It might seem that the protest should take place on a motorway! But I feel that as well as being incredibly dangerous, and therefore playing in to the hands of our detractors, recent protests ON a motorway (the M25) show how this type of action is represented and interpreted.
The campaigners only got to actually stage their protest for a very short period of time, at great expense to their safety. They were physically removed, and at least some of them arrested and will possibly be charged.
Some of us have lost family members, we don’t need to lose our careers as well. The protest caused considerable delays to the general public and generated a lot of ill will.
This is not what we are aiming to do. Smart Motorways Kill has done far, far more to educate the public on what a smart motorway is, than the government ever has, that alone has saved lives, so putting ourselves against the general public is not an option.
Smart Motorways were and are a political decision and we need to take this fight to the decision makers! In the hope they will see sense before the legal action forces them too, to avoid at least some of the coming inevitable deaths.
We will be holding a protest at the offices of the Department for Transport (33 Horseferry Rd, Westminster, London Sw1P 2Aa) on Monday the 1st of November early afternoon (exact time tbc)
We feel its very important that as many people as possible turn up to show support.
There is also a Government Comprehensive Spending Review taking place, and its been suggested that we should aim for a double protest outside the nearby Treasury Office at the same time. As this review will be looking to all government departments to reduce spending, and its now been proven that as well as costing lives, Smart Motorways are costing the public billions of pounds for a dangerous white elephant that is not giving the promised economic returns (except to the large private contracting companies winning the bids for the work!)
You can submit your own representation to the Comprehensive Spending Review here https://bit.ly/3kaAsAL (its very quick and easy to do)
Please note: The idea is to get as much attention as possible, with absolutely no trouble. I’m already being personally blamed for deaths on A roads by certain government minsters so I wanted to spell that out. The idea is for a stationary protest with banners and placards.
I will try and keep up with comments to this post (except on Twitter, which is so fast moving that is not possible) but if you have any questions NOT answered in the above, please email info@smartmotorwayskill.co.uk AND BE PATIENT please.
It is not possible for us to arrange transport from all areas (but please feel free to try and arrange that amongst yourselves if there’s enough commenting giving their locations) but we are looking at arranging a coach from Rotherham/Sheffield area.
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