We first blogged about this issue in February last year after the BBC’s Panorama programme revealed that at least 38 people had been killed on the UK’s smart motorway network in the last 5 years.
Following an Inquest in Sheffield this week in which the Coroner called for a review into smart motorways, it is worth looking at this issue again.
Why Were Smart Motorways Brought In?
The idea of smart motorways was to add capacity to the motorway network to deal with increasing traffic, without building additional roads, or even widening existing ones, which would involve much more disruptive work, demolitions and land take. However, many transport analysts argue that adding road capacity simply encourages extra journeys.
Are They More Dangerous than Normal Motorways?
Statistically, overall, the evidence suggests not: in figures analysed by the Department for Transport between 2015 and 2018, the death toll on smart motorways, by traffic volume, has been slightly lower than on conventional motorways, possibly because speed is often limited.
So Why Aren’t People Convinced?
Because in some cases it seems clear that a hard shoulder would have saved lives and this is what the inquest in Sheffield concluded this week.
The Accident: Jason Mercer, 44, and Alexandru Murgeanu, 22, died after a lorry driver ploughed into their vehicles on the M1 in South Yorkshire on 7th June 2019. The men were standing near their vehicles on the motorway exchanging details, after they had been involved in a minor collision. The Inquest heard that the deaths may have been avoided if there had been a hard shoulder. This part of the M1 is used as a smart motorway and as such no hard shoulder was available.
Whilst the Coroner, David Urpeth, ruled that the primary cause of death was due to the careless driving of the lorry driver, he went on to say that smart motorways present an “ongoing risk of future deaths”. Recording a verdict of unlawful killing Mr Urpeth said “I find as a matter of fact that it is clear that the lack of a hard shoulder contributed to this tragedy”. The Coroner confirmed he would be writing to the Highways Department and to the Transport Secretary, Grant Schapps, asking for a review of these motorways.
In the light of this case, the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Dr Alan Billings, has also now written to the government to say that smart motorways are “Inherently dangerous and should be abandoned.”
Was That a One-Off?
This is not an isolated case: a number of other fatal collisions have occurred minutes after cars have broken down, when terrified drivers have been calling for and awaiting emergency assistance. Even the roads minister, who signed off several of the motorway conversions, has since said that design faults have cost lives.
What Is the Government Doing About It?
After an inquiry last year, Grant Schapps outlined an 18-point action plan to boost the safety of smart motorways, but he also signalled that they were here to stay. Dynamic hard shoulders are to be phased out by 2025, a move that the government say will reduce confusion, but also means that there will be no hard shoulders at all on many more UK roads in the future. More emergency refuge areas will be built to allow cars to pull over safely at shorter intervals, reducing the maximum distance between refuges.
Highways England is to install more “stopped vehicle detection” technology across the smart motorway network, so that lanes can be closed more quickly when necessary. It has also been given targets to speed up
responses by traffic patrols to get to the scene of an emergency. Funding for a public education campaign has been allocated, along with updates to the Highway Code, to help ensure drivers know the rules.
We shall have to wait and see whether these measures reduce the number of accidents on smart motorways.
If you have been involved in a road traffic accident or require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us. Our specialist team of lawyers are very experienced in handling serious accident claims and we would be very happy to advise you. Please call 0114 218 4000 or email us at info@tayloremmet.co.uk
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