Policing a smart motorway | Times Reports

Описание: Smart motorways are in most ways “as safe or safer than conventional ones”, the transport secretary said this week, despite calls for them to be scrapped after several deaths in recent years.

Grant Shapps made his comments as he said that smart motorways will be given a £700 million safety overhaul after the removal of hard shoulders made serious crashes more likely.

Mr Shapps announced an 18-point improvement plan after admitting that he was “greatly concerned” by the number of fatal accidents.

So-called dynamic stretches, where the hard shoulder can be turned on or off, would be abolished because they confused motorists, he said. More than 60 miles will be converted into “all-lane running” stretches, where the hard shoulder is permanently removed, within five years. This includes parts of the M1, M4, M5, M6, M42 and M62.

Highways England, the government-owned company, will be tasked with installing dozens of new roadside lay-bys that allow vehicles to pull off the carriageway in an emergency.

The existing maximum 1.5-mile gap between refuge areas will be cut to a maximum of one mile, with a recommendation of a three-quarter-of-a-mile gap “where feasible”.

There was also a promise to introduce measures to spot cars broken down in “live” vehicle lanes without reaching the lay-by. At present, manual CCTV operators take an average of 17 minutes to spot broken-down vehicles and dispatch emergency help. Highways England admitted this week that cameras were not always monitored.

Mr Shapps said a new ten-minute target would be imposed and new radar technology that can automatically detect stopped vehicles will be rolled out within three years. At present, it is installed only on two stretches of the M25, and the previous target was for installation within five years.

Additionally, the government said there would be a big increase in digital cameras on smart motorways to identify drivers who flout rules, including driving through “red X” lane closure signs. Motorists can be hit with £100 fines and three penalty points.

The intervention was made amid growing controversy over smart motorways, which were introduced by Labour in 2006 to significantly increase capacity on the network, cutting congestion and improving traffic flows.

In recent years, a number of high-profile deaths have been reported, including drivers who have broken down on stretches without reaching a lay-by.

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