Review finds 'shocking degree of carelessness' over smart motorway roll out, as it is revealed 38 people have died since their introduction
The roll out of smart motorways has been implemented with a "shocking degree of carelessness", a parliamentary report has concluded, as new figures reveal that 38 people have died on the new roads in the past five years.
Smart motorways were introduced in order to improve the flow of traffic on Britain's most congested highways, allowing hard shoulders to be used as an extra lane in the busiest areas.
According to figures obtained under Freedom of Information, a total of 38 drivers and passengers have now lost their lives on the smart motorway network since 2015.
MPs on the All Party Parliamentary Group for Roadside Rescue and Recovery are set to release the damning findings of a review into the system, which will recommend the system is completely overhauled.
The report is understood to accuse Highways England and the Department for Transport of a "shocking degree of carelessness" over the way ‘all lane running’ motorways were introduced.
While stretches of smart motorway that do not have a hard shoulder are supposed to have regular emergency laybys, in some areas they are more than two miles apart.
Figures obtained by the BBC's Panorama programme, found that on one stretch of the M25, the number of near misses had increased 20 fold since it was converted to a smart motorway.
MPs are expected to say that a hi-tech radar system, which is used to detect breakdowns more quickly, should have been in place from the outset and would have saved lives.
The system is currently only in place in around 25 of the 400 miles of all lane running smart motorways and drivers who breakdown are now waiting on average 17 minutes to be spotted and another 17 minutes to be rescued.
It is understood the review will recommend the urgent construction of more emergency lay-bys in order to give motorists safe refuge, but will criticise the fact this is having to be retrofitted.
Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, told the programme the roads were confusing for drivers and he said he was determined to ensure they were safe.
He said: "We absolutely have to have these as safe or safer than regular motorways or we shouldn't have them at all."
A spokesman for Highways England 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."
AA president Edmund King said that taking away the hard shoulder had made breakdowns on the motorway more dangerous.
"It's just the most awful situation when you've broken down and your kids are in the back of the car, and there's nothing you can do to protect your kids.
"I certainly believe smart motorways are a scandal because, as we've been saying from the outset, they are dangerous, they're not fit for purpose."
:: Panorama, Britain's Killer Motorways? is on BBC One at 20:30 GMT on Monday 27 January
