‘Smut motorway’ signage shambles
‘Smart’ system couldn’t warn drivers of multiple breakdowns ‘as symbols looked like male genitals’
STAFF working on smart motorways were blocked from activating some signs over fears they resembled male genitals, a former worker has claimed.
Christopher Challis also told of the ‘abysmal’ state of CCTV used to monitor the network in a statement to MPs investigating the controversial roads.
The Daily Mail has led the outcry over the dangers of smart motorways, where vehicles which break down can be marooned due to the hard shoulder being turned into a live lane of traffic. Four coroners have raised concerns about the threat the motorways pose to drivers.
For four years, Mr Challis, 41, operated cameras and road signs at a CCTV centre in South Mimms, Hertfordshire, near a stretch of smart motorway on the M25.
He said CCTV coverage of the roads was ‘abysmal’, either because of ‘ broken cameras due to no picture, no movement or condensation of the lens’. ‘It was known for us to tilt cameras up towards the sun in hot weather to try to dry them out,’ he added.
CCTV is deployed on smart motorways to help spot drivers who have broken down. Once stranded vehicles are spotted or detected through radar technology, control room operators trigger red X signs on overhead gantries and signs to close off lanes.
But Mr Challis said it could be weeks or months before faulty cameras were fixed, and claimed control room staff were told not to trigger red X signs simultaneously if there were breakdowns in lanes one and four. This was because, they were told, the overhead signs would resemble genitals.
His statement, seen by the Mail but not made public, said: ‘There was also the case of not being allowed to use certain signals to close particular lanes as the signals would look like a penis and so the settings prevented us from making certain closures. We all at first thought it was some overdue April Fools’ joke.’
Speaking to the Mail, Mr Challis added: ‘Somebody in their wisdom, higher up in Highways England, had suggested it looked like a penis, because the two red Xs looked like balls. We were told, “you can test it but don’t implement it”.
‘When you tried to set it, it said “invalid”.’
He said several staff raised concerns because it meant if two vehicles had broken down in lanes one and four, they would not be able to alert drivers to both. Mr Challis also claims potentially lifesaving radar technology designed to detect brokendown vehicles within seconds was installed but was not always operational.
He says this may have led to one potentially avoidable fatality involving a stationary car and lorry in 2018.
He also said SOS telephones placed in emergency refuges, which drivers can pull into and are spaced up to 1.5 miles apart, were often broken.
His testimony will pile pressure on ministers to speed up safety improvements on socalled ‘all lane running’ smart motorways, where the hard shoulder has been permanently converted into an extra lane.
Highways England’s acting chief executive, Nick Harris, said last night: ‘ Our smart motorways stock-take firstyear progress report shows that, in terms of fatality rates, smart motorways are the safest roads in the country.’
The Government has pledged to roll out SVD technology on all smart motorways by September next year to improve response times.
MPs on the transport select committee launched their inquiry into smart motorways in February. They are due to report back this year.