The introduction of smart motorways should be suspended because there is not enough evidence to prove they are safe, MPs have said.
‘All-lane’ smart motorways use the hard shoulder as an active lane to increase capacity on the roads – but critics say they are dangerous.
The Government decided in March 2020 that all future smart motorways would be all-lane versions but MPs have said this is ‘premature’.
A report by the Commons’ Transport Select Committee (TSC) has said there is not enough safety and economic data to justify continuing with the project.
Instead, MPs are suggesting the Government should think about controlled smart motorways, which have a permanent hard shoulder and use technology to regulate traffic flow.
The Department of Transport has said it will ‘consider’ the recommendations.
But relatives of those who have been killed on smart motorways say the report does not ‘go far enough’.
One of the biggest concerns around the safety of smart motorways is over broken-down vehicles being hit from behind.
Claire Mercer, whose husband Jason Mercer died on a smart motorway stretch of the M1 in June 2019, said she thought the conclusions of the report were not ‘strong enough.’
Speaking to Good Morning Britain she said her husband was ‘stranded in a live running lane’.
She added: ‘An HGV came along and ploughed into them because HGVs can’t manoeuvre in the same distance that a Fiat 500 can, it never stood a chance.
‘So it ploughed into them and killed them instantly and even when they were dead across all four lanes of the road and it was a scene of utter carnage, even then, the technology didn’t pick them up.
‘It relied on members of the public to phone it in, they were dead on the road for six minutes before the road was even closed.’
She welcomed the recommendation for the rollout of smart motorways to be paused, as ‘that will give us more time to get into the High Court and get these banned anyway’.
Relatives of those killed on smart motorways have called for the hard shoulder to be permanently reinstalled on the roads.
But the committee was ‘not convinced’ that such a policy would boost safety.
It concluded: ‘The evidence suggests that doing so could put more drivers and passengers at risk of death and serious injury.
‘The Government is right to focus on upgrading the safety of all-lane running motorways.’
The committee’s report said: ‘The Government and National Highways should pause the rollout of new all-lane running schemes until five years of safety and economic data is available for every all-lane running scheme introduced before 2020 and the implementation of the safety improvements in the Government’s action plan has been independently evaluated.’
The TSC urged ministers to ‘consider alternative options for enhancing capacity’ on motorways, namely smart motorways which have the ‘lowest casualty rates’ of all roads across motorways and major A roads in England.
Tory MP Huw Merriman, who chairs the committee, said: ‘Looking at the available evidence, smart motorways do appear to be safer than conventional motorways even once the hard shoulder is removed.
‘However, this evidence is also open to question.
‘Only 29 miles of these all-lane running smart motorways have operated for over five years.
‘It therefore feels too soon, and uncertain, to use this as an evidence base to remove the hard shoulder from swathes of our motorway network.’
The RAC’s head of roads policy, Nicholas Lyes, said: ‘We feel a huge question mark remains over whether it’s right that yet more money is spent on rolling out further all-lane-running smart motorways when there are clearly viable alternatives available.’
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: ‘We’re pleased that the TSC recognises that reinstating the hard shoulder on all all-lane running motorways could put more drivers and passengers at risk of death and serious injury and that we’re right to focus on upgrading their safety, as the Secretary of State committed to doing when he became Transport Secretary.
‘We recognise that improvements have not always been made as quickly as they could have been in the past, but as the committee has set out, the Transport Secretary is absolutely committed to making smart motorways as safe as possible, including committing £500 million on upgrades and the faster rollout of Stopped Vehicle Detection.’
What are smart motorways and why are they controversial?
Smart motorways were first introduced in England in 2014 as a cheaper way of increasing capacity compared with widening carriageways.
There are about 375 miles of smart motorway in England, including 235 miles without a hard shoulder.
An additional 300 miles are scheduled to be opened by 2025.
Smart motorways are ‘smart’ because computers constantly monitor the roads, they have the ability to change the speed limit, keep an eye on congestion and report break-downs.
There are three types of smart motorway. One is ‘controlled’, where people can drive on the hard shoulder.
Another has a ‘dynamic hard shoulder’, where the hard shoulder can be opened, and ‘all-lane’ is where the hard shoulder has become an active lane.
But concerns have been raised following fatal incidents involving broken-down vehicles being hit from behind.
Campaigners against smart motorways say without the refuge of hard shoulders anyone who breaks down has nowhere to go.
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