You have my sympathies.
I have a particular problem with the people who control the matrix signs on the northbound M6,
When travelling home, I have an option to get off at three exits. My first option is junction 7, which is just prior to the M5/M6 interchange. This is not my preferred choice, due to the traffic on the A roads.
My best choice is junction 10, but I have to pass the very congested northbound M5 entry slip onto the M6.
Whenever I approach junction 7, I look at the switched off matrix signs and assume that the road is clear beyond the junction. I go past the junction and take the left hand bend, to be confronted by the next matrix sign, which is flashing to tell me of congestion, delays etc.
By now, it is too late to leave the M6 at J7 and reversing back down the motorway would put me at risk of appearing before three of your colleagues.
Why don't they give me the chance to get off at J7? Are they saving any electricity by not switching the other sign on? Or am I paranoid and they are not just doing it to piss me off?
Perhaps county boundaries ? The folks responsible for the J7 matrix don't get/don't ask/probably don't care, what's happening further up the motorway.
Yup. About 15 years ago I joined the M4 at J11 to find signs showing 30MPH at 2:30 in the morning. I toddled along at 35MPH until the third sign, with no sign of anything actually happening on the motorway, there was no traffic apart from me and a couple of lorries, which whizzed past at their normal 60MPH. At that point I edged up to 50MPH. Another sign with 30MPH, still no sign of activity. I then drove normally all the way into London with all the signs still showing 30MPH. There was absolutely nothing going on.
Since then I tend to ignore the signs. I take them as a warning that something may be happening, pay even more attention to what may be ahead, but can see no reason to take much heed of their instructions.
Are they only used for testing? Do I always arrive at the scene of a traffic problem only after it has (long) passed? How difficult is it to change the message or switch the things off?
Please do not warn me of fog, when there is a slight haze of a summer's morning and visibility is good. And especially do not expect me to do 30MPH on an almost deserted motorway in the wee small hours of the morning - I shall not.
fw
Sorry - nice theory, but J7 is miles from county boundary & only 1/2 mile short of where Stan gets stuck (sounds like the title to an Ealing comedy!)
Stan, you have my sympathy. That area is surpassed only by the M42 for its sheer frustration and I too have experienced the wonders of these little liars in the location that you mention.
Actually, county boundaries are irrelevant because the whole show's run by the Highways Agency. Just don't get me started on that bunch of tossers.
Good point, bystander. Repeatedly issuing empty warnings often leads to people coming to the perfectly reasonable conclusion that there will never be serious consequences to their actions.
Could your sign be put up in every courtroom in the land as well?
Welcome to our world....
Sorry guys. I must be a lot older than you lot because after many years of frustration I totally ignore the signs until I actually see something myself. Many the time people have pulled over and slowed down so I have gone all the way through to the clear signs without slowing from 80, cough, 60 and without seeing anything bar slowing motorists. Or is that the hazard they are referring to?
The M42 ones are now backed by speed cameras and the courts.
So, when they turn them on at 40, on clear motorways because they're too lazy to check if the road is actually congested or not, we HAVE to pay attention to them.
Alas, they turn them on at about 6am and then leave them on until midday. I suspect they're on one of those timers normally used to deter burglars by powering the radio on and off.
Surely there should be some comeback for effectively putting a 40mph limit on a motorway without a proper public inquiry?
You have got this a bit wrong, Katie. I am talking about warning matrix signs - not the variable speed limits. You can tell the latter because the speed is in a red circle, like an ordinary limit sign. Those speeds are set by sophisticated computer systems that gauge traffic flow and try to optimise speeds to give the highest road capacity. The M25 setup to the west of London is the best known of these.
If the sign is in a red circle it is mandatory, and if you are caught speeding you face points and a fine. Other signs are advisory.
My complaint is not that the speedl limit is there, it's that the M42 speed limits appear to be set using the same flawed process that leaves the matrix warning signs on at the wrong times.
