Smart motorway rollout should be paused, says MP

An on-going rollout of motorways which see the hard shoulder used as a fourth lane should be halted, an MP has said.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live’s Investigates, Tracey Crouch, Conservative MP for Chatham and Aylesford, called for a pause amidst safety concerns.

She said: “We need the government to pause and reflect on whether we’re getting this right”, adding that their introduction should be halted “until we have a better understanding about how we can protect those who have broken down and the recovery workers that come to assist them.”

All Lane Running (ALR) motorways make use of the hard shoulder as an additional lane — with variable speed limits in place to control traffic flow. Refuge areas are present and are to be used in the event of an emergency, but campaigners say the lack of a real hard shoulder puts recovery workers and motorists at risk.

More than 100 miles of ALR motorways are currently in operation in the UK, with 225 more miles planned.

One motorist who was involved in an incident on a section of ALR motorway has described the road layout as ‘a death-trap’. Ellie Montgomery was a  passenger in a car hit by a lorry in December 2017, after it had broken down on the M6 in Cheshire.

Speaking to the BBC, Montgomery said: “It turns the motorway into a death-trap. There is no amount of technology that can overcome the danger of not having a hard shoulder as a safety net.”

However, Highways England says that ALR motorways are safe — but will continue to look for ways to improve them. A statement to the BBC read: “We recognise that as well as being safe, drivers want to feel safe and we have and will continue to make some changes to the design of motorways”