The safety of smart motorways

For context, the latest analysis continues to show that overall, smart motorways remain our safest roads. 

Two reports were published on Thursday, 13 March: National Highways’ annual smart motorway stocktake report, and the Office for Rail and Road’s annual safety assessment of the strategic road network.

The Telegraph inaccurately reported the MIDAS (Motorway Incident Detection and Automatic Signalling) system is used to detect broken down cars and was out of service for almost a month on one stretch of the M62.

This is not true. MIDAS detects queuing traffic by measuring vehicle speed and volume. It is not a system for detecting broken-down vehicles. While MIDAS was temporarily affected, this did not impact the effectiveness of our broader safety and traffic management systems.

During this period on the M62, Stopped Vehicle Detection (SVD) technology remained fully operational, ensuring the continued detection of stationary vehicles on this section of all lane running (ALR) smart motorway. Additionally, our capability to set signs and signals, monitor live CCTV feeds, and respond to incidents in real-time was fully maintained.

We took action to reduce risks by reducing speed limits to 60mph and increasing traffic officer patrols to enhance on-road support. The safety of drivers on the M62 was never compromised.

It has also been reported that motorists are more likely to be hurt or killed on smart motorways than on conventional motorways.

This is not right. The latest safety data continues to show that, overall, smart motorways are safer as there are less deaths and serious injuries on these roads than on conventional motorways and A-roads, per mile travelled.

We also know that a collision on a conventional motorway is more likely to involve a death or serious injury than a collision on any of the three types of smart motorway. 

The vast majority (96%) of collisions across the strategic road network are single vehicle collisions or collisions involving two or more moving vehicles. The rest of the collisions (4%) involve moving vehicles colliding with stopped vehicles. Both types of collisions occur on all types of roads.

In addition, the Telegraph has reported National Highways is about to complete a £900 million “emergency retrofit” plan to build hundreds of new safety laybys on existing smart motorways.

This is not accurate. We continue to deliver £900 million in further safety improvements on existing smart motorways. This includes constructing over 150 new emergency areas. The retrofit programme of emergency areas is £390m of this £900m. We have now opened 74 additional emergency areas. Our commitment is to open at least 150 by Spring 2025 and we’re working hard to do that. 

All the actions set out by the previous government to further improve safety on smart motorways are now complete. This includes installing more than 700 additional signs informing drivers of the distance to the next place to stop in an emergency, and upgrading enforcement cameras on smart motorways to enable them to be used to detect vehicles passing under a Red X or entering a lane beyond a Red X.