Royal Haskoning associate group director Sarah Simpson FCIHT raised the point and told the committee that she would “potentially” like to see hard shoulders returned to the over 200km of all lane running smart motorway installed to date across England.

“Given all the evidence, I would have to say, if you are asking me whether we should have any more all lane running or remove it, my answer would be to get rid of it,” she said. Sarah spoke up instead for ‘controlled motorways’, which she said should be the minimum standard for motorways, and added she was “more agnostic” about dynamic hard shoulders.

She also told the session that overarching factors involved in the Government’s decision to roll out all lane running were “predominately focused on cost savings”, which was made evident in a national infrastructure plan published a decade ago.

“That specifically talks about the opportunity, because smart motorways were ‘very safe’, to design them to be less safe in order to save costs,” she said. She added that hazard management documents had acknowledged the fact that “there will be a significantly greater level of live lane breakdown, and with that a commensurate increase in risk” as a result of swapping dynamic hard shoulder for all lane running.

Latest data indicates that the risk of breaking down in a live lane on a conventional motorway is 16 breakdowns per mile per year, as opposed to 62 on a route without a permanent hard shoulder, she pointed out.

She also said: “The absolute bare minimum that we should be doing as designers, operators, organisations and roads authorities is dealing with hazards that are presented that are foreseeably going to result in death or life changing injury. With regards to all lane running, that simply has not happened.”

The committee later heard from Kate Carpenter who represented CIHT. She told the session that the last five years of data shows that all forms of smart motorway including all lane running have lower collision rates than conventional motorways.

“That might be counterintuitive, but that is the finding at the moment. Therefore, CIHT supports them, provided the environmental and economic case is clear,” she said, but urged ongoing monitoring of collisions and driver behaviour.

“My personal view when I started work on smart motorways was that they seemed high risk and counterintuitive, but from what I have seen in the 13 years that I have been working on them, the actual performance is different from what you might expect.”

She went on to recognise that many drivers currently feel anxious about travelling on smart motorways, which she warned could see them divert onto other routes such as A roads “where they are far more likely to be killed per mile travelled: that is a real risk.” She urged improved communication with motorists and later also expressed support for improved stopped vehicle detection systems.

Meanwhile details of proposed changes to the Highway Code have been published, which include guidance to help drivers understand smart motorway features.

The updated code is set to feature clear advice on how and where to stop in an emergency and details on the importance of not driving in a lane that has been closed with a Red X sign and on the use of variable speed limits.

Also this week, a report by the European Transport Safety Council shows that, across 32 European countries, the UK ranks second lowest on progress made to reduce road deaths over the last decade.

Road deaths in the UK reduced by 14% since 2010, well below the 50% target set by EU countries at the start of the last decade.

Commenting, Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety executive director David Davies said: “It was a decade of missed opportunities. The UK Government did not make road safety a priority, refused to set national casualty reduction targets and failed to provide the comprehensive framework to deliver real change.”

(Photograph: Highways England)

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