Widow whose husband died on smart motorway told ‘dangerous’ hard shoulders won’t be reinstated

The roads minister has told a widow whose husband was killed on a smart motorway that the Government will not reinstate hard shoulders because it would put motorists’ lives at risk.

Baroness Vere wrote to Claire Mercer, whose husband was killed on the M1 after the hard shoulder was scrapped, claiming it was “recognised” that fitting motorways with the lane to pull onto in an emergency “could cause more deaths or serious injuries on our roads”.

Mrs Mercer, 45 from Rotherham, said the letter “proves” that despite ministers pausing the rollout of so-called all-lane-running routes to collate five years’ of safety data they had already made up their minds about keeping the controversial roads.

Baroness Vere wrote to Mrs Mercer the day the transport select committee published the Government’s response to its scathing report that there was not enough safety and economic data to continue transforming the country’s roads network.