Smart motorways: Rollout should be paused over safety fears, campaigners and MPs say
The rollout of smart motorways should be suspended amid safety concerns, MPs and campaigners have said.
Government plans to remove the hard shoulder from all future smart motorways and use the lane for live traffic are “premature”, a report from Commons Transport Select Committee (TSC) has said.
Demonstrators carried 38 cardboard coffins to the Houses of Parliament today in protest over the Government’s motorway plan, which was first announced in March last year.
Each coffin represented one of the people officially listed as being killed on smart motorways between 2014 and 2019.
The TSC urged ministers to ‘consider alternative options for enhancing capacity’ on motorways
A smart motorway is a section of a motorway that uses traffic management methods to increase capacity.
One type is known as an “all-lane running” scheme, and permanently removes the hard shoulder and converts it into a lane for traffic. On this type of motorway, lane one (formerly the hard shoulder) should close if there is an accident – with a red X appearing above the lane.
However, there have been mounting concerns after several fatal accidents saw stationary vehicles being hit from behind.
Claire Mercer, whose husband, Jason, died on a smart motorway stretch of the M1 in June 2019, welcomed the recommendation the rollout be paused, adding: “That will give us more time to get into the High Court and get these banned anyway”.
Mr Mercer, 44, and Alexandru Murgeanu, 22, died near Sheffield when a lorry crashed into their vehicles which had stopped on the motorway after a “minor shunt”.
Mrs Mercer said: “They keep doing review after review after review. In the meantime, people are still dying.
“There’s a really strong feeling against these. We need to embarrass the Government into actually doing something.
“We don’t need a raft of changes. We just need the hard shoulder back in every single instance.”
Jason Mercer, 44, died following a collision on the M1 northbound on 7 June 2019. Pic: South Yorkshire Police @syptweet
However, the TSC was “not convinced” that such a policy would boost safety.
The committee concluded: “The evidence suggests that doing so could put more drivers and passengers at risk of death and serious injury.
“The Government is right to focus on upgrading the safety of all-lane running motorways.”
The TSC urged ministers to “consider alternative options for enhancing capacity” on motorways.
Protesters carry 38 38 cardboard coffins, one for each life lost on smart motorways between 2014 and 2019
Smart motorways protester march across Westminster Bridge.
It is calling on the government to install controlled smart motorways, instead of all-lane running motorways.
Controlled smart motorways have a permanent hard shoulder and use technology to regulate traffic and have the “lowest casualty rates” of all roads across motorways and major A roads in England.
The committee’s report said: “The Government and National Highways should pause the rollout of new all-lane running schemes until five years of safety and economic data is available for every all-lane running scheme introduced before 2020 and the implementation of the safety improvements in the Government’s action plan has been independently evaluated.”
Mrs Mercer, from Rotherham, said the number of coffins corresponded to the official number of people killed on smart motorways between 2014 and 2019.
Protesters carry placards saying ‘Just turn the first lane off’ and ‘restore the hard shoulder save lives’
Mrs Mercer said her campaign is educating the public about the risks of smart motorways.
“My husband might still be alive if he’d known what a smart motorway was,” she added.
Jack Szwarc, who was wearing a leg brace, said he almost died on a smart motorway in April.
The 33-year-old from Wolverhampton said he came off his motorbike at 60mph on the M6, having nowhere safe to escape when the engine died.
“Smart motorways almost cost me an arm and a leg,” he said, describing how his bike slammed against the barrier, causing him to lose “a big chunk” of his leg, shattering his kneecap and dislocating his shoulder.
Jack Szwarc almost died on a smart motorway in April
“We’re all here as receipts from the hidden costs of profits over people,” he added.
Conservative MP Sir Mike Penning, who claims he was misled when he supported the rollout of smart motorways in his role as roads minister from 2010-2012, said the TSC’s findings were “another significant step in the fight to improve safety on these motorways”.
