Smart Motorways – Driving Schools Thatcham

Highways England revealed back in October 2019 that by 2025 there will be a rollout of approximately 300 miles of smart motorway that is absent of a hard shoulder. This may pose a serious problem as a survey conducted at the end of last year by Brake and Green Flag showed that fewer than half of the drivers on UK roads know the rules of driving on so called ‘smart’ motorways. Staggeringly, only ¾ of the 2000 drivers asked even knew what a smart motorway was, with only 48% knowing the rules regarding actually driving on one.

Brake’s Director of Campaigns, Joshua Harris stated ‘These important findings confirm what we all suspected – drivers are confused about the rules of driving on smart motorways and communication efforts must urgently be stepped up to avoid more tragic incidents on these roads.’ With this in mind, perhaps it is important for driving schools, inside and outside of Thatcham, to give pupils a run down of some of the rules of smart motorways, and some of the legislation surrounding ignorance of the rules. Such as paying attention to the gantry signs and the variable speed limits, otherwise you may incur a fine of up to £2,500. Driving on a ‘Red-X’ lane, while being seriously dangerous, if caught you could face an automatic fine of £100 in addition to three penalty points put on your license. If you break down on a smart motorway use the emergency refuge areas (ERA). If this is impossible, you should move onto the verge when it’s safe to do so.