Government Urged to Scrap All Existing Smart Motorways Over Safety Concerns

Traffic passes an Emergency Refuge Area on a smart motorway section in the UK on Jan. 19, 2021. Martin Rickett/PA

All existing “smart motorways” should be scrapped, road safety campaigners and motoring groups have said after the UK government axed plans for any new routes.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced on Saturday that all plans for new smart motorways have been cancelled, citing financial pressures and safety concerns.

Fourteen planned smart motorways—including 11 that are already paused and three earmarked for construction—will be removed from the government’s road building plans, the Department for Transport (DfT) announced.

But the DfT said that the construction of two stretches of the smart motorway at junctions 6 to 8 of the M56 and junctions 21a to 26 of the M6 will continue as they are already more than three-quarters complete.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks to the media in Rochdale, England, on April 3, 2023. Phil Noble - Pool/Getty Images

Existing stretches will remain but will be subjected to a safety refit so there are 150 more emergency stopping places across the network.

While the decision to cancel the new routes has been welcomed, critics say the government must go further and scrap the existing smart motorways as well.

‘Public Confidence’

Around 10 percent of England’s motorway network is made up of so-called smart motorways, which were developed to increase capacity without having to add extra traffic lanes.

They use technology to shut and slow lanes in response to accidents and breakdowns, freeing up the emergency hard-shoulder lane to be flexibly used for regular traffic when needed.

But concerns have been raised over the years following fatal incidents involving broken-down vehicles being hit from behind.

The DfT said that cancelling these schemes will “allow more time to track public confidence in smart motorways over a longer period.”

Commenting on the decision to scrap new smart motorways, the prime minister said: “All drivers deserve to have confidence in the roads they use to get around the country. That’s why last year I pledged to stop the building of all new smart motorways, and today I’m making good on that promise.

“Many people across the country rely on driving to get to work, to take their children to school, and go about their daily lives and I want them to be able to do so with full confidence that the roads they drive on are safe.”

‘Sitting Ducks’

Motoring services firm the AA welcomed the decision to cancel the new routes, but said this is not enough.

AA President Edmund King told the BBC on Sunday that a permanent hard shoulder should be restored to 375 miles of existing smart motorways.

“Basically drivers don’t trust them, the technology is not foolproof, and 37 percent of breakdowns on smart motorways happen in live lanes. And basically those drivers are sitting ducks.”

Simon Williams, road safety spokesman for motoring services firm the RAC, said: “Our research shows all-lane-running smart motorways are deeply unpopular with drivers, so we’re pleased the government has finally arrived at the same conclusion.

“It’s now vitally important that plans are made for making the hundreds of existing miles of these types of motorway as safe as possible.”

Claire Mercer (centre), whose husband died in a smart motorway crash, has campaigned for the hard shoulder to be restored. Aaron Chown/PA

‘Deadly Cost-Saving Gamble’

Campaigner Claire Mercer, whose husband was killed on a smart motorway, also welcomed the government’s move but pledged to continue pushing for the hard shoulder to return on every road.

She said: “It’s good news, but obviously it’s the existing ones that are killing us. And I’m not settling for more emergency refuge areas. So it’s half the battle, but we’ve still got half the battle to go.”

Jason Mercer and another man, Alexandru Murgeanu, died in 2019 when they were hit by a lorry on the M1 near Sheffield after they stopped on the inside lane of the smart motorway section following a minor collision.

Sarah Champion, the Labour MP for Mercer’s Rotherham constituency, said: “I’m relieved the government has finally listened to motorists and common sense, but this announcement is long overdue and I need to see the detail before celebrating.”

“Hopefully this is finally the end of a deadly cost-saving gamble with our lives,” she said.

‘Flawed Logic’

Sally Jacobs, whose husband died when his van was hit by a car near Sheffield in March 2019, said she will “only be satisfied when they reinstate the hard shoulder right across the country.”

She told The Telegraph: “If an aeroplane was found to have serious safety issues would they still allow them to keep flying but merely stop making new ones? This is the flawed logic they are applying here.”

In 2018, mother-of-five Nargis Begum died after she got out of the passenger side of a car on the M1 north of Woodhall Services and was hit by a Mercedes.

Her son Niaz Shazad criticised the DfT for continuing to funnel £900 million into existing smart motorways instead of axing the entire scheme.

He described Sunak’s announcement as a “deceitful political play,” adding, “If there was real concern for driver safety the entire scheme would have been scrapped long ago.”

Conservative MP Greg Smith agreed.

He wrote on Twitter, “Great news new ’smart' motorways are being axed, but we need to reverse the ones we’ve got and put the hard shoulder back.”

Simon Veazey and PA Media contributed to this report.