Sarah Champion MP Criticises Decision to Limit Number of Refuges on Smart Motorway that has Seen Five Fatalities in Just 10 Months

Sarah Champion MP, Member of Parliament for Rotherham has strongly criticised the decision to limit the number of emergency refuges on the All Lane Running section of the M1 through South Yorkshire during a Parliamentary Debate.

A recent report in the Times newspaper revealed that Highways England’s precursor, the Highways Agency had considered installing an additional 6 refuges between junction 32 and 35a, increasing the total from 8 to 14.[1] The proposal was rejected on the grounds that it would have added between £1m and £2m to the £106m overall cost of the project. The 16-mile section of All Lanes Running motorway of which this forms a part has seen 5 deaths in just 10 months, including that of Sarah’s constituent, Jason Mercer.

During her speech, Sarah called for smart motorways to immediately revert to traditional operation, branding All Lanes Running as, “fundamentally flawed (and) profoundly unsafe.”

Commenting after the debate, Sarah said:

“It is outrageous that crucial safety features were neglected in order to save money. By limiting the number of refuges, Highways England has made it much more likely that stricken vehicles will be forced to stop in the carriageway. With existing systems unable to quickly identify a stopped vehicle in a live lane, this was always likely to lead to tragedy.”

Sarah continued:

“The government has halted new ‘smart’ motorway schemes pending the outcome of a safety review. But every day more and more information is coming to light showing that existing roads are profoundly unsafe.’

‘Motorists’ safety has to be the number one priority. The government should immediately revert all existing All Lane Running schemes to traditional operation unless and until life saving features like additional refuges can be retrofitted. If safety cannot be ensured, they should be abandoned all together.”