Smart Motorways - Outstanding Roads Or Seriously In Need Of Improvement?

"When your vehicle has issues on a motorway, you look for the safety of the hard shoulder....Since the implementation of smart motorways, this lane has become a live lane and if the unforeseen happens, you are stranded in what is now a death trap and also delaying emergency vehicles attending an incident."1

As the government confirms that it will undertake an urgent review of smart motorways following several tragic deaths, we look at their use and perceived benefits, criticisms of the system and the future viability of such roads.

What is a smart motorway?

Smart motorways, or managed motorways as they were previously called, were first introduced in 2006. Highways England (previously the Highways Agency) developed these roads with the aim of increasing traffic capacity and decreasing congestion by utilising the existing carriageway space2.

Since this time, the network of smart motorways has grown significantly to include stretches of smart motorway on nine of the major networks and they now account for around 400 miles of England's roads3.

There are three main types of smart motorway4:

Dynamic hard shoulder: where the hard shoulder is temporarily opened up to traffic; All lane running: where the full width of the road is usable with emergency refuge area alongside; and Controlled motorway: with three or more lanes, a hard shoulder and a variable speed limit. Across Europe, elements of smart motorways have been implemented since 2002, with multiple countries using the dynamic hard shoulder model.

Is life too fast in the slow lane?

Keen to emphasise the benefits of such motorways, Highways England published statistics from data gathered since the first smart motorway opened in 2006 to say5:

Journey reliability has improved by 22 per cent Personal injury accidents have been reduced by more than half Where accidents did occur, severity was much lower overall with zero fatalities and fewer seriously injured There were 77 deaths on traditional roads with a hard shoulder compared to nine on the smart motorways network in 2018 Yet not everyone has been convinced, with criticisms being voiced by a number of organisations including the RAC6, the AA7, MPs8 and the Coroner's Service9. Members of the public were also invited in early 2019 to sign a petition to scrap smart motorways, which received 1,179 signatures10.

Criticisms have primarily arisen following a number of fatalities involving stranded vehicles and vehicles proceeding down closed lanes...