Image: DfT
A group of MPs is calling on the Government to pause the rollout of all-lane running motorways until five-years of safety data is available for all schemes introduced before 2020.
Earlier this year, the Transport Committee launched an inquiry into the safety of ‘smart motorways’ – which use variable speed limits and hard shoulder running to manage traffic and tackle stop-start congestion.
The most common type in the UK, all-lane-running (ALR), was introduced in 2014 and involves opening the hard shoulder permanently to drivers.
In a new report, published as part of the inquiry, the Transport Committee describes the available data on the safety of ALR motorways as ‘limited and volatile’.
The Committee notes that five-years of safety data is currently only available for 29 miles of ALR motorway – adding that the DfT and National Highways should pause the rollout until the same data is available for the remaining 112 miles introduced before 2020.
The Transport Committee also wants the rollout of new ALR schemes to be paused until safety improvements outlined in the Government’s action plan – launched by transport secretary Grant Shapps in March 2020 – have been introduced and independently evaluated.
The action plan includes measures to address issues including the time taken to reach broken down vehicles in live lanes and the distance between emergency refuge areas.
The Transport Committee report notes that the while Government and National Highways are taking steps to make all-lane running motorways safer, ‘it is too early to judge the effectiveness of those measures’, but is concerned whether they will be successful.
It is calling on the DfT and National Highways to retrofit emergency refuge areas on existing ALR motorways at a maximum of 1,500 metres apart – decreasing to every 1,000 metres where possible – rather than the current distance of up to 2.5km.
As well as this, the Committee would like concerns over whether stopped vehicle detection technology is effective and reliable – and whether emergency services and traffic patrol officers will still struggle to access incidents, especially when traffic is congested – to be addressed.
The report also asks the DfT and National Highways to consider alternative options for enhancing capacity on the Strategic Road Network.
It notes that other smart motorway designs, such as controlled motorways and dynamic hard shoulder motorways, have lower casualty rates than ALR motorways
According to the BBC, the DfT has said it will consider these recommendations.
Report slams initial roll-out of smart motorways
The report is largely critical of the roll-out of smart motorways, describing communication to the public as ‘woeful’.
It notes how successive administrations, the DfT and Highways England (the predecessor of National Highways) ‘underestimated the scale of safety measures needed effectively and reliably to mitigate the risks’ associated with the permanent removal of the hard shoulder on ALR motorways.
It adds there has also been a failure to deliver safety improvements to ALR motorways in a timely fashion, despite promises to previous Transport Committees that such improvements would be prioritised.
It concludes that six years after their introduction, many people do not understand what ALR motorways are and what to do if they break down in a live lane.
However, it acknowledges that the current transport secretary, Grant Shapps, and roads minister, Baroness Vere, have taken steps to address safety and delivery failures.
> It concludes that six years after their introduction, many people do not understand what ALR motorways are and what to do if they break down in a live lane.
Then I suppose this means that these people shouldn’t be driving, as dual carriageways without hard shoulders have existed for far longer than six years.
David Weston, Newcastle upon Tyne
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