Half of drivers on all lane running (ALR) smart motorways say they avoid using lane one, ‘completely undermining’ the purpose of converting the hard shoulder, according to the RAC.
In a survey by the motoring organisation of 1,904 drivers who have driven on ALR schemes, a fifth (21%) said they had frequently steered clear of the inside lane while 28% admitted to doing so occasionally.
Asked why they do this, three-quarters (77%) of drivers say they are worried they might encounter a stationary vehicle as there is no hard shoulder, while 40% are fearful of being crashed into if they had to stop.
Two-thirds (68%) of drivers said they regularly see motorists using other lanes when the inside lane is free, with a further 20% claiming to witness this sometimes and 5% very occasionally.
RAC road safety spokesperson Simon Williams said: 'Ever since the first all lane running smart motorway opened on the M25 in April 2014 there has been a considerable amount of controversy about safety, which worsened significantly following several high-profile fatal collisions.
'Consequently, these roads continue to be deeply unpopular with drivers who, before their introduction, had been used to having the relative refuge of a hard shoulder available in an emergency.
‘On top of this our latest research worryingly shows that half of drivers actively avoid using the inside-most lane for a variety of reasons, not least the fear of being crashed into, meaning much of the extra carriageway capacity they were meant to bring is wasted.’
The second most common reason for not using the inside lane on an ALR scheme, cited by 52% of drivers, was the belief that it is mostly used by HGVs and would lead to them frequently having to overtake, while 38% said traffic in lane one is usually going much slower than 70mph.
Asked what could be done to improve safety on ALR schemes, three-quarters of drivers (74%) said they would feel safer if there were more refuge areas and a similar number (72%) would be reassured by technology that detects stranded vehicles.
As Highways has reported, although National Highways has now retrofitted radar-based stopped vehicle detection on all operational ALR schemes, this is only required to meet a benchmark of detecting four in five stopped vehicles and the company has decided not to take forward a CCTV-based alternative.
