Coroner: Lack of hard shoulder was a factor in smart M-way deaths
SMART motorways present an “ongoing risk of deaths” and the lack of a hard shoulder contributed to two men dying, a coroner has ruled.
Jason Mercer, 44, and Alexandru Murgeanu, 22, died when an HGV driven by Prezemyslaw Szuba ploughed at 56mph into their vehicles.
The victims had stopped in lane one of the M1 near Sheffield after a prang.
Szuba, 40, was jailed for 10 months – but insisted he would have avoided them if there had been a hard shoulder.
His view was backed by a police crash investigator.
Now, Sheffield coroner David Urpeth has ruled the primary cause of death was the careless driving of Szuba, who hit their stationary car and van in lane one.
But he recorded a conclusion of unlawful killing, saying: “I find, as a finding of fact, it is clear a lack of hard shoulder contributed to this tragedy.”
Mr Urpeth said he will be writing to Highways England and the Transport Secretary asking for a review, adding: “I believe that smart motorways, as things currently stand, present an ongoing risk of future deaths.”
Szuba told the inquest: “If there had been a hard shoulder on this bit of motorway, the collision would have been avoidable. I would have driven past these two cars as it would be safer and they would have been able to come home safely – and I would be able to come back home.”
Speaking by phone from prison, Szuba said he had only three to five seconds to react. Asked if he would have avoided the crash if he had been paying attention, he said: “It’s difficult to say after everything now.” He was jailed in October after admitting causing the deaths by careless driving.
Sergeant Mark Brady, who oversees major collision investigations for South Yorkshire Police, addressed the Sheffield Town Hall hearing.
He said: “Had there been a hard shoulder, had Jason and Alexandru pulled on to the hard shoulder, my opinion is that Mr Szuba would have driven clean past them.”
Max Brown, head of road design at Highways England, told the inquest smart motorways cut casualty rates by up to 23 per cent. But he admitted injury levels on the stretch of M1 involved had gone up since its hard shoulder was removed.
The tragedy happened in June 2019 after a minor collision between the Ford Focus driven by Mr Mercer, from Rotherham, and a Ford Transit belonging to Mr Murgeanu, from Mansfield, Notts.