A coroner has asked the Crown Prosecution Services (CPS) to consider a charge of corporate manslaughter against Highways England.
The moves comes after the Doncaster Coroner held a Pre-Inquest Review Hearing for Mrs Nargis Begum (pictured), who was killed on a stretch of 'smart motorway'.
Ms Begum died in September 2018, after a car being driven by her husband broke down on the M1 near Sheffield.
At the pre-inquest review, senior coroner Nicola Mundy said she would consider a referral to the CPS after being told that 16 minutes and 21 seconds elapsed between the car breaking down and the collision.
There was a further six minutes and 15 seconds before warning signs were activated. She said this made a total of 22 minutes and 36 seconds between the breakdown and warnings being displayed.
‘I want to know why, essentially. It’s as simple as that,’ she said.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps recently admitted to the transport select committee that it was ‘entirely wrong’ to roll out all lane running smart motorways without effective stopped vehicle detection (SVD) technology.
Former Highways England chief executive Jim O'Sullivan also conceded to the transport select committee that 'a number of [deaths]' could have been prevented if SVD technology had been in place from the start of the smart motorway programme on all sections.
A retrofitting plan is in place to put radar SVD technology on the smart motorway network. However questions remain over the effectiveness of this system in certain conditions.
Edmund King, AA president, said: 'This is a significant moment for ‘smart’ motorways and highlights many failings, previously raised by the AA, that should have been spotted before the first fatalities, and clearly need urgent action.
'The coroner feels there are significant concerns in this case which require further investigation. The key one raised in court, from the AA’s point of view, is the risk of having only eight people watching 450 cameras within the Yorkshire and North East region. We feel the risk of death would be reduced with more emergency laybys and the extensive use of radar to help pinpoint incidents.
'We will await the CPS conclusions in due course, but this decision will once again raise serious questions regarding the permanent removal of the hard shoulder.'
A Highways England spokesperson said: 'Our deepest sympathies are with the family of Mrs Begum, and all those affected by this tragic incident.
'Although we do not believe Highways England has committed any offence we will of course cooperate fully in any investigation. Every road death is a tragic loss of life and we are determined to do all we can to make our roads as safe as possible.'
