Lay-by closed

Why are lay-by closed?

I’m not talking about those that are full of machinery or aggregate for roadworks nearby. I mean the ones that are randomly coned off nowhere near anything, nothing in it or any other visible reason. The other day I pulled on to our main road when something started rattling. No problem I thought as a P sign indicated a lay-by in 1/2 mile only to find it closed for no reason I could see. 

When I thought about this seems to be a regular sight but why. No emergency in my case but what if it was urgent, last month I passed a van with a shredded tyre who had limped into for some distance by the looks of the tyre, what if it had been closed as he had already caused a bit of a tail back. 

Quite a few have been permanently closed along the A55. The reason being they are not long enough to get up sufficient speed to join back on the carriageway thereby causing potential accidents. 
My gripe is the number of large off-road lay-bys that have no P sign at all so it's too late to turn into when you realise it is a lay-by .  Lincolnshire guilty of such omissions. (Other counties also guilty)

Have the standards changed that they are no longer long enough? I agree there is a particular technique to joining a carriageway which many drivers seem to be unaware of but that applies to road junctions as well. The petrol station exit at Rivenhall in Essex on the A12 is a nightmare.

Hear what your saying Paul,
Do you think that they will shut all the laybys on the smart motorways for the same reason.lol
Pete

If you ever drive the A55 through Colwyn Bay you'll have wondered why it's 50mph, that's also because the slip roads onto that section are too short to get up the same speed as the traffic if it was 70..

Also on the A55 around Abergele you'll see 70 signs instead of national speed limit signs (you know the ones, black diagonal on white). Now why is that? Nobody knows, even the driving standards agency haven't a clue, they just say local authority  is responsible  for signs but they can see no reason for them.

Another junction on the A12 the joining road approached on a bridge over the main road. The safest open was to check the main carriageway as you crossed over to identify which gap in the traffic you were going for as the on slip was almost non existent.