M-way is not ‘smart’ at all

THE Government still insists on using the name “smart motorways”.

In reality, turning the hard shoulder into a live lane is just a cheap but dangerous way of providing extra space on a choked road.

About 40 people have been killed on them over the last five years – which makes “death trap” a grim but more accurate description of them.

In less than four weeks, two different coroners have called the safety of these lanes into question.

Just before Christmas, coroner Nicola Mundy heard the tragic case of 62-year-old Nargis Begum, who was killed after her broken-down car was hit on a stretch of the M1 in South Yorkshire in 2018.

It was revealed it took 22 minutes for warning signs to be turned on after her car broke down. But that was far too late; the mum of five had already been fatally injured. The coroner said she’d consider referring Highways England to the Crown Prosecution Service for what would be a landmark case.

Last week, a similarly horrendous case was heard by Sheffield coroner David Urpeth. This involved two men who were struck and killed by a lorry on the M1 near Sheffield in 2019.

They had stopped on the hard shoulder to swap insurance details after a minor collision.

In this instance, almost six minutes passed before the two victims were hit and again no warning signs had been activated.

This was caused in part because the incident was out of sight of the nearest camera, Highways England admitted.

In measured words, the coroner said he would be asking for a review of these lanes and warned they presented “an ongoing risk of future deaths”. The youngest victim to date is eightyear-old Dev Naran, killed on the M6 in Birmingham in 2018 when his family’s car became stranded on the hard shoulder.

Almost a year ago Transport Secretary Grant Shapps put out an absurdly entitled “evidence stocktake” which concluded that the risk of a collision between moving vehicles is lower on these roads than it is on conventional motorways. Here’s a challenge to Mr Shapps… if he’s so sure of their safety, let him take his family and park on one.