UK Smart Motorways are NOT SAFE - personal experience M6(S) Jan 2021 

Three times over the last year & five months, I’ve had to take action because a car/lorry has broken down. It is so bloody dangerous. That coupled with those brainless tossers who live in the middle lane, trying to change lanes is equally a nightmare.

No hard shoulder is mental,whoever’s responsible for these stupid motorways should be held accountable.But we all know that never happens.......

My next car is going to be a SHERMAN tank covered in Strobe lights! Maybe a ramp on the back so they go over the top in an accident?

Thanks for sharing your experience, luckily I am based in the north, We’re 20 years behind and there’s no smart motorway here. Glad we have 2 lanes plus the hard shoulder, appreciate it more now!

Removing the hard shoulder is one thing. But to then erect the crash barrier so you are contained in a live lane is a double whammy ! There are many miles of motorway where the barrier could be placed 6 feet back, at least giving a broken down vehicle half a chance to get out of the way. Granted, this can't be done everywhere, but it would give people a better chance at surviving a breakdown.

If something contains the word "smart" you can bet that it's anything but. Smart is synonymous with the gratuitous use of technology and is bound to fail some of the time. In the instance of motorways, this is a mind boggling gamble with people's lives and should be reveresed. What's crazy is the continuation of these projects. However, it's obvious that Highways England have no respect for the rule of law anyway, with their announced continuation of the Stonehenge tunnel, despite it being ruled unlawfull in court! Their sole mission it seems is to channel taxpayers cash into the hands of private contractors.

Sorry to hear you had to go thru this Alex. When you hear an intelligent man and sensible driver state there was literally nothing more they could do, they were fearing for their lives and the lives of others should someone hit his stationary car... it says it all really... People should not have to feel this way.. A total loss of power is the nightmare smart motorway scenario... i would guess this would have been even more terryfying had he not managed to get in lane 1. Your then left with the awful decision of deciding whether to stay in the car or get out and run for your life :(

It always terrifies me when driving on smart motorways, just in case I break down. Maybe smart motorways should be called "Not very smart motorways", smart motorways are dangerous beyond belief. Whoever thought of the smart motorway and whoever implemented this dangerously stupid idea should spend time behind bars.

Highways England charged you £150 what a cheek when they removed hard shoulder totally disgusting.

They take the hard shoulder away and then take your £150 away.....what an absolute disgrace.

close them down!!! Deathtraps and also charging £150 what the hell after all the tax we pay

Thanks for relating your experience and I'm so glad you weren't yet another victim claimed by so called smart motorways! Maybe your experience helped contribute to the recent decision to cancel this stupid policy but it needs to go further and teturn hard shoulders to all afflicted sections of motorway. I regularly use a section of the M5 that is 'smart', both as a car driver and biker and I hate it. This particular section also has no illumination, which they have been working on for the last 6 years to rectify, wtf can take so long with overhead lighting?! We have been suffering from lane closures for all that time! The M1 was constructed in about 2 years, and that was in the early 60's! One thing that does work extremely well though, speed cameras! Says it all!

I'll be coming back to this video after the next big accident that is about to happen on this stretch. Mark my words.

Before I re-tired I drove 65 to 70k per year as a Corporate Sales Manager,I saw the introduction of this nightmare of the M40,I could see then the problems it would cause.

They are dangerous . The government got it wrong trying to pass there greed off as our safety. Lanes too narrow and no hard shoulder. It blows my mind every time . All about this 💰 🤑

I dread the thought of a bus full of children breaking down but it will take something like that, a politician or someone famous being killed Before they admit they were wrong.

I've had a couple of near-misses with vehicles stopped in lane 1 and I don't use it anymore unless I'm a mile or less from my turnoff or the traffic is moving very slowly. It's just not safe and I don't believe the 'research' claiming otherwise; funny how they discovered that just as they needed to widen motorways but didn't have the money to do it properly. I should add: I'm a truck driver, and I rang 999 to report the stranded vehicles. On one occasion, in Derbyshire, I took the milepost number and gave it to the lady on the other end of the line and was told "we don't know about those, Highways use them".

