Transport Insights

The AA has reported a sharp rise in the number of drivers who feel nervous or anxious when using smart motorways and called for “greater transparency and consistency in how motorway safety is assessed, monitored and communicated”, including the release of the evaluation reports that ministers are suppressing

It said its survey of 12,705 drivers shows that the proportion reporting feelings of nervousness or anxiety on all lane running “smart” motorways with no hard shoulder doubled from 23% last year to 46% this year.

Dynamic hard shoulder “smart” motorways where the hard shoulder is only opened to traffic during busy periods, also saw a significant increase in anxiety, with the number of drivers feeling nervous or anxious rising from 30% to 47% in 12 months.

AA president Edmund King said:

It’s not surprising that our members are more anxious about using ‘smart’ motorways. If you break down in a live lane, in effect, you are a sitting duck. The failure of ‘smart’ motorway technology over the last few years has, no doubt, added to the levels of anxiety.

What the AA and our members would like to see is the return of the hard shoulder in a controlled motorway environment. Until that concern is properly addressed, it’s hard to see confidence in ‘smart’ motorways recovering.

The AA said the findings underline the need for greater transparency and consistency over smart motorways, pointing out that a number of Post Opening Project Evaluation (POPE) reports looking at the safety and economic benefits of several stretches of ‘smart’ motorway have been awaiting publication for years.

It said these should be released urgently.

King added:

These safety reports are vital in understanding how the smart motorways experiment has fared. By continuously delaying their release, it is feared that the drawbacks outweigh the benefits. Regardless of what these documents say, they need to be published immediately.

Especially as hiding the truth is clearly not helping the public’s confidence.