Seven in 10 drivers (69%) want the hard shoulder to be reinstated on the 235 miles of existing all lane running smart motorways, according to new research by the RAC.
The motoring organisation said that after prime minister Rishi Sunak's decision to scrap planned new schemes, anything less than a reversal of existing ones ‘will be seen as a poor excuse which could lead to more lives being needlessly lost on these controversial motorways’.
Road safety spokesman Simon Williams said: ‘Installing additional refuge areas and radar technology to help spot stricken vehicles is welcome and necessary, but for most drivers this doesn’t go far enough.
'Anyone unlucky enough to break down who can’t get to an emergency refuge area remains incredibly vulnerable where the hard shoulder has been taken out.
He added that with the existing traffic management technology being retained, ‘it’s unclear how much increased congestion there would be due to the overall reduction in road space'.
‘Nonetheless, this might be something drivers are willing to tolerate if it means they’re kept safer, but another option could be to convert as many all-lane-running stretches as feasible into dynamic hard shoulder schemes.
‘Whatever action the Government decides to take, the status quo – where we still have hundreds of miles of motorway without hard shoulders simply isn’t sustainable. Longer term, a hotch-potch of different motorway schemes, some with hard shoulders and some without, surely isn’t the answer either.'
Mr Williams also disagreed with claims from the prime minister’s official spokesman that reinstating hard shoulders would be ‘extremely disruptive’ and ‘obviously would come at a significant cost to the taxpayer’.
He said drivers ‘are simply not going to buy the Government’s line’ [as] 'they have already had to endure years of disruption while these controversial motorways were installed, so we’d imagine most will be very happy to endure a little more, especially if it means they will have safer motorways as a result’.
He added: ‘As for the cost, while the Government had already committed £900m to retrofitting emergency refuge areas, it will now be making savings of more than £1bn by not going ahead with any new schemes in the future.
‘Painting around 235 miles of white lines will surely cost a fraction of what has been spent on these schemes overall.’
