ndevans wrote: ↑Tue Sep 12, 2023 11:57 am
Smart motorways are not the problem, dumb drivers are.
I think I could put it a bit more eloquently.
The main problem being addressed is the capacity & ability of the road network to carry traffic.
Smart motorways are a part of the solution to that problem, but only a part. Smart drivers are also an important part of the solution, as without driver education and a general raising of driving standards, there is a limit to how effective any road improvement scheme can be. Smart motorways in themselves are not dangerous. People, drivers, driver behaviour, are the cause of accidents.
There are other solutions that need to be considered as well, such as improvements in public transport, lessening the need for travel etc., and we don't do enough of that, so I'd agree that smart motorways look like a cheap shortcut to a partial solution. Maybe we should consider charging road tolls for motorways, perhaps that is another piece of the jigsaw.
Let's have an enquiry by all means, but if we are serious about reducing congestion, improving traffic handling, and improvements in road safety, we should consider the whole picture, not just scream "smart motorways are bad, let's scrap them".
Edit:-we might also want to be mindful of the fact that as classic car owners we are not liable for road fund duty, yet we still contribute to the demand for the infrastructure that we use. We are therefore asking for changes to that infrastructure, whilst not being contributors to the costs in the same way that users of more modern vehicles are. This is a different argument, and it gets complicated because I am aware that the costs of the road infrastructure are not fully met by the road fund alone, some of it comes from general taxation, some from fuel tax etc.