Hello, sorry to hear about your experience. I do have a question if you would like to answer? The £150 charge..... was this because you didnt have your own breakdown or is this now a new charge that Highways England and profiting from by placing people in danger?

SMH in American. Really? A motorway without a hard shoulder? Call me dumb, but in the US, Interstates are required to have at least a right shoulder (and most have a left shoulder as well).

Thanks for this. You were lucky and level-headed. Some drivers might have panicked in such a sticky situation making it worse. I would like to know the original source of this lunatic traffic scheme - and what other new ideas they are working on !!

I totally agree that these motorways are unsafe so the Government needs to stop this madness before there is a huge pile of vehicles and death. It's time for some common sense to prevail.

It's horrifying that a motorway lane can be obstructed for so long with so few safety provisions. It only takes one driver who's not paying attention and you've got a serious accident. I live near the Manchester to Leeds section of the M62 and I just don't feel safe using it any more, especially at busy times because far too often there's some fool in an Audi doing 90 in the left hand lane whether it's open or not ! A lot of them seem to think they can use it as an extended exit lane for the next junction, even when it's 2 or 3 miles away, and drive as fast as they like to get there.

Lots of comments on fewer deaths on Smart motorways. But surely the bigger issue is that by increasing the number of lanes just induces demand, so your busy 3 lane motorway becomes an equally busy 4 lane motorway (but now with less safety infrastructure). Who benefits from this? Not the drivers or the environment?

I would want to know the make of your car. When it was last serviced by a main dealer. The mileage on the car. What speed were you doing as the problem occurred. The passing vehicles should have been travelling at a speed that they could stop in the distance they could see!

I love your video and especially the commentary. I managed to drive our Toyota Land Cruiser with the oil light on for 2 minutes and onto a grass verge. It was all on the Dash Cam. The lanes were open an HOUR after I got onto that verge. It was said I had broken down in the live lane but the video that will be on You Tube soon shows otherwise. 'They' will lie their heads off to keep hold of that £192 gained by false pretenses and think that is how they should conduct themselves but should they? Are the banks taking a dim view of their antics? YES.

Poll - On Smart Motorway would you be able to stop in time if a vehicle 100yds ahead was stopped with parking lights on?

I’ve seen many near misses and I’ve seen the overhead signs saying use hard shoulder (m62 near Harts head services) then I saw a parked vehicle in the hard shoulder, the people were high up on the banking, so the car had been broken down for some while. VERY DANGEROUS! When I was on Facebook and wrote this, they censored my comments.

This is enough to put me off using so called "smart" motorways. Especially if I have my children or elderly parents as passengers.

Smart motorways are dangerous as lorry driver around London I see examples everyday

The Engineers who thought this one up ,Should be Sued for it . I always wear a yellow reflecto vest ,incase of bailing out of vehicle

This is frightening. The last time I broke down I went from 40 to zero in the blink of an eye as the gears went. Luckily I wasn’t on the motorway. The thought of being on the motorway when that happened is deeply concerning. For this reason I try to avoid motorways and would rather stick to A roads rather than get stranded in the middle of a live lane. People say but you’re causing congestion in towns. True but if you take hard shoulders away from motorways you can’t expect people to keep using them. I would rather leave early and take longer to get to my destination.

When the first section of M1 was built it had no hard shoulder and late friends of mine founded their business on digging one out as motorway was deemed dangerous without one although traffic was relatively low in comparison, so what is smart in doing away with hard shoulder and ten times the traffic

I was driving down a smart motorway some were near Manchester i had a blow out I had my disabled son in the back who's in a powered wheel chair i was not stopping there i carried on about 4 miles tyre nearly on fire till i found hard sholder i was shit scarred who ever got the idea smart motorways should be sent to prison for all the deaths they have caused

My golden rule is to never use "smart" motorways. Thanks for sharing this video, which illustrates the dangers of smart motorways very clearly.

