The smart motorway programme faced fresh criticism last night after it emerged that the number of emergency lay-bys was reduced to cut costs.
Documents seen by The Times show that “rationalising” refuge areas on motorways without a hard shoulder would ensure “savings” on the project.
Department for Transport officials questioned whether greater spacing between lay-bys could lead to a corporate manslaughter charge if a motorist were killed.
Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, is preparing to publish the findings of a review into smart motorways amid concerns that they are unsafe.
Under the project, hard shoulders have been removed on 13 stretches of “all-lane running” smart motorways, including parts of the M1, M3, M5, M6 and M25. A further eight motorways are in development. Seven parts of the network have a “dynamic” hard shoulder, to be used as a lane at busy times.
Read article here > https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/lay-bys-cut-on-smart-motorways-to-save-cash-t3rqx7c6v
pdf version to follow soon >