'Death trap’ smart motorways should be abandoned, says MP

Sarah Champion told Parliament at least 79 people have already lost their lives on these “inherently dangerous” motorways.

The Labour MP for Rotherham highlighted the cases of Jason Mercer and Nargis Begum, who were killed in separate crashes on stretches of the M1 that had no hard shoulder after they were forced to stop.

Mr Mercer, aged 44, from Rotherham, was killed alongside 22-year-old Alexandru Murgeanu, from Mansfield, when a lorry driven by Prezemyslaw Szuba crashed into their vehicles after they stopped on a stretch of the M1 near Sheffield without a hard shoulder.

Szuba, 40, from Hull, was jailed for 10 months in October 2020 after admitting causing the deaths of Mr Mercer and Mr Murgeanu by careless driving.

Ms Champion said it is “staggering” revised plans allow more than a mile between emergency refuge areas and the technology used to detect stationary vehicles so lanes can be closed is “unreliable”.

It comes after National Highways admitted its Dynac system, which includes signs, signals and stopped vehicle detection technology, stopped working across most of England for about two hours last Wednesday.

Last year, the Government announced it would pause the rollout of new all-lane running smart motorway schemes, until five years of safety data is available, but said construction on existing schemes would be completed.

Ms Champion said: “The lack of a hard shoulder is inherently dangerous, particularly without frequent emergency refuges to provide a place of safety.

“Imagine you’re having a heart attack, your car is breaking down or you’ve been in an accident, and you then have to drive a mile and a half to get to a safe place of refuge. It’s difficult to fathom.

“The only explanation I can come up with is that the decision was made on cost grounds – a hard fact to reconcile with National Highways' repeated claims that their overall priority is the safety of motorists.”

“While the Government dithers, constituencies like mine continue to host death trap roads. Make no mistake, all-lane-running motorways are death traps.”

She said the Government can prevent further loss of life by accepting smart motorways are “a mistake” and hard shoulders should be introduced across the network.

Richard Holden, roads and local transport minister, said he has “every sympathy” for the relatives of people who have lost loved ones and he will listen to their concerns, but also said smart motorways are “far safer” than other roads as they are constantly monitored with a network of cameras and stopped vehicle detection technology.

According to the Tory Minister, 75 per cent of stopped vehicles are detected within 20 seconds and about 90 per cent are detected within a minute, but National Highways is “working hard to deliver further improvements”.

About £900 million is being invested in upgrading safety features on these motorways and an extra 150 emergency refuge areas will be added, he said.

Mr Holden said: “While I recognise smart motorway drivers need to feel confident on them, we are using all the evidence we can to enable us to act and ensure these concerns are addressed.”