New smart motorways on hold after safety fears
Concerns over fatalities on routes without a hard shoulder
TRANSPORT Secretary Grant Shapps has announced a ban on the creation of any new sections of “smart motorway” until extra safety measures are introduced. He insisted smart motorways – a large number of which are in the Midlands – are safe, saying they actually have fewer accidents than conventional motorways.
But the decision highlights concerns about smart motorways, which do not have dedicated hard shoulders where drivers can stop in an emergency. A group of MPs are holding an inquiry into whether hard shoulders should be reinstated. Smart motorways, also known as active traffic management schemes, involve allowing drivers to use the hard shoulder, either permanently or at certain times. They can also have variable speed limits.
The idea is to increase capacity on motorways, but they depend on drivers spotting signs telling them which lanes are open, and following the instructions given.
The first smart motorway scheme was on part of the M42, around Birmingham. Sections of the M6, M5 and M40 in the West Midlands are also smart motorways.
The Government has now decided that no new smart motorway sections will be opened until they have been fitted with radar-based stopped vehicle detection (SVD) technology, which can alert transport authorities when a vehicle has stopped.
There will also be a £5 million publicity campaign to ensure motorists understand how smart motorways work and how to drive safely on them. Smart motorways without hard shoulders known as All
Lane Running motorways - have emergency areas instead, where vehicles can stop if needed. These will be better signposted, and Highways England is to consider whether there should be more of them.
Mr Shapps said: “Despite the data showing that fatalities are less likely on All Lane Running motorways than on conventional ones, this doesn’t mean all drivers necessarily feel safe on them. That is why I tasked Highways England last year with delivering an action plan to raise the bar on safety measures even higher. This progress report shows the extensive work already carried out, but we want to do
more.
“Alongside the raft of measures already undertaken, today I am announcing that all new All Lane Running motorways will open with stopped vehicle detection technology in place, as well as a programme to speed up the roll-out of the technology on previously built stretches of All Lane Running motorways to next year. This will help us further reduce the risk of accidents on the country’s roads.”
The Commons Transport Committee is holding an inquiry into whether smart motorways are safe. Committee chair Huw Merriman said: “We will consider all options based on the evidence. This may include recommendations for change and whether the roll-out should be paused and hard shoulders reinstated.”
The Committee has already received evidence from a former
West Midlands motorway patrol officer, who warned that drivers could not be relied on to see or obey signs telling them when it was permissible to use the hard shoulder.
In a written submission to the inquiry, he said: “There will always remain a risk of collisions due to an inattentive driver passing through a hard shoulder running section when there also happens to be a stationary or very slow moving vehicle.”
He said: “The provision of advanced signals to close that lane will also not get through to a small proportion of drivers, so even if there is advanced and effective stationary vehicle monitoring and automatic signal activation, the collision risk will always remain higher than if there is a hard shoulder for the slow or stationary vehicle to use.”