Watch until the end for the AA man’s brilliant anecdote…
There was also a brilliant documentary series a few years back about the building of the motorways - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007xr62
The conditions in which the trans-Pennine M62 were built were quite something.
> At one point, I threw petrol[gasoline] across the motorway and lit it to try and warn them [of the accident ahead in the fog].
> But still, people still drove through it, and you could hear in the fog, bangs of more people crashing.
> [Comentator]. But nonetheless, a carnival atmosphere prevailed.
These were happier times... When even as people crash, burn, and die, people have a happy outlook on life. What happened?
every time I see a red X over a lane on a motorway gantry (meaning: lane closed) there's people driving in it at full speed
which is why "smart" motorways are so dangerous
There is also a temporary speed limit that 99% of drivers simply can not obey and that is 40 MPH, it's as if there is some external force at play?
Then there's the advisory limits, without the red circuits, which tend to be ignored
I do find it amusing watching people slam their brakes on for school safety zones… at 8pm.
When someone highlighted that the 6 point penalty meant this was at least his 2nd road traffic offence, he replied “yes but that’s not the point.”
I honestly believe some people are incapable of learning and banning them for their offences is really the only answer to make the roads safe.
Re: fog on early motorways - there's an interesting article on roads.org about the development of modern British road signs. A section of that article talks about the early signs that were used to warn of fog: https://www.roads.org.uk/articles/mixed-signals/yellow-peril...