Highways England responds to South Yorkshire Police boss's calls for smart motorways to be abolished

Highways England has responded to calls from South Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner for smart motorways to be abolished.
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Dr Alan Billings wrote to the Highways England plus the Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps, last week after an inquest into the deaths of Rotherham man Jason Mercer and Alexandru Murgeanu, from Mansfield, who died in a collision on a stretch of the M1 motorway near Sheffield in June 2019.

Mr Mercer, aged 44, and Mr Murgeanu, 22, were killed when a lorry driven by 40-year-old Prezemyslaw Szuba, from Hull, crashed into their vehicles after they stopped to exchange details following a minor collision where there is no hard shoulder.

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Szuba was jailed for 10 months over the crash but Coroner David Urpeth recorded a verdict of ‘unlawful killing’ after last week’s inquest and vowed to write to Highways England and the Transport Secretary asking for a review of smart motorways after ruling that the lack of a hard shoulder ‘contributed’ to the two deaths.

There are calls for smart motorways to be abolished on safety groundsThere are calls for smart motorways to be abolished on safety grounds
There are calls for smart motorways to be abolished on safety grounds

In his letter, Dr Billings described smart motorways as ‘inherently unsafe and dangerous’ and said they ‘should be abandoned’ before ‘more lives are lost’.

He said South Yorkshire’s previous Chief Constable, David Crompton, raised the same fears with transport bosses before the smart motorways programme was launched.

Dr Billings has now called for a meeting with transport officials and the widow of smart motorway crash victim, Mr Mercer, who has campaigned for an end to smart motorways since her husband’s death.

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In response to the concerns raised, a Highways England spokesperson said: “Every road death is a tragic loss of life and our sympathies remain with the families of those who have lost loved ones.

“In March 2020 the Government published a smart motorway evidence stocktake report and found that in most ways smart motorways are as safe as, or safer than, conventional ones.

“But we are aware of the ongoing concerns and are working hard to deliver the improvements set out in the Transport Secretary’s action plan.

“It’s important to remind everyone that in an emergency on any road if you feel you are in danger you should dial 999.”