Take away’s from the Transport Select Committee Hearings (7 of 8 )

Some take away’s from the Transport Committee: The roll-out and safety of smart motorways, HC 26 (Wednesday 30 June 2021)

Number 7

 

100% CCTV coverage – but no one is watching

 

Chair: …Before I do, can I talk a little bit about CCTV monitoring with you? Does Highways England have a policy for the routine monitoring of smart motorways by CCTV?

Baroness Vere: The CCTV system is 3,000 cameras across the network. We know that smart motorways have 100% coverage by CCTV, and they are specific pan, tilt and zoom cameras. The reason why we have them is not for monitoring, because there are thousands of them and you would have to have a football stadium full of people staring at different TVs. They help us deal with an incident, understand what it is and then know what response to make….

Chair: That is how it is used, but is there a policy for the monitoring of smart motorways? Is there an actual policy for Highways England? Does Highways England have a policy?

Nick Harris: The use of CCTV cameras, just as the Minister explained, is part of the safety case for the operation of all-lane running or smart motorways. They are there to locate and identify the issue….

Chair: Sorry, I am going to come back on that. Is there or is there not a policy for the constant monitoring by CCTV of smart motorways?

Nick Harris: The CCTV is not constantly monitored. There is not a policy for that. The CCTV, to repeat again, is to locate and identify the incident and then deal with it.

Chair: Your counsel, in an inquest into the death of Mrs Begum on a stretch of a smart motorway on the M1, said that there is “no policy for constant or routine monitoring of the motorways.”

Baroness Vere: By CCTV, yes, because you would need thousands of people, and it is not what it is there for. That is right.

Chair: But equally, Highways England claims to have 100% coverage of the smart motorway network. One of those things cannot be right.

Baroness Vere: No. You can have coverage, but it is not always monitored….

Chair: I get that, but that means you cannot have 100% coverage of the smart motorway network.

Baroness Vere: No.

Chair: Which is what Highways England claims. That is the reason I am putting it to you.

Nick Harris: But 100% of the smart motorway can be seen by CCTV.

Chair: But no one is actually looking at it.

Nick Harris: But no one is looking at it all the time, for the reasons we have just explained.

Baroness Vere: You still have coverage.

Nick Harris: Yes, you still have the coverage. You have more than 100%.

Chair: You have coverage, but no one is actually monitoring it. That is the point I am trying to make.

Baroness Vere: Yes, and they are two different points. I agree. There are two different points: coverage and monitoring.