RHA welcomes smart motorway safety review

The Road Haulage Association (RHA) has backed the move by the Department for Transport (DfT) to pause the introduction of new all lane running (ALR) smart motorway schemes in or­der to review their safety.

The rollout of smart motor­ways will now cease until a full five years’ worth of safety data for schemes introduced before 2020 becomes available, fol­lowing recommendations from the transport select committee.

In the meantime, DfT is investing £900 million to im­prove safety on ALR motorways, which will include the installa­tion of £390m worth of addi­tional emergency areas, provid­ing drivers with more than 150 additional emergency stopping areas – around a 50 per cent increase by 2025.

The remainder of the fund­ing will deliver further meas­ures including stopped vehicle detection and concrete central reservation barriers.

However, DfT said it did not agree with the view that smart motorways had been rolled out prematurely or unsafely, citing high standards of design, risk assessment and construction and adding that the schemes had been subject to detailed monitoring and evaluation once opened.

Design work would contin­ue on those schemes already planned, the department said, to ensure they were ready to be constructed depending on the outcome of the review.

National Highways will also pause the conversion of dy­namic hard shoulder (DHS) motorways – where the hard shoulder is open at busy times – into ALR motorways, while it considers means of operation that would simplify their use for drivers.

Announcing the moves last month, the transport secretary Grant Shapps said: “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. I want to thank safety campaigners, including those who have lost loved ones, for rightly striving for higher standards on our roads. I share their concerns.”

National Highways CEO Nick Harris added: “While we pause those all lane running schemes yet to start construction, we will complete the schemes current­ly in construction.

“We will make existing sec­tions as safe as they can pos­sibly be and we will step up our advice to drivers so they have all the information they need.”

Rod McKenzie, RHA execu­tive director for policy and pub­lic affairs, said: “The RHA sup­ports smart motorways as they reduce congestion and pollu­tion by keeping traffic moving.

“But the advantages of all-lane running must never outweigh safety. It’s vital that safety comes first so this pause is welcome as is additional funding for upgrading safety measures on existing all-lane running motorways.

“It is also crucial that these safety measures include bet­ter education about the use of smart motorways for all road users. Motorways are the UK’s safest roads, and we want them to stay that way.”

The RHA has also made a number of suggestions to im­prove practices in advance of the review, including a single standard for infrastructure and operating system across all schemes, including auto detec­tion and rapid response.

RHA infrastructure poli­cy lead, Tom Cornwell, said: “We’re calling for larger, more visible and more frequent ref­uge areas to give more confi­dence to motorists.

“We should consider res­toration of hard shoulder at night during set-times on all roads and in poor weather – supported by repeater red X signs over the inside lane to make closed hard shoulder more visible.”

Mary Williams, CEO of the road safety charity, Brake, said: “On behalf of the victims killed and seriously injured in road crashes on all kinds of roads, and to prevent further tragedies, Brake supports evidence-based policies and investment by government, particularly investment in safe road infrastructure that protects people, as well as requirements for new vehicles to have the latest safety tech­nologies.

“There is much to like about smart motorways from a safe­ty perspective through their use of technology; but no lives should be lost due to lack of a safe place to stop in any kind of emergency situation.

“The charity warmly wel­comes the news of more stopping places on these mo­torways, upgrading of tech­nologies on these motorways, and more safety data collect­ing prior to expansion, in line with the National Highways commitment to put safety first.”