How smart motorways make jams worse in an accident
SMART motorways create more congestion than normal motorways when accidents happen, damning figures reveal.
Highways England insists the controversial roads, also known as ‘all-lane running’, lead to shorter journey times because the lack of a hard shoulder boosts capacity.
But worrying data obtained by the Daily Mail suggests smart motorways can actually worsen congestion when an incident occurs.
The Highways England figures – released under freedom of information laws and collated by the RAC – relate to lane closures on two parts of the M25: Junctions 23-28, a smart stretch, and junctions 18-23, a conventional carriageway with a hard shoulder, between August 2018 and July last year.
They reveal that there were 226 live lane closures on the traditional stretch, compared with 2,491 on all-lane running – more than ten times as many. Clear-flowing traffic was reported 96 per cent of the time on the conventional motorway, compared to 73 per cent on the smart motorway.
Although some of the differences could be explained by the fact that the smart stretch is longer than the normal one, the RAC said the difference is stark enough to suggest all-lane running roads are ‘ less resilient’ than traditional motorways when there is an incident.
The figures cast doubt on Highways England’s insistence that the £6billion smart motorway programme is an effective way of easing congestion.
The scheme is being reviewed by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps after a series of fatal collisions on the roads raised concerns over their safety. Last month a police chief described them as ‘death traps’.
When an accident occurs on a smart motorway, it is up to manual CCTV operators to spot the incident and send for help. The control centre operatives will close lanes to direct traffic away from the accident. Drivers are warned of the closure by red X signals on overhead gantries leading up to the site of the incident.
Speed limits are also changed to safely smooth traffic and ensure no sudden build-up occurs.
Although this should work in theory, motoring groups argue the X signals are often ignored by drivers. This can lead to bottle-neck congestion around accident sites, when drivers suddenly realise the need to change lanes.
They also claim control room staff can be too slow to spot incidents, posing a risk to those who find themselves stranded in the path of oncoming traffic.
Campaigners are also calling for a dramatic increase in the number of emergency refuge areas on smart motorways. Currently, refuges are spaced an average of 1.5 miles apart – forcing stricken motorists to stop in the path of traffic, leading to more live lane closures than on a normal motorway where these drivers have the option of pulling into the hard shoulder.
Motoring groups said the data vindicates suspicions that smart motorways can actually increase congestion. Jack Cousens, head of roads policy for the AA, said: ‘ From the outset the AA has argued that lack of emergency refuge areas on smart motorways would lead to more live lane stops, more collisions, more lane closures and therefore more congestion following incidents. This latest FOI data seems to back this assertion.’
Highways England said: ‘The alllane running smart motorways on the M25 have increased capacity by a third on two of the busiest sections of motorway in the country, successfully reducing the stop-start congestion. Alongside this, the number of delayed journeys has dropped significantly, improving reliability overall. This adds up to more, better journeys being made on the M25.’
‘Death trap roads’