New safety upgrades on smart motorways to be completed within months

National Highways said it is on course to upgrade almost 100 safety cameras nationwide to enable automatic detection of vehicles that ignore the ‘Red X’ lane closure signals by the end of September.

The cameras give police the ability to issue £100 fines to offenders without spotting them in the act, as was the case previously.

The upgrade is aimed at reducing the number of motorists who ignore the signs, which are used when lanes are closed due to a broken-down vehicle or roadworks.

Concerns have been raised about fatal incidents where vehicles stopped in traffic on smart motorways without a hard shoulder were hit from behind.

National Highways said it will add to the 330 additional signs already installed which inform drivers of the distance to the next emergency refuge area.

In addition, it is also on track to complete the roll-out of radar technology that can spot a stopped or broken-down vehicle in a live lane on more than 200 miles of smart motorways by the end of September.

Junction 26 of the M62 (Image: Newsquest)

The organisation’s chief executive Nick Harris said: “Our network is relied upon by an ever-increasing number of people to work, visit family and friends, do business and much more.

“It is only right that these drivers and their passengers are safe and, crucially, feel safe on our roads, including smart motorways.

“It is now two years since the Transport Secretary first published the smart motorway stocktake, and today’s report shows that we are making good progress delivering on these ambitious recommendations. But we are not complacent.

“The latest data shows that, overall, in terms of serious or fatal casualties, smart motorways are our safest roads.

“We are continuing our work to make them our safest roads in every way.”

In January, the Department for Transport halted the development of new smart motorways without a hard shoulder until five years of safety data had been collected.

National Highways is on track to complete smart motorway safety upgrades by September. Picture: National Highways

Smart motorways feature various methods to manage the flow of traffic, including using the hard shoulder as a live running lane and variable speed limits.

The £136 million smart motorway scheme between junctions 25 and 30 of the M62 was finished in 2013. Plans to extend the smart motorway all the way to junction 20 were put on hold earlier this year.

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