Furious MPs blast the Department for Transport for going ahead with plan to use hard shoulder as extra lane on motorways and ‘ignoring’ their safety concerns
MPs say the Government has not considered their concerns
MINISTERS are “blatantly ignoring” safety fears by pushing ahead with plans to convert hard shoulders into extra traffic lanes, furious MPs said today.
The powerful Commons Transport Committee tore into the Government saying it was putting cost cuts before motorist’s lives by trying to increase capacity “on the cheap”.
MPs said the Government had rejected their main recommendations into “all-lane” running schemes by approving projects before their report had been considered.
The Department for Transport has given the green light on a scheme for a 32-mile stretch of the M4 but emergency services, recovery operators and road maintenance workers have all raised fears.
Committee chair Louise Ellman blasted: “The Department for Transport is blatantly ignoring the safety concerns set out in our report.
“We had barely received the response to our report before the Government endorsed an all-lane running scheme on the M4.
“The committee isn’t arguing with the Government about the need for more capacity on our motorways, or their statement that motorways are our safest roads. We support smart motorways such as the M42 scheme.
“But we take real issue with the Government’s assertion that all-lane running schemes on motorways are no different to other types of roads without hard shoulders.
“Motorways are a different class of road and drivers have different expectations when using them.”
So called “smart motorways” are in operation already on parts of the M42, M1, M6 and M5.
But critics say they are a cheap way of boosting capacity without widening roads.
Highways England will review the spacing of emergency lay-bys to reduce the likelihood of cars stopping in live lanes.
But MPs said the M4 proposal should not go ahead until this work was carried out.
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Edmund King of the AA said the plans for the 32-mile stretch of the M4 should be immediately reviewed to make longer emergency bays.
He said: “Four out of five drivers are scared about using Emergency Refuge Areas, some even dubbing them “death zones”, so the Government needs to act now to improve this perception.
RAC chief engineer David Bizley said the “flat refusal” of the Government to listen to genuine voices of concern was “very worrying”.
He added: “The safety case for all-lane running is not yet proven and as a result we fear that it won’t be long before there is a major tragedy that will make the Government think again.”
Transport minister John Hayes said: “We have some of the safest motorways in the world but we are not complacent and are always looking at ways to make them safer.
“All-lane running on the M25 has not only tackled congestion, it has cut collision rates by nearly a fifth and cut casualties by more than a quarter after a year of operation.”
It comes as a new survey by the RAC found car insurance was the biggest cost worry for motorists with almost half saying their premiums had been hiked from the previous year.