Dr Alan Billings writes that driver safety is being traded for lower costs and remarks that “people need to be safe, but also to feel safe when driving”.

His comments were made following a Coroner’s ruling this month that the absence of a hard shoulder on part of the M1 in South Yorkshire contributed to the deaths of two men. “I want to support that finding and urge you to review this type of motorway with some urgency,” Dr Billings asks of the Transport Secretary.

The commissioner adds: “The relevant test for us is whether someone who breaks down on this stretch of the motorway, where there is no hard shoulder, would have had a better chance of escaping death or injury had there still been a hard shoulder – and the Coroner's verdict makes it clear that the answer to that question is: Yes.”

A Department for Transport spokesman said that a recent ‘stocktake’ of smart motorway safety “showed that in most ways smart motorways are as safe as, or safer than, the conventional ones. The Transport Secretary has tasked Highways England with delivering an 18 point action plan to ensure they are safer still.”

Highways England added: “We are aware of the ongoing concerns and are working hard to deliver the improvements set out in the Transport Secretary’s action plan.”

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(Photograph: Highways England)