Motorway deaths are on your head, Shapps told

Son of woman killed after car broke down claims Transport Secretary will be at fault for fatal failings

Mother killed in crash Son’s scathing critique of Transport Secretary

THE son of a woman killed on a smart motorway has written to Grant Shapps, demanding he reinstate hard shoulders or be responsible for all future deaths of motorists stranded in live lanes.

Niaz Shazad says the Transport Secretary will be remembered as a “failure” and the “minister who did nothing” if he refuses to halt the rollout of the roads without parking lanes. The chartered accountant, who has analysed road crash statistics, claims the Government’s insistence that smart motorways are “as safe as or safer than” traditional ones is based on “mathematical sophism” and “Orwellian doublespeak”.

Mr Shazad’s mother, Nargis Begum, 62, was killed when the Nissan Qashqai her husband was driving broke down on the inside lane of the M1 in South Yorkshire in 2018. The mother of five, pictured, was believed to have been trying to get over the safety barrier when she was hit by the car after it was struck by a lorry. Despite the vehicle being stranded for 16 minutes and 21 seconds before the collision, Highways England failed to spot it to close the lane to traffic. The lorry driver was not prosecuted.

The case has been referred to the Crown Prosecution Service after a coroner found there was “more than sufficient evidence” for Highways England to be considered for corporate manslaughter charges.

It is the first time Mr Shazad, 32, from Sheffield, has commented publicly about his mother’s death. His letter asks Mr Shapps to imagine a chilling “scenario” in which he, his wife and three children break down on a dark night on a smart motorway he has approved where no static vehicle detection technology has yet been installed. He describes “whizzing” lorries missing them “by inches”, with little chance of them being spotted, with as few as eight staff monitoring banks of 450 cameras.

Referring to the average time it takes Highways England to notice a stranded vehicle, Mr Shazad writes: “[For] 17 minutes you are going to be sat there, praying and hoping that someone has activated signs behind you.” Referring to Mr Shapps’s claims he cannot bring back the hard shoulder because it would mean buying land “the size of to 700 Wembleys”, Mr Shazad adds: “If, God forbid, you found yourself in a situation similar to the above, would you still believe it too costly to make right what is quite clearly wrong?”

The letter concludes by saying Mr Shapps has an important “choice to make” because he is responsible as “safety failings” have emerged.

He writes: “You have the opportunity and the power to make a real change in people’s lives. It is no use passing the buck and saying, ‘I would not have done things this way, and that was not my advice’. Actions speak louder than words. I, and the growing numbers of those who have lost loved ones on smart motorways are putting you on notice that you are the man responsible when these failings emerged. History will remember you as a failure. You will have to live with being known as the minister who did nothing.”

A Department for Transport spokesman said Mr Shapps would respond to the letter “directly”, adding how since “inheriting the issue of smart motorways” he has committed £500million to safety improvements and asked Highways England to “accelerate” other safety features. “The safety of drivers and passengers using these routes remains the Transport Secretary’s personal priority. He will continue to press Highways England to deliver improvements as soon as possible,” he said.

Jim McMahon, the shadow transport secretary who was sent a copy of the letter, called for hard shoulders to be reinstated, adding how it “beggars belief [Mr Shapps] had done nothing to prevent further deaths”.

If you found yourself in that situation, would you still believe that it is too costly to make right what is clearly wrong?

For 17 minutes, you are going to be sat there, praying and hoping that someone has activated signs behind you

You have the opportunity and the power to make a real change in people’s lives. It is no use passing the buck

History will remember you as a failure. You will have to live with being known as the minister who did nothing