Even 'smarter' m-ways: Are we ready to take hands off the wheel? | Blaise Tapp

There was a time, during another life that I was a bona fide commuter, covering more than 400 miles a week in a saloon car that any sales rep would have been proud of.
A smart motorway operating in SheffieldA smart motorway operating in Sheffield
A smart motorway operating in Sheffield

Not to put too fine a point on it, I was the classic motorway bore – a weary motorist obsessed with avoiding the inevitable delays during an 80-odd mile round trip to and from the newsroom that I regarded as my second home for eight-and-a-half years.

Tailbacks and seemingly pointless roadworks were dominant factors in my life and at times my patience, something I’ve never been renowned for, became almost non-existent.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

As a general rule, the object of my ire wasn’t traffic cones or fellas in hi-viz listening to TalkSport while standing idle next to a hole in the middle of the M6 but other drivers.

If it wasn’t the fully qualified Muppet in the Audi behind me trying to dock with my Ford at 70mph then it was watching the idiots around me engage in all manner of buffoonery that really got me hot under the collar.

During those 170,000 or so miles I witnessed drivers dice with death (theirs and mine) as they performed what might be considered mundane tasks if they weren’t in charge of a tonne or so of engine propelled metal.

I’ve seen women apply lippy as they go from third to fourth gear, famished fellas chow down on a Big Mac in the middle lane, and too many people to mention lighting up a Benson and Hedges when they should’ve been in control of the motor.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Having one, never mind two hands on the wheel is too much to ask for some people, which is why I did a double-take when I saw a news report at the weekend which suggested that the UK is on course to be the first nation in the world to allow some drivers to take their hands off the wheel completely on motorways.

At first, I thought I had been teleported to 2051 but then I reread the article and saw that Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is behind it and it all started to make sense.

Sort of.

From as early as this summer, lane-keeping technology could be permitted on motorways allowing eligible drivers to watch movies, send a text message, and presumably knit their dog a snood while getting from A to B.

This is because the new automated lane-keeping system (ALKS), which sounds like something from a Tom Cruise blockbuster, uses radar and cameras to keep a vehicle on course and slow down in line with the vehicle in front.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Regulations mean that vehicles will only be allowed to use the technology in stop-start traffic and only up to 37mph and it will only apply to state-of-the-art cars which won’t be on our roads until the end of the year.

The fact that it only applies to cars that cost you a kidney as well as an arm and leg mean that any introduction will not be widespread for some time yet.

There is a suggestion that Mr Shapps is keen that the UK adopts the technology before anywhere else because being a world leader in anything only serves to enhance the nation’s reputation.

This would be true only if it all goes to plan and we don’t have a great track record with road technology – only last week a coroner asked for a review of Smart Motorways following a tragedy on the M1 which claimed the lives of two men.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Even if a car is clever enough to drive itself, you have to question whether the benefits will ever exceed allowing the ‘driver’ to watch Die Hard for the 75th time while killing time on an otherwise uneventful journey.

Yes, there might well be plenty of stupid drivers on our roads but are we ready to be at the mercy of even more smart technology?

Related topics:

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.