General Chat

from Rollo's thread...Although a bit late...an excerpt from a Email:

"I was driving home from a kart race last week.

It was around 11pm and as I was about to turn off the motorway the overhead gantry read;

"Stranded vehicle ahead".

I know this stretch of road on the M20 and so knew that there are "smart motorway" cameras about a mile or so down the road from where I was turning off.

I almost carried on my planned route but thought to myself "I bet there's no stranded vehicle,and this is just another excuse to turn the cameras on".

So my curiosity led me back on to the motorway to see with my own eyes and... you guessed it:

70mph turned to 50mph, to 40mph and then back to 70mph.

And of course, no stationary vehicle.

There can surely only be two possible explanations for this;

1) That there was a stranded vehicle earlier and the signs and variable speed limit cameras hadn't been turned off (incompetence) or;

2) That there was never a stranded vehicle in the first place and it was just an excuse to switch on the cameras (fraud).

How is it possible that in one of the Worlds leading democracies the Highways Agency is being allowed to commit this fraud (or behave so incompetently) time
and time -- and time -- again all over the UK?

Just last week I was travelling back from Aylesbury on the M1 and came across the variable limit just before the M25.

Each time I braked heavily to avoid the suddenly stopping traffic I looked in the rear view mirror and winced, hoping no one was going to plough in to the back of my car.

The abuse of these variable limits by the Highways Agency is sheer insanity and we need to find a way to get our voices heard..."

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now, I know this also happens on the A1(M) quite frequently..

When there is a hold up it can take many minutes before traffic can return to normal. Cars arriving after the cause has moved but before traffic is normal again will not see the reason for the jam. It would be irresponsible to put the speed limits back to 70 while a tailback exists.

I've noticed this on the M3, too, Bob.
The problem with leaving signs up is that it can cause an accident.
Driver brakes to comply with the sign, as does the car behind.

"It has been shown that this chain of braking increases the risk of nose-to-tail accidents. Also, because drivers have to brake and then accelerate,it increases fuel consumption and therefore atmospheric carbon dioxide and other pollutants."

...and I'm sure it doesn't take long to press a button or two to turn it off!

to my mind it instills disbelief in the situation....is there REALLY an incident ahead? or are they trying it on? to catch us out?


A bit like crying "Wolf"!

Too true.
It would lead some drivers to not bothering to slow down.

As for trying to catch drivers out - I wouldn't put it past them :-|

having said that, I DID see several years ago,an example of why when the traffic jam clears there's nothing there to see....

imagine a stoppage of some sort......a line of cars ,say 1/4 mile long....as the leading cars clear...two cars are added at the rear......so the block moves "backwards"...so that when YOU get there, to a clear road, the original incident was maybe a mile further on....??

That is right Bob, also when the blockage clears the cars don't move off in formation. In theory each car should maintain a two second gap but I expect in practice it is nearer one second.

Regarding the braking when approaching speed limits, only gentle braking should be needed and following cars that are not tailgating should be able to cope.

As for the idea of increased pollution caused by deceleration and acceleration, that will be more than offset by the reduced consumption of the cars going at a slower speed for a half a mile or so.

My quote about increased pollution was from a driving site.

The more or less pollution depends on the make and model of car.
In my case any acceleration or upward hill massively increases the fuel consumption compared to driving at a steady 70mph on a flat road.
In fact, due to the high gearing, consumption is lower at 70mph(+?) than at 50mph since at 50 the engine is turning over below its optimum revs.