Drivers No Longer Need The Hard Shoulder
30/06/2019 The Telegraph: Drivers no longer need the hard shoulder, says Highways England amid criticism of smart motorways
Drivers no longer require a hard shoulder, the government agency which operates the UK’s major roads has said, amid criticism of the shift to smart motorways.
Matt Pates, who manages the East Midlands division of Highways England, said the need for hard shoulders had now become redundant due to the improved safety of our motorways.
- what evidence of ‘improvement’ is there? with fires seemingly at least constant – but spills having doubled? What reduction in incidents is there to justify the statement?
- On the one hand, HE cite car safety to justify hard shoulder removal, on the other they claim failure to maintain as the cause for fires and blight any vehicle that has failed an MoT in its history – irrespective of subsequent MoT pass