MP urges transport chiefs to improve motorway safety after string of fatal accidents
TRANSPORT chiefs will today be urged to ramp up safety on motorways - after a spate of fatal roadside accidents.
Ex-minister Tracey Crouch is demanding the DFT and Highways England allow breakdown vans to use red lights when they help stricken motorists.
Currently they are only allowed to show amber.
And she wants motorists who flout safety signs to be treated the same way as those who drink drive.
She is also calling on the DFT to pause the rollout of ‘Smart Motorways’ amid concerns the removal of the hard shoulder has left motorists and breakdown crews vulnerable.
Her call is backed by the AA and RAC. It follows three deaths in the past 18 months alone.
Steve Godbold - from Ms Crouch’s constituency of Chatham, Kent- was hit and killed by a lorry on the side of the M25 in September 2017.
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Ms Crouch said: “Recovery operators should be able to use prominent red warning beacons while attending accidents and breakdowns on the hard shoulder.
“The campaign is supported by the wider industry of both independent firms and nationwide operators such as the RAC and the AA.
"While U.K. motorways are the safest roads to drive on; they are the most dangerous to work on.”
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