A South Yorkshire police commissioner has claimed that National Highways’ commitment to add an additional emergency refuge area (ERA) to a dangerous stretch of the M1 does not “adequately address” concerns about the stretch of road.
Last week it was revealed that an additional ERA will be added to a section of the M1 in South Yorkshire after an independent review of the motorway highlighted a “cluster of live lane breakdown collisions”.
The ERA will be located between Woodall Motorway Services and junction 31 – the same stretch of road where grandmother Nargis Begum was tragically killed in September 2018 after her car broke down.
However South Yorkshire police and crime commissioner Alan Billings said the addition of the ERA is not enough.
“One extra refuge on a 13 mile stretch of motorway will not adequately address the concerns that I and others have repeatedly raised. Neither will it protect lives,” he said.
“It remains my view that all lane running motorways are inherently dangerous. Any vehicle that stops in a live lane is immediately putting lives at risk. Not all vehicles break down conveniently close to refuge areas so in my view adding one more still leaves those who break down dangerously unprotected on the M1 in South Yorkshire.”
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