The government has rejected calls to bring back emergency stopping lanes to smart motorways where they’ve been removed.
Pressure has mounted on the government to stop or rethink the rollout of ‘all-lane’ smart motorways where the hard shoulder is used as a live traffic lane while monitoring systems close lanes in the case of accidents.
Critics say they have contributed to a number of deaths as well as a rise in so-called ‘near misses’.
Labour has called for hard shoulders to be reinstated, while a survey by the RAC in September found nearly two-thirds of people take the same view.
In a report on Tuesday, MPs on the Transport Select Committee said there was not enough safety and economic data to continue with the plans, although it stopped short of saying hard shoulders should be put back into use.
Controlled smart motorways – which have a permanent hard shoulder and use technology to regulate the speed and flow of traffic – have the ‘lowest casualty rates’ of all motorways and major A roads in England, the report said.
Speaking in the Commons on Thursday, shadow transport secretary Jim McMahon said ‘broken equipment, a lack of monitoring and ultimately lives being placed at risk’ has had a ‘devastating impact on people’s lives’.
Citing the ‘damning’ select committee report, he called on Transport Secretary Grant Shapps to ‘immediately insist’ that Highways England reinstate hard shoulders.
Mr Shapps replied: ‘We all share the passion and desire to make sure our roads are as safe as they can possibly be.
‘Sadly 1,700 people die a year on our roads. It is important we do everything possible.
‘The Transport Select Committee, who he quotes, did not in fact say quite what he said.
‘They actually say the evidence suggests that doing so – in other words, simply putting the hard shoulder back in – could put more drivers and passengers at risk of death and serious injury.’
According to government figures released in 2020, 38 people were killed on smart motorways between 2014 and 2019.
A coroner referred Highways England to prosecutors to consider manslaughter charges over the death of 62-year-old Nargis Begum on the M1 in February.
There has otherwise been little evidence to tie individual cases to the scheme, although some victims’ families say their loved ones would not have died on a standard highway.
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