I have stopped using them unless I really have no choice, I would rather it take a bit longer on a journey. They were made to ease congestion on other roads but they are forcing people on to them. It's disgusting that they charge £150 when I allready pay for Breakdown service who will come if you are on a hard shoulder, they should pay it, they caused it.

It's the Eastern European truckers, watching their TV's and talking to family back home on their phones, that you have to worry about and which, the highways numpties have clearly not taken into consideration! What if you don't have a phone with you, or can't afford to just cough up 150 quid, do they just leave you in the lane?

I hope it doesn't, but if something like this ever happens again DO NOT stand between the Vehicle Restraint System and the gantry foundation - the VRS is designed to deflect, if someone had hit the barrier you would have been crushed between the VRS, and the concrete foundation. If you do breakdown, always leave the vehicle and stand on the grass verge at least 50m away and to the rear of the vehicle. Where possible stand as far away from the carriageway as is practicable without falling into a ditch or climbing through vegetation.

Disgusting that whoever came up with this idea needs being 'Slapped! Why put peoples lives at any kind of risk.

I’m a professional driver trainer although I haven’t experienced a break down on a smart to be honest haven’t been on that many. The ones I’ve been on I haven’t felt that safe, in the back of my mind I’m thinking if something goes wrong this could be serious or even fatal. Although the ERA’ are about mile apart some seem longer! Even if your lucky enough to break down near one I say luck thought of being stuck in lane with all those HGV’s etc flying past must be terrifying. Even if you get to ERA area there not that big if there were say large vehicles there’s not much room for other vehicles. Me personally I don’t think there safe with all my experience I’d avoid them if I could. Check out my you tube channel I’ve done a smart motorway a few months ago I felt unsafe. Stay safe out-there! 🛣

This is the future, smart means something else has control. I agree that smart anything is bad news. It's a total disregard to our safety but more for money!!!!!!!!!

They have implemented this in South Wales along the tunnels in Newport due to a lot of accidents there. Problem is, since this system was implemented there has been an increase in crashes but they are adamant it’s a good thing…..i have driven through it before and it’s gone from 60mph straight into 40mph at one point with not enough time to slow safely so it was a load of cars heavily breaking….it’s just awful

Your first priority is to contact highways England and tell them you have broke down and tell them exactly where you are, so they can shut that lane instantly

I had an experience similar although not as bad, but it wasn't even on a smart motorway! My car was playing up on the m4 in Wales, between Newport and Cardiff so I thought best pull over into the hard shoulder, unbeknown to me that the hard shoulder was about to disappear! I had to quickly slam on my brakes to avoid having to come back out into fast moving traffic. Luckily I didn't hit the barrier or other vehicles but it was very close

How the person who dreamt up this idea can sleep at night.beats me!!

"Highways" do not charge a motorist for clearing/ towing their broken down car out of a "live" lane and to a safety bay or other place of safety (from where the motorist can contact their recovery). However if your vehicle has broken down on the motorway network, and you do not have any recovery in place for it, or it cannot be moved by Highways from out of the live lane, they may have to arrange recovery for you via a private contractor, who will take you and the vehicle to a place of safety (usually their compound). Release fee is now approx. £200

Imagine this is at night and your car is pre hazard light as I mean 4 way flashers. Who will see you then?

Highways England do not charge to tow you to an emergency bay, they only charge you the cost of statutory removal if your vehicle can not be moved ie can not be towed via a traffic officer vehicle!!

