Future Retirement Success
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Stocks
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Stocks

Future Retirement Success

Business

Classic car owners are giving smart motorways the cold shoulder

by December 28, 2022
December 28, 2022
Classic car owners are giving smart motorways the cold shoulder

The owners of classic cars are avoiding smart motorways and taking long detours because of the fear of being hit if they break down in a live lane.

Drivers of cars made more than 25 years ago said motorways without a hard shoulder held “too many risks” because their vehicles’ age makes them over-susceptible to mechanical failure. Instead, they resort to much longer journeys to bypass the roads, which are 10 per cent of the motorway network.

Edmund King, president of the AA, said that the government should “go back to the drawing board” and bring back the hard shoulder.

Alan Hames, 80, a highways engineer for 50 years before his retirement, said that he takes detours to avoid smart motorways when driving his Jaguar E-Type V12 Roadster, made in 1972. These added 26 miles to a return trip from his home in Northamptonshire to a recent rare-car event in London via the M40, which has a hard shoulder, rather than the M1, which does not.

“I know many other classic car owners who take long detours to avoid these smart motorway death traps,” he said.

“Our classics are well looked after but cars like mine are not as reliable as modern motors. At least a hard shoulder gives drivers the option of getting to relative safety. I see this new, dangerous situation as stealing the safety of ‘my’ hard shoulder that I helped design and construct in 1962.”

Smart motorways use various methods to manage the flow of traffic, such as converting the hard shoulder into a live running lane and issuing variable speed limits.

Gaynor Cauter, the editor of Jaguar Driver magazine, said: “I hear regularly from drivers who are so frightened of breaking down on smart motorways that they make every effort to avoid them. I include myself in that number.

“However, on some journeys, they are almost impossible to avoid.”

Alice Kimberley, 61, from Wiltshire, said: “I have been driving my classic Mazda MX5 fearlessly for 30 years but now I am concerned about venturing out on the M4. I try to avoid smart motorways if I can.”

In January the Department for Transport halted the development of motorways without a hard shoulder until five years of safety data has been collected for schemes introduced before 2020.

King said: “The rollout of new smart motorways has been halted but urgent action is needed on the current confusion. Reinstating the hard shoulder and enforcing better lane discipline might just do the trick.”

Read more:
Classic car owners are giving smart motorways the cold shoulder

0
FacebookTwitterGoogle +Pinterest
previous post
BBC admits spending £7m on rebranding
next post
Ministers’ efforts to claw back cash from PPE fraud branded ‘pitiful’

You may also like

Asda faces staff backlash after scrapping 10,000 manager...

March 1, 2025

3 places your business is haemorrhaging money –...

November 24, 2022

British manufacturing still in a slump even as...

April 4, 2023

Finding Law Firms Made Easy: An Overview of...

May 16, 2024

Land Rover and Range Rover hybrid sales surge...

October 31, 2024

HMRC splashes £150m on digital skills and launches...

April 24, 2023

Energy bills likely to inch higher from April...

December 11, 2024

How to List Your Cryptocurrency on Exchange: Typical...

December 29, 2023

Tourist Tax Diverts Wealthy Visitors from London to...

June 6, 2024

Soup Sales Surge as Rainy Spring Affects Consumer...

June 18, 2024

    Get free access to all of the retirement secrets and income strategies from our experts! or Join The Exclusive Subscription Today And Get the Premium Articles Acess for Free

    By opting in you agree to receive emails from us and our affiliates. Your information is secure and your privacy is protected.

    Recent Posts

    • Trump warns of ‘serious consequences’ if Elon Musk funds Democrats

      June 7, 2025
    • Musk jokes about reconsidering stance on Big Beautiful Bill after Schiff’s praise

      June 7, 2025
    • Musk deletes explosive posts about Trump and Epstein files

      June 7, 2025
    • House witness flips script on Dem who ambushed him during hearing with unearthed tweet: ‘Iceberg is ahead’

      June 7, 2025
    • Call with China’s Xi, and Trump-Musk exchange fueled barbs during 20th week in office

      June 7, 2025
    • Trump’s conservative allies warn Congress faces critical ‘test’ with $9.4B spending cut proposal

      June 7, 2025

    Categories

    • Business (8,152)
    • Investing (2,019)
    • Politics (15,568)
    • Stocks (3,136)
    • About us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & Conditions

    Disclaimer: futureretirementsuccess.com, its managers, its employees, and assigns (collectively “The Company”) do not make any guarantee or warranty about what is advertised above. Information provided by this website is for research purposes only and should not be considered as personalized financial advice. The Company is not affiliated with, nor does it receive compensation from, any specific security. The Company is not registered or licensed by any governing body in any jurisdiction to give investing advice or provide investment recommendation. Any investments recommended here should be taken into consideration only after consulting with your investment advisor and after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.

    Copyright © 2025 futureretirementsuccess.com | All Rights Reserved