Yesterday I was coming back from Northampton and heard that the M1 was blocked in two places southbound due to accidents so we decided to cut across country on the A45/A14 and come down the M11. Added 15 minutes to the predicted journey time but no problems there.
My son mentioned that he'd heard there had been problems on the M11 southbound at Harlow so it might not be best option so checked before leaving to see that the closure had now gone and that there was one lane still closed but that was expected to re-open within the next 30 minutes and traffic was clearing OK. Still left me with the option of leaving at M11/Jcn 8 and taking the A120/A131 route if necessary if M11 hadn't cleared when I got closer.
Anyway, set off and had good journey bang on predicted time all the way down M11, got to decision time just before Jcn 8 and saw one of the overhead matrix signs reading 'Jcn 6 (M25) 15 miles 16 minutes'. I then made one of the stupidest decisions in a long while, I believed the sign and decided to stay on the M11 to the M25; after all 15 miles/16 minutes, an extra couple of minutes more than optimum, versus an extra ten minutes on the journey for the alternative route factors in nicely.
Passed Jcn 8 and the next sign promptly shows 40 limit and Caution for queues, by the time I reached that sign the traffic was three lanes of stationary/stop/go.
IT THEN TOOK OVER AN HOUR TO PASS JCN 7 AND ONE AND A QUARTER HOURS TO JCN 6.
If the matrix sign had told me the truth I would have taken the alternative route and I would have been home before I even reached the M25.
So the question is, what is the point of the matrix signs if they can't be trusted to be giving correct information?
I don't expect then to be perfect to the minute but closer than five times the journey time would be nice. After all, they didn't come cheap, I don't suppose....
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