The rollout of new all-lane running smart motorways has been paused, pending a 5-year review of safety.
The new motorways, which attempt to improve safety and traffic capacity by using technology to adapt to traffic conditions, collisions or breakdowns as they happen, has faced intense opposition from people who say that even temporarily removing the hard shoulder will always be detrimental to safety.
Construction that has already begun on some smart motorways will be completed, but other planned works will be put off for now, at least until more safety and economic data is available, which will be collected over the coming 5-year period.
Stretches of smart motorway which have already done away with the hard shoulder will remain all-lane running.
This news comes after MPs called for changes in November last year, pointing to a lack of data to support smart motorways as a safe and economically beneficial project.
Currently, if a driver breaks down on an all-lane running smart motorway, they are advised to aim for emergency refuge areas. Critics say this is dangerous, and can leave drivers stranded amongst fast-moving traffic.
There are roughly 400 miles of smart motorway already in action, 200 miles of which lack a permanent hard shoulder.
The paused rollout only applies to England – Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are each responsible for their own rollouts of smart motorways.
Neil Greig, director of policy and research at IAM RoadSmart, commented: “The news that the Government will pause all new smart motorways is strongly welcomed by IAM RoadSmart. As demonstrated by our survey, it has become increasingly clear that for many drivers and riders, the initial scepticism has not been overcome with many having lost all confidence in the safety of smart motorways. This decision will give National Highways time to rebuild trust and win them back.
“Five years of data is what we would expect if we are to prove that a road safety intervention of this scale is effective. However, the UK still has some of the most congested motorways in Europe so it is vital that the additional funding earmarked for improvements is ringfenced and not diverted elsewhere.”
Transport secretary Grant Shapps said: “I am grateful to the Transport Committee and to all those who provided evidence for its work.
“While our initial data shows that smart motorways are among the safest roads in the UK, it’s crucial that we go further to ensure people feel safer using them.
“Pausing schemes yet to start construction and making multimillion-pound improvements to existing schemes will give drivers confidence and provide the data we need to inform our next steps.”
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