Press release dated: 28th May 2024
SMART MOTORWAYS KILL PRESS RELEASE
Ministers, this is your voters speaking.
Display of messages from the public on how ‘smart’ motorways have affected their lives.
Limited to comments sent to Smart Motorways Kill just in the last two years, they still number in the thousands.
The Exhibition will be at Rotherham Titans Rugby ground. Clifton Lane, Rotherham, S60 2SN. Wednesday June 12th , 11am to 3pm
In nearly 5 years of campaigning Smart Motorways Kill have received vast quantities of contacts from the public, via social media, messages and emails. Describing the effect the removal of the hard shoulder has had on their lives. From worrying about “who to grab first” in the event of a breakdown to feeling discriminated against due to being disabled and the strength of feeling and number of messages has only increased over the years.
A lot of these missives have a focus on “those responsible facing charges” “let them break down in a live running lane” and now more than ever “using our vote” “showing them how we feel” and “voting them out”
Now all these messages from people who are angry, let down and sometime scared, injured and/or bereaved have been collated and organised into categories for display. Tellingly the section roughly grouped as “The government don’t care” is one of the largest sections.
Will an upcoming election change that?
“I had to limit the date range to just the last 2 years because the number of messages sent and still coming in would make gathering and displaying of all this impossible. The sheer scale of less than half the total messages surprised even me and I’m the one they were sent to!
I started by flicking through as many emails and messages as possible and picking out common themes, they ranged from “Boycott the first lane” to details of the many, many terrifying experiences people had on smart motorways.
We’ve had years and years of reports, investigations, stock takes and committees. It’s time to show the government the full picture of how the public feel about these motorways at the only time the government will care, election time!” Claire Mercer. Founder.
Claire Mercer spent many months at her kitchen table gathering this information together before having to appeal for volunteers to help with the mammoth task. Those efforts now span the length of several rugby pitches and will hopefully open blind eyes to the fact that it’s not that we just don’t feel safe on smart motorways, it’s that we aren’t safe on smart motorways.
Reminder for above to be sent nearer the date.
Also:
Mercefest – Remembering Jason Mercer, 5 years on: A fun, light hearted event to remember the man, not his needless death – Saturday June 8th – Facebook & X – Mercefest
pdf version here
Why would you remove the hard shoulder, But then add emergency refuge areas. As if a car or a person knows when or where to break down?
My 2 week old Brand New Hybrid car suffered a total failure as I was on a slip road into a dual carriageway. I was so lucky there was space for other vehicles to pass . If it had happened on a so called Smart Motorway I would not be sending this comment. My funeral would have happened.
It was so frightening when HGV s and other traffic was passing by at speed. The car was returned to the manufacturer and the failure unknown.
Now there are speed restrictions & delays which reduce traffic speed in motorways while this essential work goes on to make more refuges. This is causing traffic delays. Why not just return the hard shoulder.
Not sure which idiot thought removing them was a good idea.
Lives don’t seem to matter