Safety targets for detecting car breakdowns on smart motorways are being missed
SAFETY targets for detecting vehicle breakdowns on smart motorways are being missed.
Their regulator found that no region met the minimum requirement to spot eight in ten stoppages.
Shockingly, four in five areas are failing to detect them within the required 20 seconds.
The average was between 43 and 65 seconds.
The Office of Rail and Road said the poor performance of the radar-based technology was below National Highways’ 80 per cent targets.
Detection rates were between 59.6 per cent and 79.6 per cent.
Read more on smart motorways
Ministers have paused new smart motorway schemes until five years of safety data is available.
The RAC’s Nicholas Lyes said: “We are keen to see National Highways get on top of teething problems they have had following the installation of stopped vehicle detection technology.
"Breaking down in a live lane is terrifying enough but drivers must have confidence that the infrastructure is detecting them quickly.”
National Highways is spending £105million replacing obsolete tech.
