Grant Shapps orders fresh review into smart motorway safety

Smart motorway crash statistics are to be analysed by the roads regulator amid calls for them to be scrapped following fatal collisions.
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Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has commissioned the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) to carry out an independent review of safety data for the controversial roads.

A coroner in Sheffield claimed in January that smart motorways “present an ongoing risk of future deaths” after two people were killed when a lorry driver ploughed into their vehicles while they were stationary on the M1 in South Yorkshire.

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Jason Mercer, 44, and Alexandru Murgeanu, 22, died when a lorry driven by Prezemyslaw Szuba crashed into their vehicles after they stopped on a stretch of the M1 near Sheffield on June 7 2019.

Jason Mercer and Alexandru Murgeanu died in a collision on the M1 smart motorway near Meadowhall.Jason Mercer and Alexandru Murgeanu died in a collision on the M1 smart motorway near Meadowhall.
Jason Mercer and Alexandru Murgeanu died in a collision on the M1 smart motorway near Meadowhall.

Nargis Begum, a 62-year-old grandmother from Sheffield, died on a stretch of the M1 without a hard shoulder near Woodall services in September 2018.

The mother-of-five, who had nine grandchildren, had left a broken-down Nissan Qashqai and was waiting for help when another vehicle collided with the Nissan, sending it crashing into her.

A coroner investigating the tragedy has now referred Highways England, the Government-owned company responsible for maintaining the nation’s motorways, to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to consider whether corporate manslaughter charges are appropriate

The Transport Secretary has also ordered his officials to continue their work with Highways England – the Government-owned company responsible for England’s motorways and major A roads – on “developing possible future options” for reducing accidents on smart motorways.

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The design of all lane running (ALR) smart motorways, which involve the hard shoulder being converted into a running lane, has led to safety concerns following several fatal incidents involving stationary vehicles being hit from behind.

Fourteen people were killed in 2019 on motorways where the hard shoulder was either permanently removed or being temporarily used as a live running lane, according to Sunday Times analysis.

In a written statement to Parliament, Mr Shapps said: “While the evidence has suggested that ALR motorways are in most ways as safe as, or safer than, conventional ones, I am determined to go further and ensure that they are the safest roads in Britain.”

Steve Gooding, director of motoring research charity the RAC Foundation, said: “We strongly support the decision to bring in the ORR.

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“Public confidence in the safety of smart motorways appears to be stuck at a low ebb and the best way to offer reassurance to sceptical drivers is by publishing comprehensive safety data that has been independently scrutinised by the regulator.”

A spokesman for the ORR said “robust and trusted data and analysis is essential”.

Mr Shapps published a smart motorway action plan in March 2020 with 18 measures to boost safety.

He has ordered Highways England to produce a report one year on, outlining its progress and identifying actions that can be delivered ahead of schedule.

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This document will be published “by summer, once I am assured that the proposals are sufficiently robust”, Mr Shapps said.

The Commons’ Transport Select Committee launched an inquiry into smart motorways last month, with chairman and Tory MP Huw Merriman warning that there are “genuine worries” about the roads.