Transport Insights

AA president Edmund King has made clear that he is not going to stop banging on about “the massive scandal of smart motorways”, and in particular the continuing failure to close the gaps between emergency areas.

King was interviewed by Rob Cubitt, managing director of Cubitt Cars on The Logbook, the YouTube channel sponsored by AA Cars.

According to the AA press release:

The conversation covered the state of Britain’s roads, potholes, smart motorways, roadworks, driver taxes and the impact on motorists and dealers.

King cited the recent case of van driver Barry O’Sullivan, who was convicted of causing the death of Pulvinder Dhillon on the M4, in a case where the “smart” technology had failed.

But he singled out the distance between emergency refuge areas as an issue that exacerbated technology failings:

“This is the massive scandal of ‘smart’ motorways. The original concept had refuge areas much closer together. Then the goalposts were moved. If you break down between those refuge areas, you are a sitting duck. You are at the mercy of technology spotting your vehicle, at the mercy of a red X appearing, and at the mercy of another driver obeying it. Crashes happen — and they have happened.”

King said The AA had campaigned with families affected by ‘smart’ motorway deaths and had pushed government to stop new schemes and add more emergency refuge areas, but warned the underlying concept remained flawed.

“For me, the concept is still wrong. If you are relying on technology, that technology has got to be precise and effective. It is not. Why are we putting drivers in that situation? Because they have cut corners on costs.”

As I have written here, the government failed to abide by a promise to consider adding more emergency areas during the current roads period, which started in April.

The episode was titled “We Pay Billions. So Why Are the UK Roads Falling Apart?” and King banged the drum for preventative maintenance rather than reactive pothole fixing, perhaps baffled by ministers’ mixed messages on the issue:

King called for councils and central government to move away from reactive repairs and towards proper road maintenance, resurfacing, and better use of technology.

“You can’t just keep filling in holes if the road has gone. You need to resurface that section of road. In the long term that is more cost-effective because you are called out less often, there are fewer compensation claims and the repair lasts longer. It is not rocket science to fix the roads, and yet we are doing a bad job of it.”