Coroner warns of future deaths on smart motorways after fatal South Yorkshire crash
Two men died on the M1 near Meadowhall back in June 2019
Last updated 18th Jan 2021
A coroner says he'll write to the Transport Secretary raising safety concerns about smart motorways, after the death of two men on the M1 in South Yorkshire.
Jason Mercer and Alexandru Muguanu died near Meadowhall in June 2019 after stopping in a live lane because they'd had a minor crash.
They were killed when a lorry driver, Premeyslaw Szuba, 40, hit them from behind. He was jailed for ten months last year.
At an inquest into his death today , Coroner David Urpeth said, although the primary cause of the crash was the driving of Szuba, it was clear that the lack of a hard shoulder was a "contributing factor to this tragedy."
He raised serious concerns about the safety of smart motorways, saying he'll write to Highways England and the Transport Secretary to raise them.
“I believe that smart motorways, as things currently stand, present an ongoing risk of future deaths,” he said.
He raised worries over the risk posed by the lack of a hard shoulder, the confusion caused to motorists by a mix of normal and smart motorways, the need for better driver awareness of smart motorways, and the need for Highways England to better identify stationary vehicles.
The inquest heard it was ten minutes after the two vehicles stopped in the live lane that Highways England became aware of them, at which time they had already been hit by the lorry.
At the start of the hearing, the inquest heard from the lorry driver who hit them Premeyslaw Szuba.
Answering questions over the phone from Doncaster prison, Szuba told the hearing he accepted he was driving without paying proper attention, telling the coroner: "I have already accepted that at my trial.''
But he told the inquest: "If there had been a hard shoulder on this bit of motorway, the collision would have been avoidable.
"I would have driven past these two cars as it would be safer and they would have been able to come home safely and I would be able to come back home.''
Claire Mercer, the wife of one of the victims Jason, became emotional in the hearing during the coroner's conclusion.
She's been campaigning tirelessly to get smart motorways scrapped ever since her husband's death.
She told us: "Obviously we've felt this way for the last 18 months, but to have it echoed by the coroner's office, it made me break down in tears.
"He was damning in his indictment of Highways England. To hear him say it, to hear it officially recorded, that Jason and Alexandru were unlawfully killed and that smart motorways were a contributing factor, was a shock to the system.
"We've been dismissed as hysterical relatives. Now it's a matter of record that that's not the case."
Earlier in the hearing Highways England bosses were quizzed on the safety of smart motorways - they said a "significant body of work" had been done to assess hazards when they were first introduced in 2012.
In response to questioning about the length of time it took for Highways England to become aware of the stationary vehicles, Mr Max Brown from the agency admitted: "It could be quicker and we'd prefer it to be quicker."
He said technology to automatically detect stationary vehicles on a smart motorway was being installed on the stretch of the M1 in question next month.