MPs to look into safety of ‘death trap’ smart motorways

SENIOR POLITICIANS are to investigate the safety of smart motorways after campaigners called for them to be scrapped following a series of fatal accidents.

The House of Commons Transport Committee is to look at the benefits and safety of the motorways which do not have a traditional hard shoulder.

MPs will also consider their impact on reducing congestion on busy sections of motorway and other roads in the network.

Campaigners against smart motorways have called for them to be scrapped, some labelling them as ‘death traps’.

One coroner concluded that smart motorways ‘present an ongoing risk of future deaths’, while another has referred Highways England to the Crown Prosecution Service to consider if corporate manslaughter charges are appropriate following the 2018 death of a grandmother on the M1 in South Yorkshire.

Grandmother-of-nine Nargis Begum, 62, was killed on the M1 after a vehicle crashed into her car which was sitting stationary in a live lane near Woodhall Services in September 2018.

Mrs Begum’s Nissan Qashqai had broken down in the lane which is traditionally used as a hard shoulder, but was open as an extra lane to ease traffic.

Jason Mercer, 44, and Alexandru Murgeanu, 22, died when Prezemyslaw Szuba crashed his lorry into their vehicles near Sheffield on 7 June 2019.

Coroner David Urpeth said smart motorways without a hard shoulder carry “an ongoing risk of future deaths”.

In evidence to the committee, the Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps MP told MPs that he did not want to carry on with the system of smart motorways.

Chair of the Transport Committee, Huw Merriman MP, said there are “genuine worries” over this type of motorway.

The committee is seeking evidence about the safety of smart motorways. The deadline is April 9.