// Smart motorways are a disaster //
congestion on some parts of the road network was chronic, but there was resistance for expensive and intrusive widening schemes. the "quart into a pint pot" idea had to be tried first, if it failed there'd be a better argument for widening. the M42 trial scheme was a success, it improved journey reliability by 27%, reduced the number of accidents and cut emissions by 10%. but it also involved an awful lot of expensive technology, costly to install, operate and maintain. so when it came to rolling it out elsewhere, the bean counters watered down the specification to make it more fiscally attractive - and, as we now know, more dangerous in the event of a stranding event, which was also itself more likely.