The AA has repeated its call for the return of the hard shoulder across the English motorway network after a new survey suggested that anxiety over smart motorways is increasing.
The motoring organisation said its research showed that a third (30%) of drivers feel ‘a lot less safe’ on any form of smart motorway than they did three years ago, with two thirds feeling safer on a traditional motorway than they did previously.
It said the survey of more than 13,500 drivers found that motorways where the hard shoulder can be switched on and off at peak times to create an additional running lane (known as dynamic hard shoulder) caused the highest number of respondents to say they didn’t feel safe.
Three-fifths of drivers want the smart motorway network converted back to the traditional format with a permanent hard shoulder. One in nine (11%) said the network should be left in its current state, while 9% said all running lane sections should be converted to dynamic hard shoulder.
One in seven (14%) said the smart motorway network should be turned into controlled motorways – a form of smart motorway that has both traffic management technology and a hard shoulder.
The AA also called for National Highways’ fourth annual progress report following the smart motorway ‘stocktake’, which it said was due last year, to be published urgently.
Head of roads policy Jack Cousens said: ‘Given the choice between smart motorways relying on technology or motorways with a hard shoulder, drivers are clear which they prefer.
‘In the last few years, there have been numerous reports of signal outages and CCTV failures across the network. It is vital the overdue stocktake [report] is released so we can understand the impact of these technical failures.’
‘Both The AA and drivers say this experiment has failed and urge for the reinstatement of a permanent hard shoulder.’
National Highways said the stocktake report will be published this month, explaining that it had to go through the necessary governance and that was delayed due to the change in government.
A spokesperson said: ‘The safety data continues to show that, overall, in terms of deaths or serious injuries, smart motorways are our safest roads.‘
The AA also pointed out that in 2020 the previous government pledged just under £1bn to improve safety on smart motorways, including funding for 150 more emergency areas to reduce their spacing from around a mile and a half to around three-quarters of a mile.
It said that around half of these schemes have been completed with half still under construction.
Mr Cousens said: ‘More emergency areas will help, but drivers are frustrated with the perceived lack of urgency to complete the work.
'While many upgrades have been completed, there are several major motorways that only began work last year.'
National Highways’ spokesperson said: ‘It is important drivers feel safe and that’s why we have made further improvements including upgrading the technology to detect stopped vehicles and improving response times to live lane breakdowns.
‘On top of this we have made good progress on the delivery of our commitment to install 150 new emergency areas, with all work due to be completed by next month.’