I Have very grave reservations about so-called "smart" motorways, and that stupid advert with the two bugs splatted on the windscreen definitely does not help - Know the one? "Go Left". What a load of piffle, as if you have the time to plan a way out of the situation, suggesting you should "go left" at the next junction, or "go left" at the emergency bay/phone, "go left" to get out of the car via the passenger side (so no stopping tight against the Armco then!). I seriously think the idiots who dreamt up this murderous idea have never driven a car/other vehicle, let along driven on a motorway. When your engine dies, that's it, you've got seconds to react, not the luxury of time, and two splatted bugs singing a little ditty as you casually bimble along the motorway looking for an exit, or a bay to park in, which can be as much as a mile away. - A mile is 1 minute away at 60 mph. Without power, and in ideal conditions, a car might coast at a reasonable pace for about 15 to 20 seconds, and bearing in mind that it is slowing down all the time, your not going to get more than about 400 yards at best, and your not going coast all the way down to a standstill. Once your speed drops below about 40 mph you are in significant danger. Below 30 mph, you're in serious danger. Imagine too, the havoc which would ensue if this had happened in thick fog. It doesn't bear thinking about.

And they're still building them - no sign of them being halted, or reversed.

Whenever you reduce options for drivers, you increase the danger levels. Anyone with 1/2 a brain cell could figure out that they are not good.

biggest issue in this is the Armco is too close to the road is it was back a bit further there would be more of a verge & then it's like breaking down on any dual carriageway yes no picnic but no more risky,

And this is NOT in darkness...or fog...or in a snowstorm.....

There is only one thing that will stop these motorway and it’s a scary thought there will be an accident involving CHILDREN and a lot of them with injury and deaths and after that happens (and it will happen it’s only a matter of time) they will be scrapped and B&Q will be getting a massive order for tins of white paint to put the hard shoulder back in. Also the £150 just to get you to a safe place is discussing…

Why not use hard shoulder as a running lane at busy times

I think £150 is unreasonable purely because on a normal motorway you would have been on the hard shoulder and able to call a recovery truck to get you to a garage or home (depending on distance) for the around the same price

First time I went on one I was terrified when I came off I parked in a layby just to calm down, !

It makes no sense for the barriers to be so close to the carriageway. Why didnt they leave a grass strip of 3 m width between road and barrier for most of the length of the road. At least you could ditch your car off road in the mud and be relatively safe. It could be towed out after the lane was closed.

THE WHOLE BLOODY POINT OF A MOTORWAY IS A HARD SHOULDER!

the new smart motorways can detect stopped vehicles though

How many levels of idiocy that must of got through to be built !! Anyone in there right mind could tell you they will be lethal

After all the expense and the delay for the poor bloody motorist. When they finally open the thing they come to the conclusion that anyone who had ever driven on a motorway could have told them in the first place.

This is why I avoid smart motorways if at all possible⚠️😲😳

And you’re on your own imagine if you had three or four people in the car and you put it hard up against the barrier so it presents the least target for the next lorry ,how do you get out on the driver side without getting fucking killed?

sorry, wait.... is the safe area they take you to the next service station, or the next lay by??? they shouldn't be charging for that - that's pathetic!

And imagine if you were disabled with mobility issues,

You Have To WONDER Just WHO Profits From Smart Motorways ??? Which Companies Build And Install Them, Who Runs Them, Who In Government Is INVOLVED In All Of This ??? If We Knew Where All The Money Goes We May Have A Clearer Idea Of What Is Really Behind It All.

Let me just point something out about the Government, Smart Motorways, Many people Dying and being Injured, Electric Scooters in most Town Centre areas, People Dying on them and others getting Injured, Social Media which should of been 16 or 18+ only but children on there, harmful content on them, people taking own lives. Unsafe cars that set on fire and need to be recalled, Range Rovers and Jaguars that Power Steering Fails, these are Dangerous cars on the road. Other countries Ban them untill repaired and allowed on road. UK Government Don't Care About Any Of This! There Only Bothered about pushing New Technology over Lives. If anyone thinks campaigning about Smart Motorways is worth it think again, they are already starting on the New Digital Motorways to control you all, where you drive, what speed you drive, when you all think your helping save the planet in your new Electric Cars, They are already Taking about Drivers of them Not Paying Road Tax, Not that its used to repair the damn roads, They will be Taxing you by the Miles You Drive which is why They Use Climate Change Nonsense to get you In Electric Cars that will be controlled by New Digital Motorways

Tell Shapps that we dont want his killer smart motorways.

