NEW SMART MOTORWAY SAFETY MEASURES ARE NOT ENOUGH
…that’s the message from clubs, despite government promises of higher tech
Many clubs remain unconvinced by the safety of ‘all lane running’ (ALR) smart motorways despite recent government pledges to equip existing and future ALRs with technology to help broken down cars, CCW has found.
So-called ALR motorways make the hard shoulder a live lane; Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps MP, said that no more ALR motorways would be built without radar to quickly detect stranded vehicles. Findings by Highways England in January reported that just 40 miles of smart motorway had Stopped Vehicle Detection (SVD) radar installed; when working properly, the system alerts monitoring staff to a broken-down car within 20 seconds.
Mr Shapps added that all current ALR roads would be using the technology by next September.
After 38 deaths in the last five years, and condemnation from coroners and police commissioners, SVD was listed as part of an 18-point action plan for improvement, released by the government last March.
However, classic clubs – especially those catering for cars from the Fifties and Sixties, some of which still use trafficators and lack hazard warning lights – maintain that these assurances don’t go far enough. Clubs representing these vehicles have, for the most part, warned their members to avoid smart motorways wherever possible.
Austin Counties Car Club membership secretary, Mike Greasby, said: ‘There are some journeys where it’s far more feasible to use a motorway in a classic, at least for short stretches, but I think this would be ten times more worrying a prospect on a smart motorway. A lot of our members say that they wouldn’t feel safe.’
Fiat 500 Enthusiasts’ Club chairman, John Jenkins, said that the club’s normal policy would be to avoid motorways and if they are used, to travel in the left-hand lane: ‘It’s not much fun being overtaken by a 16-wheeler. Smart motorways are not something we would enjoy using in a Fiat 500!’
The Standard Motor Club is advising its members to avoid smart motorways, despite the promised improvements to safety in the event of a breakdown. The club’s Lynda Homer said: ‘It’s up to individual owners but we wouldn’t take our Standards on to motorway. Smart motorways obviously aren’t smart whatever the Government says about improving safety.’