A good audience turned out for the last Monday meeting of the year when Highways England were invited to come and present to the group. This was just as well, otherwise there might have been more of them than of us! We were pleased to welcome no fewer than 3 presenters, Bill Hadlow and Jolene Britton, an active patrol team, and their section leader, Sandy Osborough.

 

Rather than just talk about their work in general, the theme chosen was Smart Motorways. Bill was our main presenter, and he provided an enjoyable and interactive talk (with able assistance from Jolene and Sandy), which raised many questions.

 

Smart Motorways – love them or hate them? Bill did not try to convert us, but provided us with information and left us to decide for ourselves. They have been introduced to try and make traffic flow better on congested sections of our major motorways, by allowing use of the hard shoulder, along with a high coverage of CCTV cameras, and variable speed limits. Theory suggests, and experience proves, that slowing the traffic down slightly when it becomes congested, produces a better, more even flow. Interestingly, experience shows that Smart Motorways also have fewer incidents on the hard shoulder (perhaps because some of the weird and wonderful excuses people find for stopping on it, no longer apply).

 

There are two kinds – Dynamic Hard Shoulder (DHS) and All Lane Running (ALR). With Dynamic Hard Shoulder, the hard shoulder functions normally part of the time, but is pressed into service when traffic builds up. A full sweep for stationary vehicles is undertaken before the hard shoulder is opened for traffic. Signs on gantries instruct and guide the public on when to use the hard shoulder, and more importantly, when not to. With All Lane Running, the hard shoulder becomes a permanent live lane, with emergency refuge areas provided at intervals in case of breakdowns. ALR motorways have 100% CCTV coverage.

 

Bill’s main education point for the evening was a plea for motorists to heed the red X signs over a lane which is closed. Unfortunately it seems nearly a third of motorists (31% in a recent survey) admit that they would continue to drive in a lane closed by red X signs, “until they could see the cause of the lane closure”. Sandy provided some hair-raising real-life experience of this, recalling an occasion when a large articulated lorry (owned by a well-known British firm) approached him at speed while protecting an incident scene on the hard shoulder, before swerving into the next lane at the last minute, narrowly missing him and his brightly illuminated 4x4, and then swerved back onto the hard shoulder and carried on!

 

Don’t be tempted to follow this example, however, as the HADECS (Highways Agency Detection and Enforcement Camera System) cameras will soon be live and you will receive an automatic penalty and points on your licence. Spread the word, and help to keep the officers safe out there.

 

Walk around your car and check tyres for any lumps or if any of them are flat.

 

Do you know your tyre pressures, or where to find them in your car? Most cars have a sticker either on the driver’s door jamb, or under the fuel filler cap.

 

Depth of tyre tread - the legal requirement is 1.6mm. In the UK, car tyres MUST have a tread depth of at least 1.6 mm across the central three-quarters of the tread and around the entire circumference of the tyre. It’s the law.

 

 

To check your tyre tread depth by using a 20p coin:

 

You can see if your tyres are close to the 1.6mm legal tread depth by using a 20p coin. Stand the coin in a groove in the tyre tread. If you can see the outer rim of the coin, then the tyre is approaching the legal minimum tread depth and you should consider replacing it. You need as much grip as possible particularly in the winter with wet roads, possible slippery surfaces from oil spills, ice and snow.

 

Clean all your windows and mirrors from heavy dew, daily if necessary. On dull misty days you need to gain as much vision as possible of other vehicles. Don’t forget to clear snow from the roof your vehicle too. You should not let movement let it fall off in the road behind you.

 

Have you checked how clean your headlights are, and other lights on your car? Not only do you need to see, but be seen by other road users. Do this daily in winter. When roads are wet, a lot of dirt and muck gets thrown up from the vehicle in front of you or passing lorries. If you have Daylight Running Lights (DRLs), remember they are only on the front of the car, not the rear. Think about putting on dipped head lights as very often on dull/murky days, cars merge into the surrounding hedgerow, and you need to be seen from the rear.

 

Make sure that ALL your lights are working. You can check them with someone else, or on your own, using reflections in a garage door or neighbour's window or another car. Then reverse and do the same for rear lights. Dipped headlights, headlights, indicators (back and front) reversing light(s) and fog lights.

 

Remember at the end of a journey, before you switch the engine off, switch all lights off.