"This didn't need to happen" - heartbroken Rotherham woman wants smart motorways scrapped
Claire Mercer's husband Jason died on the M1 last summer
Last updated 21st Jan 2020
The wife of a Rotherham man killed on the M1 says she won't rest until smart motorways are completely scrapped.
Last summer Jason Mercer was hit by a lorry when he had to stop in a live lane just past Meadowhall.
Parts of the sixteen mile stretch of the road in South Yorkshire have no hard shoulder because it's what's known as an 'all lane running' smart motorway.
Now his wife Claire runs a campaign to get smart motorways scrapped - she says things haven't been the same since he died:
"It's impacted every single part of my life. I've never spent a night in the house on my own before and now I live on my own. Even his friends are looking after me...I see his friends most days but that just reminds me of him.
"This didn't need to happen. It absolutely did not need to happen. I just don't understand how I can cope with the rest of my life knowing that this didn't need to happen. We've all got to live with the consequences of that now.
"It just horrifies you and you thnk this can't be real...we don't do this in this country, this is like a bad dream. And then you read more into it and more into it and it's just absolutely terrifying."
There are a number of different types of smart motorway, which allow Highways England to vary the speed limit on different parts of a motorway in response to incidents.
Some smart motorways have a hard shoulder which is sometimes used as a live lane. 'All lane running' smart motorways have no hard shoulder at all.
Claire says, after researching them, she's realised a number of people have been killed in the past:
"It's deavastating, it's just absolutely horrible. Why was there no education campaign? They fundamentally changed the busiest roads in England and there was no awareness campaign. The only advert I've ever heard for a smart motorway told me not to drive in a closed lane not what to do if I have an incident.
"It's happening all the time. In December there were five fatal incidents at one particular cluster of junctions. It's only a matter of time before it's a coach full of kids.
"I can't beleive that people were crying out and demanding these changes years before my husband was killed. Dev, an eight year old boy, was killed. Derek Jacobs, an eighty three year old man, was killed. Years before, people wer demanding these changes. And it's still happening now."
Rotherham MP Sarah Champion's leading a debate on smart motorway safety later this week after five deaths on the road here in ten months.
She says the scheme is 'highly questionable':
“All Lanes Running is being marketed as a Smart Motorway. It is nothing of the sort. Instead, the government is pursuing capacity increases on the cheap. But the real cost has been the lives of motorists like Jason Mercer.’
‘It is utterly unacceptable that lives are being placed at risk to pursue the cheapest option.”
The government launched a review of smart motorways last October.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has told us he wants to find out more:
"I've had concerns, like a lot of other people. There are a plethora of different smart motorways - all running lanes, we've got ones which are variable, and I think the whole thing's become rather confusing.
"I've been undertaking a sort-of stock take review of it. I have had some early findings, I've sent back for more proposals because it's not quite where I want it yet. And then I'll make an announcement to Parliament."
There's more on Claire's campaign here.