Sarah Champion MP Criticises National Highways Response to Smart Motorway Accident Blackspots Report
Sarah Champion, Member of Parliament for Rotherham, has criticised the conclusions of a report into accident blackspots on the Smart Motorway network.
The long-awaited report from National Highways, formerly Highways England, found that for Junction 32 to Junction 35 section of the M1, which passes through Sarah’s Rotherham constituency, the number of serious injury collisions per year have increased. Fatal injury collisions have increased from one in three years to three in three years.
Sarah’s constituent, Jason Mercer, was killed on this section of motorway in 2019, when his vehicle, which was stopped in a live lane, was struck by a lorry. The hard shoulder had been converted to a full-time running lane as part of the Smart Motorway scheme.
The report commits to some safety improvements but falls far short of the changes called for by Sarah and motorway safety campaigners and will see no additional safety refuges installed between junctions 32 and 35.
Commenting, Sarah said:
“I am appalled that National Highways has failed to commit to real safety improvements on this lethal stretch of road. Fundamentally, it was the lack of a safe refuge that led to the death of Jason Mercer. Despite acknowledging the alarming rise in serious and fatal incidents, none of the measures proposed in the Report will address this fatal flaw. No additional refuges will be built the hard shoulder will not be returned, and motorists will continue to run huge risks should they break down or be forced to stop.”
National Highways’ previous progress report into safety improvements on Smart Motorways acknowledged the need for frequent refuge areas where the hard shoulder has been removed. It committed new schemes to feature refuges spaced, where feasible, every three quarters of a mile, with no more than one mile between places to stop.
Sarah condemned the failure to deliver similar improvements on recognised blackspots, commenting:
“In committing to much reduced spacing between refuges on future Smart Motorway schemes, National Highways has acknowledged that existing schemes are unsafe. Yet, more than two years from Jason’s death, nothing has been done to address this fundamental problem.’
‘The families of victims of these blackspots, including Jason’s widow, Claire, have been expectantly waiting for 18 months for the findings of this report. The result is an insult, offering no real answers and no solutions.’
‘It is high time the Department for Transport listened to bereaved families, campaigners, motorists’ organisations and Members from across the House and abandoned these dangerous, ill thought-out schemes, instead, they seem ideologically intent to roll them out, regardless of the known risks they pose.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
National Highways’ report into Smart Motorways accident blackspots is available here: https://highwaysengland.co.uk/media/4hdnfuvm/brs21_0038_m6_and_m1_summary-report_final.pdf
Highways England’s progress report on Smart Motorway safety is available here: https://highwaysengland.co.uk/media/bb4lpkcp/smart-motorways-stocktake-first-year-progress-report-2021.pdf