The smart motorway network in England faces ongoing issues with its technology, according to an investigation by the BBC. Panorama obtained figures through a Freedom of Information request that uncovered hundreds of instances when safety equipment was not working, including five-day outages in radar and camera equipment that is used to detect broken-down vehicles or other dangers. A spokesman for National Highways, the agency in charge of smart motorways, denied any claims of equipment failures.
Smart motorways use technology to manage traffic and reduce congestion. Much of the motorway network uses “all-lane-running” technology, which permanently removes the hard shoulder and replaces it with an extra lane. The Highways agency maintains the system produces some of the UK’s safest roads despite the removal of the hard shoulder, which has led to concerns about driver safety if a breakdown occurs.
In total, there are 193 miles of all-lane-running motorways, in addition to other smart motorways that retain the traditional hard shoulder. While the government has acknowledged concerns about impacts on driver safety, there are no plans to reinstate the hard shoulder. Instead, £900m is being spent on technology to improve safety, including the addition of more emergency laybys. However, Andrew Page-Dove, National Highways’ operational control director, admitted there is a gap between driver concerns and official safety statistics.
Claire Mercer, whose husband died on an all-lane-running stretch of the M1 in 2019, campaigns for the reintroduction of the hard shoulder and said she was emailed regularly by concerned insiders. The AA’s president, Edmund King, has warned that without the hard shoulder or reliable technology, smart motorways become “very dangerous”. At least 79 people have been killed since the introduction of smart motorways in 2010, while seven coroners have called for safety improvements in the past five years
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More