Shapps orders urgent review into ‘smart’ motorways

AN URGENT government review into the safety of smart motorways was launched yesterday after a Daily Telegraph investigation raised concerns about the number of stranded motorists being killed where hard shoulders had been suspended.

Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, told MPS: “We know people are dying on smart motorways,” before demanding a “stocktake of evidence” to establish whether they were safe.

He said his department would conduct the review “at pace” before drawing up a series of recommendations to ensure motorways were “as safe as they possibly can be.” His announcement

‘We know lives would have been saved if drivers on smart motorways had somewhere safe to stop’

came after Jim O’sullivan, the Highways England chief, told the Commons transport select committee that motorways where a hard shoulder was turned into a “live lane” at peak times had proved “too complicated for people”.

He said the agency would not build any more “dynamic” smart motorways as many motorists did not understand them. However, he admitted his company, part owned by the Government, had not investigated the dangers of removing the hard shoulder. He then dodged a question about whether he would feel safe in an emergency pulling up on a live lane or hard shoulder.

His staff reported that more than 26 motorists a day stopped in live lanes.

Earlier this year, The Telegraph established that four stranded motorists were killed in just 10 months on a 16mile stretch of the M1 where the hard shoulder had been turned into a fourth lane. They had pulled on the former hard shoulder having failed to reach an “emergency refuge area” shielded from traffic, before being hit by oncoming vehicles.

A number of relatives of those who died claimed their concerns over the rising death toll were being ignored.

Yesterday, Claire Mercer, 43, whose husband Jason was among those killed on the M1, said Mr Shapps’ intervention was a “step in the right direction”.

“But the Government must not fall into the same trap as Highways England by burying their heads in the sand,” she said. “Mr Shapps must ensure he puts an end to this madness.”

Meera Naran, whose eight-year-old son, Dev, was killed when the car he was in had to stop on an M6 “live lane” hard shoulder, said: “Highways England needs to be more open and transparent about fatalities.

“Lives and safety should always come before cost. It is tragic that people have been dying on these motorways and Highways England has not been reviewing fatalities to see what lessons can be learned.”

Edmund King, of the AA, said: “We are delighted the Transport Secretary has listened and agreed to review the safety of ‘smart’ motorways. We have been raising concerns for six years about the dangers for those who break down in a live lane on smart motorways. We hope the review will stop a further roll-out unless more Emergency Refuge Areas are retro-fitted.”

“We trust the review will not be overtaken by misleading or partial statistical analysis about what type of road is safer but will concentrate on avoidable deaths. We know lives would have been saved if drivers on smart motorways had somewhere safe to stop. We owe it to drivers to give them a safe harbour if their vehicle develops problems.”