AA experts have called on emergency refuge areas to be installed across every 1,200 metres (m) of smart motorway roads as a minimum. Their comments come after an AA survey revealed the majority of motorists do not feel safe on smart motorway networks.
However, he claimed the goalposts had since moved since the pilot scheme where emergency bays were installed every 500m before being pushed back to every 2,500m across some major roads.
A Freedom of Information Act request sent by BBC’s Panorama has revealed 38 people were killed on smart motorways over the past five years.
The data revealed there have been 20 times as many near-miss incidents on one stretch of M25 since the hard shoulder was removed in 2014.
Highways England boss Jim O’ Sullivan said all-lane running smart motorway networks were too confusing for motorists back in October.
Speaking to Panorama, Mr Shapps said he wanted to fix the issues surrounding smart networks and claimed the roads should be safer than traditional motorways.
Mr King added: “The Panorama investigation clearly shows that the police, the AA and even the Transport Minister responsible for roads at the time, say the system is flawed and dangerous and must be changed. Coroners have repeated this message after needless deaths.”
The BBC’s investigation also revealed a warning sign on a stretch of smart motorway on the M25 had not been working for 336 days.
Previous AA research revealed it can sometimes take 17 minutes for cameras to detect a broken down vehicle using on-site cameras and an extra 17 minutes to reach the scene of the crash.
Because smart motorways do not have separate hard shoulders, motorists are sometimes left sitting in their vehicles for more than half an hour on live motorway roads – creating a safety risk.
AA recovery teams are instructed to never stop next to a broken down vehicle on a smart motorway for safety reasons. Recovery crews must instead wait for a stricken car to be towed by Higwhays England crews before a vehicle can be worked on.
Express.co.uk have contacted Highways England for comment.