Calls for Smart Motorways to be abandoned after another serious crash

A further serious crash on a stretch of Smart Motorway has prompted the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner to call upon the government to abandon this type of motorway.

It comes after South Yorkshire Police said it wants to review files about Jason Mercer and Alexandru Murgeanu, who died on a stretch of the M1 with no hard shoulder in 2019.

Mr Mercer, 44, and Mr Murgeanu, 22, died when lorry driver Prezemyslaw Szuba crashed into their vehicles on the M1 near Sheffield in 2019.

The two men had stopped between junctions 34 and 35 where the hard shoulder has been replaced by an active lane.

Police say they want to assess the need for "further criminal investigations"

Since then, a further crash between a heavy goods vehicle and a stationary car in a live running lane caused one person to be airlifted to hospital with very serious injuries on Friday.

As a result, South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Dr Alan Billings, has reiterated his calls for the Department of Transport to rethink this type of smart motorway.

He said: "I do not believe there is anyone who uses this stretch of the motorway, as I do, who does not feel anxious when driving along it.

"I have received many accounts now from people who have had bad experiences on the smart motorway, even if they have not broken down or been involved in a collision.

"An HGV driver, for example, has told me about the danger of having a vehicle stationary in the lane in front of you when you are travelling at 60mph.

"It takes time to realise the vehicle has stopped and not travelling slowly, and the lorries behind you may be quite unsighted in what lies ahead.

"Pulling out into the next lane if that has fast moving vehicles in it may not be an easy or quick manoeuvre."