A Highways England spokesperson said:
Any death on our roads is one too many, and our deepest
sympathies remain with the family and friends of those who lost
their lives.
The Transport Secretary has asked the Department for Transport
to carry out, at pace, an evidence stocktake to gather the
facts about smart motorway safety. We are committed to safety
and are supporting the Department in its work on this.
Recovery operators
- Vehicle recovery operators are never expected to work in a
live lane, and their safety – and the safety of all road users –
is our top priority.
- Measures should be in place to ensure this is the case (e.g.
emergency traffic management, reduced speed limits and Traffic
Officer support) before recovery operators attend a broken-down
motorist. Vehicle recovery operators can also get to broken down
motorists in emergency areas on smart motorways which are safer
than worker on a hard shoulder as they are set back from the live
carriageway.
- Smart motorways have safety mitigations that are not present
on other types of high-speed road, for example variable speed
limits and Red X, and we have also worked closely with the
recovery industry to develop guidance on safe recovery. This
involved carrying out a successful joint exercise to test
different recovery scenarios.
Stopped vehicle detection
- Incident detection is already in place on all smart
motorways.
- Stopped vehicle detection, operational on the M25 and in
construction on the M3, uses scanning radar to identify stopped
vehicles, set signs and alert our control rooms. It is effective
in all weathers and at all levels of traffic.
- However, this is just one of the systems in place on smart
motorways, including CCTV, incident detection, SVD and emergency
areas – to keep drivers safe. The stopped vehicle detection
system employed to date uses radar technology (radio waves) to
detect stationary vehicles on motorways.
Red X signals
- It has always been an offence to ignore a red X.
- Police are now able to use cameras as part of the enforcement
of red X.
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