How many duel carriageways do you know with a hard shoulder.. Next.. in one year 7 of my highway maintenance workers friends were killed on a normal motorways..43 were injured. Since smart motorways were introduced accidents have fallen. From the data I've seen 23 % of brakedowns were due to running out of fuel( totally preventable) 37 were due to poor maintenance ( totally avoidable)16 % were just warning light and the vehicle was still drivable( so keep going to the safe area)

If in doubt about space in front I refuse to use lane 1 and stay jn lane 2 wirh my 44 tonnes .

This is absolutely disgraceful, irresponsible and threatens lives. And then to CHARGE £150. Who is responsible for this total waste of our money?

Absolute madness dangerous is not the word smart motorways no hard shoulder death waiting to happen

whoever thought of smart motorways cant be all that smart.

They use radar not cameras to spot a car broken down

Who/what do I blame for all this? There are simply too many people living in England, hence too much traffic. Try using motorways in Netherlands/Belgium even twenty years apart ago. A total nightmare.

Smart means pain Bet one will be in pain

If they are going to charge me £150 to take me 1/2 mile to a "safe place" then I will refuse and wait for my recovery which is free at the point of use! What a rip off!

£150!!!

Smart is not the word I would use for these motorways.

A terrible experience for the poster of the video. And when you think about all those A roads with two and three lanes and 70 mph speed limit it makes you wonder why they have no hard shoulder either.

bird brain idea. if i thought it was dangerous from the start why didn't they. mad.

There is no such thing as a dangerous road only dangerous drivers. The proof of this is clear from the number of drivers caught speeding or committing other offences. Also how many drivers have crashes on so called safe roads? Never in the history of the universe has a road had an accident. I have driven over many accident black spots yet never had an accident. Some roads are unforgiving to those who choose not to drive well, and that is the problem!

100 yards at most should be the gaps

Took you 12 minutes to call it in …

Instead of making 4 lane motorways with a hard shoulder they save billions by making these not smart motorways. But hey it's only a few hundred deaths a year that's acceptable.

They are horrendous altogether. Can not even change a punctured tyre. And having to drive considerable distance on a flat or the wheel rim to get safe. They should be scrapped .a hard shoulder was relatively safe .there is a horrid piece on m6 j15 to j21. That is a right shit of a place.

Keep your car properly maintained. There is NO "slow lane". People driving should meet a minimum standard for eyesight, the ones smashing in to other cars and who can't see others in front of them are the ones in need of eye tests. SMART Motorways rely on SMART Drivers, sadly there are not many about, so they blame everything else they can.

You get charged £150 ! For what ?? Calling the emergency services. Didn't know about that. FFS.

Why didt you just keep rolling? at around 60mph you can roll for a very long way probably a mile, no need to come to a stop where you did. Smart motorways are not the problem its the people using them.

Not so smart motorways!

why did it take you 12 minutes to call 999.........should have been done imediately, and from an emergency phone not your mobile...........

£150? Sounds like it's better to call your breakdown company, rather than 999, which is ridiculous.

Seems like most of the funding went into the Variable Speed Enforcement Cameras to make $$

Dont worry about SMART MOTORWAYS thats old now. M1 AND M6 the NEW DIGITAL MOTORWAYS are coming. Sold to you with rubbish like You will be able to drive faster through roadworks.

You know what else is not safe? Buying a 10 year old second hand Mini.

See what David Icke says on it al

we shouldnt have to pay to be towed off the motorway by highways england due to the fact we all pay tax already so we should be covered through that not to mention that this poor design is not our fault and had there been a hardshoulder we wouldnt need any assistance from highways

Given the option, I avoid these nightmare carriageways like the plague that they are!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Smart motorways are smart for accountants not motorists.

When is the great British public going to speak up against their chiefs in charge supposed to look after their lives??