I understand the intended purpose, but they are utterly useless, and were very expensive.
When the road is congested, traffic crawls past "40" signs at a few miles an hour. The rest of the time, the signs are at best turned off and at worst CAUSING the delays because they've been left on from the morning rush-hour until lunchtime.
I sympathise...
Katie - the M42 ones are particularly sneaky - the cameras are actually in the gantries holding the signs, but positioned behind the sign displays, so of course you don't actually see them...
The only way I found them was by wondering why my friend's road angel system went nuts every time we approached a sign...
Speaking as a computer programmer myself, there is a very simply solution to all this, and it is one that ought to have been considered at the very start of the matrix sign project. Quite simply, when the police or highways agency set a message, that message should have a limited life (say 2 hours) - after which the message would automatically cancel unless the police confirm that the problem still exists...
My favourite matrix sign was one on the A1 near by house, warning me about fog (handy, I was wondering what all that foggy stuff was), and telling me to drop to 20mph. Now, traffic plod take note - if you drive on the A1 at 20mph, especially in fog, you're gonna die. It's just the way it is.
Martin.
Not to worry, Martin; the chap who kills you will be banned for a few months and will have to live with the consequences and so on an so forth.
I interviewed with an outfit who do traffic management software. After doing some reading into the current state of research, I'd already decided that I didn't particuarly want the job, and so I ripped into them somewhat. They tacitly admitted that there are so many variables (i.e. people) involved that much of what they do is "informed guesswork", the technical term for ball cocks.
Put some risk averse civil servants into the mix, and you can see why nobody wants to stick their neck out by pushing the button that raises the speed limit (whether mandatory or advisory). Nobody, worse luck, ever got sacked for setting a 20mph limit.
My pet hate is the signs approaching the old M6 / M6 Toll junction. They always inform you that the M6 Toll is 'clear'. They never tell you anything about the state of the old M6, which would be considerably more helpful!
Mike
I passed a sign advising me of congestion on the M74 at the Raith Interchange on Friday, on my way home from work. This is useful if you're heading in a roughly Carlisle-bound direction, because the junction is hellish, there's roadworks on it, and at the best of times it's like Death Race 2000. If you're going to Glasgow (as I was) then it's less useful, but might give you a clue as to the state of the M8.
However, I was driving back from Orkney. The aforementioned sign was a little bit south of Inverness.
Do they really need to warn me of congestion 200 miles in advance?
My pet hate is the signs approaching the old M6 / M6 Toll junction. They always inform you that the M6 Toll is 'clear'. They never tell you anything about the state of the old M6, which would be considerably more helpful!
This is technically known as "advertising"!
You might print 10 copies for each; ensure they get the point.
would it not be possible to make the matrix signs time stamped (seeing as they are only advisory from what bystander said) then if something is time stamped "accident ahead 40mph [1600hrs]" and we are driving along at 2300hrs we can safely assume the danger has passed by applying a little common sense yet still be alert to possible debris etc
Stan still
I expect the failure to warn of problems before j7 is deliberate. They don't want people to turn off the motorway to avoid congestion because they prefer to contain it on the motorway.
Hi Guys.....not that anyone will read this by now. But hey....let me explain. Or at least try to.I work in an area where we can control the motoway signs. Sometimes there has been an incident on the motorway and the signs have been set to assist in warning traffic ahead..and then you get too busy to turn them off. However there are now "clever" signs that will judge the speed of vehs over certain markers in the road and then if the speed drops thinks there is a crash ect and then sets the signs on its own.
They are difficult to turn off...they are set by a clever computer you know.
One of the best ways to tell the computer that all is clear is to pass over the electromagnetic markers in the road at a high spped to then tell it that that traffic is flowing well (Average speed ect)
I have offerd to drive home over the markers at 140mph+ but this has been frowned upon as I would need at least 20 mates to do the same thing before the sodding thing takes this into account.
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