Families of smart motorway victims to protest outside Labour conference

Steve Bird[1]21 September 2024 5:10pm

Relatives of people killed on smart motorways[2] are to demonstrate outside the Labour Party conference to demand the new transport secretary honour her pledge to bring back the hard shoulder. A leaflet cataloguing Louise Haigh's repeated pre-election promises to scrap controversial smart motorways [3]will be handed to those attending the event in Liverpool on Monday. It shows that in March 2023 when Ms Haigh was the Shadow Transport Secretary she said "Labour has been clear ... that the hard shoulder should be reinstated on all smart motorways" because they were "unfit for purpose".

The document shows how after the election she watered down her commitment by saying "Labour will review the evidence to determine whether existing smart motorways are fit for purpose." The leaflet also highlights how the new Transport Secretary's own personal website still features a page in which she pledges to scrap smart motorways.[4] Claire Mercer, whose husband Jason died [5]on the M1 because the hard shoulder had been turned into a fourth live lane, will picket the conference with supporters handing out the leaflets.

"It's great that Louise Haigh is still pledging to get rid of smart motorways on her personal website," the campaigner said. "We were concerned that Labour had watered down their previous commitments, but as shown on her own website she still states that the Government has a duty to get rid of these roads as they are 'not fit for purpose' and 'inherently unsafe and dangerous'". "Now she is the Transport Secretary, she is the one person capable of honouring her own commitment.

I look forward to her implementing her promise very quickly."

Smart motorways are controversial because they involve scrapping the hard shoulder to create a fourth lane and relying on technology to try to spot vehicles that have broken down. Motorists and their passengers have died after their vehicles have become stranded in live lanes and been hit. The Telegraph has revealed numerous instances where National Highways' technology and control room staff have failed to spot live lane breakdowns and impose red X signs to divert traffic away from a stationary vehicle.

National Highways claims radar detects nearly 90 per cent of stopped vehicles, meaning one in 10 is not spotted. In the last five years, seven coroners have called for them to be made safer. A Department for Transport spokesman said: "We have been clear we will not roll out any new smart motorways.

"The safety of everyone travelling on our roads is a top priority for this Government.

"We will deliver a comprehensive new Road Safety Strategy - the first in over a decade - to reduce tragic deaths and injuries on our roads, and will set out next steps on smart motorways in due course."

References

1. ^ Steve Bird (www.telegraph.co.uk)
2. ^ killed on smart motorways (www.telegraph.co.uk)
3. ^ scrap controversial smart motorways (www.telegraph.co.uk)
4. ^ scrap smart motorways. (www.telegraph.co.uk)
5. ^ Claire Mercer, whose husband Jason died (www.telegraph.co.uk)