Commenting on the latest ‘smart’ motorways stocktake*, Edmund King, AA president, said: “ We applaud National Highways for making good progress in implementing and improving the performance of Stopped Vehicle Detection and other safety measures on ‘smart’ motorways following serious concerns raised by the AA and others.
“The advice remains that if you breakdown in a live lane and can’t exit the vehicle safely via the passenger seat, you should keep your seat belt on, put on hazard lights and other lights and dial 999. It is an emergency.”
“The fundamental problem remains that stopped vehicle incidents are more frequent on All Lane Running (ALR) ‘smart’ motorways compared to motorways with hard shoulders. To address this, the hard shoulder needs to be reinstated or at the very least the number of Emergency Areas needs to be radically increased.
“The prospect of breaking down or stopping in a live lane is daunting as our AA call centre operators who take the distressed calls can confirm. The advice remains that if you breakdown in a live lane and can’t exit the vehicle safely via the passenger seat, you should keep your seat belt on, put on hazard lights and other lights and dial 999. It is an emergency.
“Of course, drivers can also do their bit by ensuring their vehicles are in good condition, by reacting to warning lights, ensuring they have enough fuel or charge and by driving safely.
“We welcomed the scrapping of new ‘smart’ motorways but even with the progress made with new technology on existing ones, more needs to be done to reduce the dangers of live lane stops.
“We have called for more ‘controlled motorways’ which the report shows have lower killed or serious injury rates (KSI) than All Lane Running (1.31 compared to 1.43). These motorways have the benefit of ‘smart’ motorway technology whilst also having a hard shoulder.”
*smart-motorways-third-year-progress-report-final.pdf (nationalhighways.co.uk)