Highways England to install extra lay-bys for emergency stops on smart motorways after motorists slam them as ‘death zones’

THE most dangerous stretches of smart motorways in the country are due to have extra lay-bys retrofitted in a bid to reduce accident rates.

Highways England has committed to installing a number of additional emergency refuge areas to locations where drivers are most likely to stop in live lanes.

According to Press Association, the government-owned company will also reduce the maximum gap between lay-bys in future schemes from 1.5 miles to one mile “where practicable”, to provide “greater reassurance to road users”.

Smart motorways, which use technology to manage traffic and speed limits, increase the capacity of major roads as they use the hard shoulder for traffic, which means vehicles that suffer a breakdown or accident may have to stop in a live running lane if they cannot make it to a refuge area.

The new roads currently have emergency refuge areas spaced 2.5km (1.5 miles) apart and feature variable speed limits enforced by overhead gantries.

But according to an AA study, 79 per cent of drivers agree motorways are now more dangerous compared to four years ago because of the removal of the hard shoulder.

Sections of motorways such as the M25, M1, M4 and M6 have already been converted and another 480 smart motorway lane miles are planned.

Many drivers and motoring groups are unhappy with the perceived lack of lay-bys on these stretches of road, with some describing smart motorways as “death zones” and the refuge areas as “desperate unreachable havens” in a 2016 AA questionnaire.

On Friday, a family told Channel 4 News of the horror of being hit by a lorry at up to 60mph after breaking down on a section of the M6 which had no hard shoulder in preparation for becoming a smart motorway.

Duncan Montgomery, who was in the car with his wife and their three daughters, said: “Glass was smashed everywhere, the whole side of the van was halfway across the carriage.

“I got Rose (his daughter) and dragged her into the front driver’s seat where she was throwing up blood.”

The family escaped with minor injuries from the crash, which happened over the festive period in Cheshire.

According to the AA, the increase in the number of lay-bys is a “victory for common sense”.

AA president Edmund King said: “Improving capacity and easing congestion on our motorways is key for the economy, but not at the expense of safety.

“The gap between emergency refuge areas has been a major concern.”

In a letter to the Commons’ transport select committee, Highways England chief executive Jim O’Sullivan wrote: “Evidence demonstrates that ALR (all lane running or smart motorways) delivers comparable levels of safety to traditional motorways – including a significant improvement on the M25.”

Red X signs are displayed on overhead gantries when a smart motorway lane is closed following an accident or breakdown.

But in the past 12 months more than 80,000 warning letters have been sent to drivers caught ignoring the signs.

Police are expected to begin fining offenders in the coming months.