An additional 300 miles of smart motorways without hard shoulders could be rolled out across England by 2025.
An international manhunt is under way for the husband of a murdered woman, whose body was found in the boot of a car.
The body of Harshita Brella was found in east London on Thursday, tens of miles away from her home in Corby.
On Sunday, Northamptonshire Police said they were looking for Pankaj Lamba – who they believe has left the country.
Sky News understands she had been under the protection of a court order designed for victims of domestic abuse.
“Our inquiries lead us to suspect that Harshita was murdered in Northamptonshire earlier this month by her husband Pankaj Lamba,” said chief inspector Paul Cash.
“We suspect Lamba transported Harshita’s body from Northamptonshire to Ilford by car.”
“Fast track” enquires were made after the force was contacted on Wednesday by someone concerned about Ms Brella’s welfare. After she failed to answer the door at her home in Skegness Walk, Corby, a missing person investigation was launched.
Her body was found inside the boot of a vehicle in Brisbane Road in the Ilford in the early hours of Thursday morning.
A post mortem – conducted at Leicester Royal Infirmary on Friday – established she had been murdered.
Harshita Brella, 24, from Corby. Her body was found in a car in east London. Pic: Northamptonshire Police
More than 60 detectives are working on the case, with lines of enquiry including going house to house and property searches, as well as looking at CCTV and ANPR.
“We are of course continuing to appeal for any information that will help us piece together exactly what happened as we work to get justice for Harshita,” said chief inspector Cash.
“I urge anyone listening to or reading this statement, that if you saw anything suspicious in the past week or have any information, no matter how small, please contact us. We would always rather receive well-meaning information that turns out to be nothing as opposed to not receiving it all.”
Pankaj Lamba. Pic: Northamptonshire Police
Force referred to police watchdog
On Saturday, Northamptonshire Police said it had made a mandatory referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct due to previous contact between the force and the victim.
Northamptonshire Police previously said officers had been conducting investigations at three locations: Skegness Walk and Sturton Walk in Corby and Brisbane Road, Ilford, where Ms Brella’s body was found.
East Midlands Special Operations Major Crime Unit (EMSOU) and Northamptonshire Police said they were working “around the clock to establish the circumstances behind her death, including the exact location and timeframe in which it took place”.
State-of-the-art technology has been used to create a voice for King Richard III – giving him a Yorkshire accent.
A digital avatar of the medieval king’s head went on display in front of excited history fans at York Theatre Royal.
Richard III was king of England from 1483 until his death at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, at the age of 32.
His remains were found in a car park in Leicester in 2012 by historian Philippa Langley.
Speaking about the recreation, she said: “We’ve got leading experts in their fields who have been working on this for 10 years and so everything has been meticulously researched, meticulously evidenced, so you are seeing the most accurate portrayal of Richard III”.
A team based at Face Lab at Liverpool John Moores University created the avatar based on the reconstruction of Richard III’s head with the help of a craniofacial expert.
His voice has been created by Professor David Crystal, a leading linguist in 15th-century pronunciation. He admitted that it’s impossible to know exactly how he spoke, but this is as close as they will get.
The king was born in Northampton but spent a lot of his life in Yorkshire. His parents were also from the north of England.
Vocal coach Yvonne Morley-Chisholm spent a decade researching how the monarch would have sounded. She worked with the actor Thomas Dennis who was chosen as his body and face were such a a good physical match.
Speaking to Sky News, she said people will be shocked at how different he sounded compared with traditional portrayals of the king on stage and screen.
The coach and actor also examined the king’s letters and diary so that “as you pronounced a word that’s how you would write it”.
Read more from Sky News:
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The voice shows the change in pronunciation over the centuries – from regional variations to the Queen’s English.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
History fans at the unveiling were delighted with the accent, with one telling Sky News: “Northerners are known to be happy, positive, all those lovely qualities.”
Born in Northampton but a northerner through and through, technology has brought the king’s speech back to life
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