Since their official adoption in 2013, smart motorways have been the cause of mixed emotions. Along with improvements like the online MOT check update, this was seen as a development which would be good for the motorist. For their advocates, opening hard shoulders into “live lanes” makes perfect sense as it improves traffic flow and is very much cheaper than embarking on road widening schemes. However, their detractors point to the serious shortcomings, especially the availability of refuges. Although the transport secretary announced a further rollout of smart motorways in 2020, a recent scrutiny committee has found that this pronouncement was premature; thus leaving motorway users in continued limbo.
All – Lane Running
When fully operational, the concept of the smart motorway is to have all lanes running; as opposed to leaving the inside lane as refuge for broken down vehicles and emergency access. Having all lanes running, the theory goes, means that traffic queues will immediately shorten, as the same amount of traffic is spread across, say, four lanes rather than three. This mode of operation is aimed at peak times, leading to the term “dynamic hard shoulder;” a lane that only becomes live at certain times of the day.
Some transport analysts have always argued against taking this approach, however. One of their main objections is that all this achieves is overloading junctions, as more vehicles vie for their chance to get onto those junctions at the same time. This scepticism was soon backed up by statistics showing noticeable rises in breakdowns, near misses and actual road traffic accidents (RTAs) when hard shoulders become live lanes. In fact, it has been reported that 40% of breakdowns on live motorways take place in these live lanes.
Of course, such incidents are harder to remedy on a motorway with no hard shoulder; this is where the issue of refuges adds to the debate. Extra refuges have been built next to the original hard shoulder, but these are spaced 1.6 miles apart, as per the 2013 rollout. Campaigners say this is too far, making it hard for stricken motorists to park their vehicles safely, and then again for towing trucks and / or emergency services to get to them. Such issues can have further implications for the MOT status of any vehicle.
Continued Rollout?
Despite these concerns, in March 2020, the government announced that all new “smart” motorways will be predicated on the use of every lane. This decision was based on what for many critics was an extremely limited set of test data; in fact, the only suitable data collected is for 29 miles of all lane operation. By the time of that announcement, a further total of 112 miles of motorway had been opened which runs the all lane model. Thus, the decision to go ahead with all lane running was based on an examination of about a fifth of the appropriate network.
A cross party committee set up to examine smart motorways in the wake of safety concerns pointed out that such a small sample is a poor base from which to make predictions. As it pointed out, incidents which occur on individual roads are likely to fluctuate significantly year on year, making the small sample for analysis unreliable. The all party group were quick to recommend, however, that the distance between refuges should immediately be reduced to one mile at the most, and 0.75 miles wherever possible.
It is the little heard of Office of Rail and Road which regulates safety measures on UK roads, and has the power to intervene on the issue of all lane running motorways. This office has pointed out both the limited amount of data available, and the amount of time which it has been allowed to consider the situation. On both counts, it has urged the government to put a halt to its announced plans for further all lane rollout.
Uncertain Future for Motorists
Of course, the recent pandemic and lockdowns had cut motorway use dramatically, at least in 2020. However, it is now assumed that there will be no further restrictions introduced, and the opening up of society is welcomed by businesses, government and road users alike. It is predicted that there will be more motorists on Britain’s motorways in the coming months and years than ever before; it is to be hoped, then, that the powers that be can help safety assurers like checkmot.com and come to a decision on the safety or otherwise of smart, all lane running motorways.
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