What exactly is a smart motorway?
For the most part, in the UK, this simply means a motorway without a hard shoulder, allowing traffic to utilise the additional lane. There are two main types: all-lane running, where the hard shoulder has been permanently converted to become the inside lane, and dynamic, where it is only used by moving traffic at certain times. All have overhead electronic signs to signal emergency lane closures and reduced speed limits to manage congestion.
When were they brought in and why?
The UK introduced dynamic hard shoulders in 2006, while major motorways first started using all-lane running in 2014. The idea was to add capacity to the motorway network to deal with increasing traffic, without building additional roads – or even widening existing ones, which would involve much more disruptive work, demolitions and land take. However, many transport analysts argue that adding road capacity simply encourages extra journeys.
Are they more dangerous than normal motorways?
Statistically, overall, the evidence suggests not: in figures analysed by the Department for Transport between 2015 and 2018, the death toll on smart motorways by traffic volume has been slightly lower than on conventional motorways, possibly because speeds are often limited.
So why aren’t people convinced?
Because in some cases it seems clear that a hard shoulder would have saved lives – as a coroner’s inquest in Sheffield this week concluded. Two men were killed in 2019 after a lorry hit their stationary vehicles parked in the left-hand lane on the M1 – six minutes after the initial collision. While the lorry driver was convicted of careless driving, the coroner agreed with his argument that the tragedy would not have occurred had there been a hard shoulder.
Was that a one-off?
This is not an isolated case: a number of other fatal collisions have come minutes after cars have broken down, when terrified drivers have been calling for and awaiting emergency assistance. Even the roads minister who signed off several of the motorway conversions has since said that design faults cost lives.
What is the government doing about it?
After an inquiry last year, the transport secretary Grant Shapps outlined an 18-point action plan to boost their safety – but also signalled that smart motorways were here to stay. Dynamic hard shoulders will be phased out by 2025 – a move that the government says will reduce confusion, but also means there will be no hard shoulders at all on more UK motorways in future. More emergency refuge areas will be built to allow cars to pull over safely at shorter intervals, reducing the maximum distance to one mile between refuges.
What other action can be taken?
Highways England is to install more “stopped vehicle detection” technology across the smart motorway network, so that lanes can be closed more quickly when needed. It has also been given targets to speed up responses by traffic patrols, which have averaged 17 minutes to get to the scene of an emergency on smart motorways. Funding for a public education campaign has been allocated, along with updates to the Highway Code, to help ensure drivers know the rules.
Are campaigners satisfied?
Motoring organisations have welcomed the action plan, but called for more rapid implementation of safety measures, particularly full detection technology, before a deadline of March 2023.
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