QUESTIONS have again been raised over smart motorways - including the M5 where several fatal crashes have been recorded.

In Worcestershire there has been three fatal crashes on the M5 between junctions four and six, which utilises an ‘all lanes running’ scheme.

These ‘smart motorways’ involve the hard shoulder being removed and converted into a running lane. However, the practice has led to concerns from MPs and the public - and earlier this week there was another call for new smart motorway roll outs to be halted.

The report by the Commons’ Transport Select Committee said: “The Government and National Highways should pause the rollout of new all-lane running schemes until five years of safety and economic data is available for every all-lane running scheme introduced before 2020 and the implementation of the safety improvements in the Government’s action plan has been independently evaluated.”

Harriett Baldwin, MP for West Worcestershire, said: “I was continually concerned about the process of the delivery of the smart motorway system south of Birmingham and all the hold-ups that were caused by this work for Worcestershire commuters.

“Like most drivers, my experience of the new motorway has been broadly positive but the cost of delivering the work, together with the consistent concerns about safety, are a cause for concern.

“Smart motorways were supposed to make busy motorways safer and more efficient and I am following this issue closely and hope Highways England will adopt the right measures to ensure this is the case.”

 

Meanwhile, a study by insurance company GoCompare found that around a third of drivers didn’t want to use smart motorways.

 

In recent months there has been numerous incidents on the M5 resulting in lanes being closed due to broken down vehicles, resulting in lengthy delays.

On October 28, a broken down vehicle caused delays between junctions 5 and 6 while in September there were two crashes in the space of a week.

On September 14, a van crashed resulting in police closing a lane before a two-vehicle collision on September 20 also caused lengthy delays.

According to Crash Map, there have been three fatal incidents on this stretch of road since it was completed in 2017, all three happening at Junction 5, which connects to the A38.

On July 30, 2018, two people were killed in a three-vehicle collision, then two weeks later, on August 13, another person was killed.

The most recent fatal crash came on June 26, 2020.