{"id":466,"date":"2018-10-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-10-02T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/smart-motorways\/466\/"},"modified":"2018-10-03T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-10-02T23:00:00","slug":"smart-motorways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/smart-motorways\/466\/","title":{"rendered":"Smart motorways: tech and Europe\u2019s roads"},"content":{"rendered":"
The European Commission have set themselves an objective of halving road fatalities between 2010 and 2020. Converting European highways is one of the main factors in achieving this and the use of technology on Europe\u2019s motorways appear to be the future for Europe\u2019s roads. Despite this, there have been a number of differing opinions on the smart motorways systems currently in place, particularly in the UK.<\/p>\n
Smart motorways use a number of cameras along stretches of the highway to manage and monitor the speed of drivers and the number of lanes that are open to use. The smart highway concept was developed in a bid to help ease congestion during busy periods and on very busy stretches of roads \u2013 active traffic management (ATM). The ATM system features include:<\/p>\n
The first smart highway which featured hard shoulder running in the UK opened in 2006; there are now a large number of smart motorways being put in place throughout the whole of the UK and Europe.<\/p>\n
In a report which was published in June, the UK Transport Committee warned the UK Government not to proceed with the running lane systems due to major safety concerns, expressing that converting hard shoulders into running lanes is too radical a change to the nature of motorways and motorists are struggling to adapt to the changes which are happening quickly. In a report by England Highways, Louise Ellman, chair of the Transport Committee commented: \u2018The Department for Transport is blatantly ignoring the safety concerns set out in our report.\u2019<\/p>\n
The main concerns with smart motorways and the implementation of running lanes to all hard shoulders relates to the red X signals. The red X shows that the lane ahead is closed and therefore must not be in use; usually used to monitor\/ manage an incident or road works and are therefore used as a safety precaution. Safety concerns over people ignoring the red X signals are emerging and it is believed to be because of the signals being put up on the gantries too early, being taken down too late and drivers getting agitated over the closure of a lane that is not necessary. In regard to this, Highways England state: \u2018Driving in a lane with a red X sign is dangerous both to you and anyone working or stopped on the carriageway ahead, we sometimes need to set red X signs far in advance of an incident in order to provide access for emergency vehicles.\u2019<\/p>\n
New rules have been released that driving in a red X signed lane could incur a heavy fine for any motorist who does so. In a report by the Telegraph, a Highways England spokesman said: \u2018Safety is at the heart of everything we do and our roads are among the safest in the world.\u2019 Highways England also reported: \u2018Since we started issuing warning letters we have seen a decrease in the number of drivers ignoring our lane closures.\u2019<\/p>\n