In addition, a small number of additional emergency areas will be installed on operational all lane running schemes in locations with the highest levels of potential live lane stops.

 

But the chair of Parliament’s Transport Select Committee said the plans do not go far enough and called for spacings between refuge areas to come down to between 500 and 800 metres.

 

Yesterday, motoring group the AA revealed that more than a fifth of its members say that ‘all lane running’ on motorways is dangerous; and more dangerous than rural B roads. It added that two fifths of members avoid lane one of a smart motorway where there is no hard shoulder, for fear of colliding with a broken down vehicle.

 

In a letter to the Select Committee chair Lilian Greenwood earlier this month, Highways England’s chief executive Jim O’Sullivan said reducing the spacing between refuge areas where practicable will provide greater reassurance to road users.

 

He added that the company had trialled new signs and orange surfacing (such as on the M3) to increase drivers’ confidence in knowing where they can stop in an emergency and will introduce these across appropriate parts of the all lane running network.

 

Highways England will also roll out across the country a system of automatically detecting stopped vehicles, after this was introduced on the M25 between junctions five and seven. It adds it is working to reduce levels of non-compliance with red X signals.

 

Lilian Greenwood responded yesterday, saying: “While we welcome the news that Highways England is undertaking a targeted programme to install additional emergency areas in locations with the highest levels of potential live lane stops, it doesn’t go far enough.”

 

She added: “Plans to reduce the spacing to one mile between the refuge areas falls far short of the Committee’s recommendation that the areas should be spaced at 500 to 800 metres apart, as in the M42 Active Traffic Management pilot which the Committee supported. The AA survey shows qualified support from the public for refuge areas spaced one kilometre apart and would urge Highways England to review its decision.”

 

AA president Edmund King said: “It is concerning that drivers feel that all lane running motorways are more dangerous than rural B roads. There have been many collisions (on smart motorways) where broken down vehicles have been hit when they could not reach a refuge area.

 

“There is still some way to go to convincing drivers that a mile is a distance they can cover with an ailing vehicle. More than half of drivers say that faced with their vehicle breaking down, they are only prepared to drive up to half a mile before stopping in a live lane.”

 

Highways England’s chief highway engineer Mike Wilson responded to the criticism from both the Transport Select Committee and the AA, saying: “Smart motorways are good for drivers; they add extra lanes, improve people’s journeys and are as safe as other motorways.

 

“We recognise that as well as being safe, drivers want to feel safe and we are making some changes to the design including making emergency areas more visible.”