A damning report on Smart Motorway schemes, including the M20 in Kent, says lives could have been saved if safety measures had been put in place during their construction.

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The report by MPs comes after 38 deaths on the routes in five years and is scathing about the failure of Highways England and the Department for Transport to act amid growing concerns about safety.

The Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps has ordered a review into Smart Motorways.

His intervention coincides with the report that concludes there have been flaws in implementation of what is known as “all lane running” schemes, in which the hard shoulder is used as an additional lane at times of congestion.

An inquiry was set up by the all-party group on Roadside Rescue and Recovery, whose members include the Chatham and Aylesford MP Tracey Crouch.

It concludes projects have been presented by Highways England and the Department for Transport as the natural extension of earlier ‘schemes.

“The recordings of 999 calls of motorists trapped in such situations are harrowing..."

It says they are “in fact a fundamental alteration to the nature of a road” that have been conducted with a shocking degree of carelessness.

It adds: “The necessary steps have not been taken in advance to ensure the safety of motorists and recovery operators. Many of the measures now being taken should have been in place before the roll-out of these roads commenced.

“This would have also cost the taxpayer less, given the high cost of retrofitting in comparison with installing the safety features during construction – and, more importantly, it would have saved lives.”

The number of near misses involving vehicles on existing schemes has increased significantly.

MPs underline these concerns in their report and say they are particularly worried by live lane breakdowns, describing the rate of such incidents as “ completely unacceptable” and terrifying for those stranded.

The report adds: “The recordings of 999 calls of motorists trapped in such situations are harrowing, and they underscore the fact that there are still concerns many motorists don’t know what to do in such situations. Tragically, this situation has led to casualties amongst road users. The 38% live lane breakdown rate amongst road users is completely unacceptable. Though live lane breakdowns do occur on traditional motorways 20% of the time, these are nevertheless the most terrifying and dangerous situations for road users.”

It goes on to say that a system that nearly doubles the frequency of such incidents is a “public policy failure.”

MPs castigate Highways England over its admission that had vehicle detection technology been incorporated in to schemes now up and running, as many as eight fatalities may have been avoided.

They say it represents a “damning indictment of the agency’s on-the-hoof approach to all-lane running motorways.”

KMTV report at the start of the review

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