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Naturally
Is there a “natural” state of things that is inherently superior?
You’re happily driving along on the motorway. It is quite busy for a Tuesday afternoon, and there is a slight drizzle. Suddenly, the red engine management warning indicator on your dashboard comes on. You slow down and move towards the edge of the motorway… but there is no hard shoulder! You are on a “smart” motorway! Thankfully, there’s a refuge 200m ahead. But surely, this cannot be safe? A motorway without a hard shoulder, that is almost against nature, isn’t it?
Smart motorways were first introduced in 2006 in the UK. They don’t have much in the way of intelligence themselves, but thanks to technology and remote management, they can be adapted to the traffic conditions to enhance traffic flow during busy times. One variant (introduced in 2014) involves temporarily or permanently repurposing the hard shoulder for traffic (while reducing the maximum speed). But is such tinkering with the “natural” flow of traffic safe — and more importantly, is it seen to be safe?
Perception is not reality
An official 2021 report on smart motorways shows that both motorways with no hard shoulder, and those where the hard shoulder is dynamically turned into an active lane have, on average, fewer fatalities per billion miles travelled…
