Rotherham MP Sarah Champion secures Parliamentary debate on smart motorways
It's due to get underway at 11am on Wednesday in Westminster
Sarah Champion, Member of Parliament for Rotherham will call on the Government to end deadly smart motorways, which have claimed the lives of at least 79 motorists. During a debate Sarah will hold in Westminster Hall, Sarah will urge the Government to restore the hard shoulder across the motorway network.
Sarah will highlight the dangers of all-lane running motorways, in which the hard shoulder is converted to a full-time running lane. The all-lane running motorway between junctions 32 and 35a of the M1, which runs through Sarah’s Rotherham constituency, has claimed four lives in recent years, including that of Sarah’s constituent, Jason Mercer.
In her speech, Sarah will outline the risks of removing the hard shoulder and the inadequacy of technology intended to ensure the safety of motorists. Sarah will say:
“People are dying. And yet the Government continues to delay, searching for an answer that is staring them in the face.’
‘Had Jason Mercer been able to pull into the hard shoulder, he could still be alive. Claire Mercer could still have her husband.’
‘The Government can prevent further loss of life. But to do so, they need to recognise something even the former Minister who commissioned them has admitted. They were a mistake.”
Sarah will also highlight evidence from National Highways that shows that removing the hard shoulder more than triples the risk of incidents leading to death or serious injury.
Sarah will say:
“The rate of incidents involving stopped vehicles in which someone was killed or seriously injured on controlled motorways was 0.06 per hundred million vehicle miles travelled. For all lane running motorways, this was a staggering 0.19 per hundred million vehicle miles travelled.’
‘In the name of increasing capacity on the cheap, National Highways have more than tripled the likelihood of serious accidents involving stationary vehicles.”
Commenting, Sarah said:
“The Government have been warned time and time again that removing the hard shoulder greatly increases the risks faced by motorists. Their own data shows this all too clearly. Yet they continue to reject calls to undo their own tragic mistake.’
‘The Prime Minister himself, during his leadership campaign, branded smart motorways unsafe. But now he is in office, he needs more evidence. How much more evidence does he need? How many more people have to die?’
‘The sad reality is that the Government is prioritising increasing motorway capacity on the cheap and gambling the lives of motorists to get it.’
‘We don’t need more evidence to see what is already staring us in the face. Smart motorways are deadly. If the Government truly carted about the safety of motorists, they would restore the hard shoulder across the motorway network.”
Last year, the government paused their rollout of new all lane running smart motorway schemes.
It's until 5 years of safety data becomes available.
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