Renewed calls for return of motorway hard shoulder

The AA is again calling for hard shoulders to be reinstated on smart motorways as new figures show an increase in fatalities on several sections of All Lane Running.

The fourth stocktake into the safety of smart motorways has been released by the Office of Road and Rail.

The data shows that on several sections of All Lane Running on the M1, the rate of people killed or seriously injured is now higher than before the hard shoulder was removed.

Even more alarmingly, 1 in 3 radar detection systems used to pick up stranded cars were deemed substandard.

The M62 J10-12 had a complete system failure for almost a month, said AA president Edmund King.

There was a system outage on the M6 J18-19 for six days and on the M5 J6 for three and a half days.

"This loss of safety technology, which drivers have been asked to put their trust in, meant they were in unnecessary danger."

He said it is now little wonder that a third of drivers say they feel less safe on smart motorways compared to three years ago.

"It is time to accept so-called ‘smart motorways’ have failed and side with the majority of drivers who want the reinstatement of the hard shoulder."

IAM RoadSmart director of policy and standards Nicholas Lyes said that even after the many billions of pounds that have been spent on smart motorways, the metrics do not show a safer network compared to what it replaced.

"It also reveals that on those stretches of all-lane running smart motorways without a hard shoulder, the rate of fatal and serious collisions involving stopped vehicles is almost double that of both a conventional motorway and those with a dynamic hard shoulder."

"Given the public’s hostility towards all-lane running smart motorways, they will be relieved to know there are no plans to construct any more."

However, he added, question marks remain over what to do with existing stretches and how the government proceeds with future capacity expansion.