{"id":9669,"date":"2023-08-15T10:24:26","date_gmt":"2023-08-15T10:24:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/?p=9669"},"modified":"2023-08-15T10:24:28","modified_gmt":"2023-08-15T10:24:28","slug":"reasons-to-be-cheerful-94","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/?p=9669","title":{"rendered":"Reasons to be cheerful #94"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a>
M62 Motorway\/David Dixon\/wikicommons<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Full disclosure: for those who are not Private Eye<\/em> fans like myself, the expression \u2018contd. Page 94\u2019 is often put at the end of an article indicating how the writer could go on, but in the interests of brevity\/lack of space etc it finishes here. The number is also used in other contexts such as \u2018may I be the 94th<\/sup> person to point out\u2026\u2019 You get my drift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now while I can\u2019t immediately identify 93 reasons to be cheerful please allow me my homage to a publication which continues to make me both hoot with laughter and weep at the corruption the journalists unearth, whether it is in business or government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which brings me nicely to a typical example of a government-backed initiative that those of us with a modicum of common sense could see was a ludicrous idea, but which was pursued at significant cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have no doubt that on some policy wonk\u2019s computer it looked clean as a whistle, but reality has proved the opposite. I am talking about \u2018smart motorways\u2019.  Based on the concept of \u2018active traffic management\u2019, the idea behind this was to increase capacity on motorways by, amongst other things, introducing a variable speed limit and removing the hard shoulder, replacing them with \u2018emergency refuges\u2019 approximately every 800 metres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apparently the aim was to explore a cost-effective alternative to traditional carriageway widening, with intended benefits ranging from more reliable journey times to lower vehicle emissions. For anyone who has driven along such a motorway – as I have \u2013 it is nerve-wracking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Billions have been spent in adapting sections of most of the key motorways across the UK.  Another huge amount has been spent in evaluating their effectiveness in terms of cost, safety, pollution, managing breakdowns and so on.  For me, the significant data lies in the public\u2019s perception: according to the RAC: \u2018In 2022, 22% of drivers said they do not feel confident on motorways without a hard shoulder. This is compared to 12% on motorways with a hard shoulder and 8% on dual carriageways (normally without a hard shoulder).’  Also, emergency refuge areas are currently provided up to 2.5 km apart \u2013 raising the question of whatever happened to the 800 metre plan? Surveys showed that 63% of drivers believed this was too far and 79% of drivers were concerned they would not be able to reach a refuge in time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many years ago I was a back-seat passenger in a car in the outside lane of the M1 with three other bright young things when something hit the windscreen. \u00a0Seconds later the entire windscreen cracked, crazed and started to cave in towards Jim the driver and the chap sitting in the passenger seat. Jim\u2019s reactions were impeccable, pulling over sharply to the hard shoulder and braking as fast as he safely could. We all got out, extremely shaken but unhurt and proceeded to pick bits of glass off the boys and the front seats. I cannot imagine what could have happened in the absence of a hard shoulder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few weeks ago the government announced that the smart motorways scheme would be halted permanently, citing \u2018financial pressures and lack of confidence felt by drivers\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now you know why I am feeling cheerful. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have no doubt that on some policy wonk\u2019s computer it looked clean as a whistle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":9676,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[297,55,282,64],"tags":[76,19,97,525],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9669"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9669"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9684,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9669\/revisions\/9684"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}