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In the UK, the hard shoulder is used on some motorways to avoid traffic jams.
But the question of security is getting louder
Photo: Andrew Boyers / REUTERS
The UK government has announced that it will not expand the network of so-called "intelligent" highways without hard shoulder for the time being.
This decision was preceded by reports of fatal road accidents.
The expansion will initially be paused for five years, according to the British Ministry of Transport.
This time should be used for a comprehensive safety check of the existing roads.
Camera systems and real-time reports should guarantee security
On the “intelligent” roads, lanes can be flexibly released for general traffic - depending on the volume of traffic.
The idea is to increase the capacity of a road and avoid traffic jams when there is a lot of traffic.
A camera system and real-time reports in the event of vehicle breakdowns or accidents are intended to ensure safety.
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According to British media reports, the road network comprises around 600 kilometers of "smart" highways, 375 kilometers of which there are no hard shoulders.
Another 480 kilometers were planned by 2025.
Recently, however, there have been increasing reports of serious accidents on the "intelligent" roads: between 2014 and 2019, a total of 38 people are said to have died, some of them in collisions with vehicles standing on the lane.
In September, the British newspaper "Daily Mail" reported that one out of ten surveillance cameras on the routes was defective, inoperative, or pointed in the wrong direction.
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However, the British government has now pointed out that the "smart" highways are "the safest roads in the country in terms of the number of road deaths".
However, the authorities now wanted to carry out further safety tests before deciding on the future of the roads.
"We have to do more to make people feel safer on them," said UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.
At the same time, he announced investments of 900 million pounds - the equivalent of more than a billion euros - to improve the security of the existing infrastructure.
This included in particular additional parking bays for breakdown vehicles.
There are also trials with "smart" roads in Germany
The concept of flexible use of the hard shoulder was and is also being tried out in Germany.
In May 2021, for example, the Baden-Württemberg Transport Minister Winfried Hermann inaugurated a stretch of more than four kilometers on the A 81 near Stuttgart, on which the hard shoulder can be used as a carriageway until the planned expansion of the motorway begins.
On the A 52 between the Neersen motorway junction and the Mönchengladbach-Nord junction, an additional lane is to be made available during peak traffic times since September last year.
If the release of the hard shoulder is not clearly marked, this part of the motorway may not be used under any circumstances.
It may only be used as a hard shoulder in emergencies.
vki / AFP
