Breaking down on hard shoulder-free smart motorways is three times more risky
Fourteen of the 80 motorway deaths in England in 2021 happened on sections without a permanent hard shoulder.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Smart motorways without a hard shoulder are three times more dangerous on which to break down than those that keep the emergency lane, new figures show.
The report by Government-owned company National Highways also showed the rate of incidents involving people being killed or seriously injured (KSI) during breakdowns on three out of five smart motorway stretches, with five years’ worth of safety data, increased since their hard shoulder was removed.
These were the M1 between junctions 39 and 42, the M25 between junctions five and seven and the M6 between junctions 11A and 13.
In April, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the cancellation of planned projects to build all-lane running (ALR) smart motorways, which use the hard shoulder as a live traffic lane.
He said this was due to cost pressures and a lack of confidence among some road users.
But he has refused to reinstate the hard shoulder on existing smart motorways.
Fourteen of the 80 motorway deaths in England in 2021 happened on sections without a permanent hard shoulder.
National Highways’ report found that the number of KSI casualties after a stopped vehicle was hit by a moving vehicle was 0.21 per 100 million vehicle miles travelled on ALR smart motorways between 2017 and 2021.
That compares with rates of 0.07 on controlled smart motorways, which have variable speed limits but retain a hard shoulder, and 0.10 on conventional motorways.
In that period, 3.9% of collisions on England’s motorways and major A roads involved a stopped vehicle. The vast majority featured moving vehicles.
For all types of crashes, KSI rates on ALR (1.43) and controlled (1.31) schemes are below the figure for traditional motorways (1.45).
The fundamental problem remains that stopped vehicle incidents are more frequent on ALR smart motorways compared to motorways with hard shoulders
Smart motorways involve various methods to manage the flow of traffic, such as converting the hard shoulder into a live running lane, and variable speed limits.
ALR smart motorways boosted capacity at a cost lower than widening roads.
There have been long-standing safety fears following fatal incidents in which vehicles stopped in live lanes were hit from behind.
National Highways announced on Thursday that extra emergency stopping areas will be installed on 11 smart motorway sections.
This is part of a £900 million investment aimed at improving the network by 2025.
The company’s chief executive, Nick Harris, said: “The majority of collisions on our network involve moving vehicles.
“The minority involve stopped vehicles and the risk of this continues to be higher on motorways without a permanent hard shoulder.
“Most of the interventions we are making such as introducing stopped vehicle detection and enabling increased enforcement of Red X signals, are designed to reduce the risk of a collision between a moving and a stopped vehicle.
“It remains too early to see the impact of the actions we have delivered, as they were largely completed in 2022.
“But we continue to monitor the impact of the actions.”
AA president Edmund King said: “The fundamental problem remains that stopped vehicle incidents are more frequent on ALR smart motorways compared to motorways with hard shoulders.
“Reinstating the hard shoulder should be the aim of every political party if politicians really want to promote motoring-friendly policies.
“It will be safer and much smarter. Just do it.”
RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: “These motorways are so incredibly unpopular with drivers.
“Many drivers deliberately avoid using the inside lane for fear of encountering a stationary vehicle, which effectively turns them into three-lane motorways again and negates the increased road capacity benefits they were meant to bring.
“It’s the worst of all worlds.”