Widow of smart motorways victim to lead emotional protest in Sheffield on what would have been his birthday

Jason Mercer and Alexandru Murgeanu died after being hit by a lorry on a stretch of the M1 which had been controversially converted into an all-lanes running ‘smart motorway’, with no hard shoulder, in 2019.

Jason’s widow Claire, from Rotherham, should have been celebrating his 47th birthday tomorrow, Wednesday, March 2.

Instead, she will be continuing her campaign for the abolition of smart motorways, which she blames for her husband’s death and many others on motorways where the hard shoulder has been scrapped to ease congestion.

Claire, who set up the Smart Motorways Kill group, will be travelling in a large digital ‘Advan’ from her home to South Yorkshire Police’s headquarters, where it will be parked outside from around 9.30am.

The van will then head on to junctions 30/31 of the M1 and Woodall services as a mark of respect to Nargis Begum and Derek Jacob, who also lost their lives on smart motorways.

Families who have lost loved ones on smart motorways learned last month that National Highways, which is responsible for the nation’s motorways, would not face corporate manslaughter charges over the deaths.

They are now considering bringing a civil case against the organisation, which was previously called Highways England.

Following concerns raised by members of the public, police chiefs, MPs and coroners, the Government agreed to pause the roll-out of smart motorways while their safety is assessed, but campaigners want them to be removed altogether.

Claire used the Advan a year ago to highlight her campaign, and in November last year she led a coffin-carrying protest to Parliament.

She said: “I have only been on any type of motorways once since my husband was killed and that was to get to the protest in November.

“I’m scared of spending the day on smart motorways, but I feel it’s necessary to keep the pressure on, because now the wider public know what these things are, the shortfalls, draw backs and glaring faults, National Highways are having to defend the undefendable.”