic on the M1 is very exposed, traffic moving at 20-30 is far less dangerous.
On the way back however a few miles from the Mansfield turn off the overhead lights went on. They suggested the outside lane was closed which meant the reasonable people moved out of it and then you saw lots of performance German cars and Range rovers move into it. Of course when the Fire engines and various support and tried to get down it they had to wait for the stationary Audi & BMW drivers in the outside lane to get out the way. This was about a mile from the accident.
They closed the 3rd lane which people ignored on the overhead signs which are too far apart anyway. Rinse & Repeat.
In the end as the accident was between the on ramp and the exit ramp of the junction the Police decided to close the Motorway and direct us over the junction though they only had pictures of closed lanes to tell us.
When we got to the junction there was no traffic control so the few people on the roundabout were doing 50+ while the whole M1 was trying to join the roundabout from a standing start, a set of traffic lights would have helped.
All in all not impressive for smart motorways while the emergency services did a very good job dealing with the incident they were severely hampered by the new design of the motorway.
Personally the sooner they prosecute people for being in a closed lane the better. Also they should have sensible plans for alternative routes that they should invoke as soon as they can, the rear of stationary traffic on the M1 is very exposed, traffic moving at 20-30 is far less dangerous.
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