Smart motorway software failure put drivers on M62 at risk for nearly a month

Telegraph

13-03-2025

Smart motorway safety systems meant to detect broken-down cars were out of service for nearly a month last year, National Highways has admitted.
The motorway incident detection and automated signalling (Midas) software on a smart stretch of the M62 failed completely on Aug 7 last year, the state-owned road maintenance agency said.
It was broken for 28 days, forcing National Highways to lower the speed limit on the M62 between Warrington and Manchester to 60mph until it was fixed.
At the time, the agency said that it had 'discovered a software fault'.
The revelation, from National Highways' annual smart motorway stocktake report, came alongside new data from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) showing that a third of the controversial highways are more dangerous now than they were when the policy was introduced.
Smart motorways turn the hard shoulder, which is provided so vehicles at imminent risk of breaking down have a safe place to pull over away from 70mph traffic, into a live running lane.
Motorists are more likely to be hurt or killed on smart motorways than on conventional motorways, the ORR figures revealed.
Edmund King, the president of the AA, said: 'It is time to accept so-called 'smart' motorways have failed and side with the majority of drivers who want the reinstatement of the hard shoulder.
'At the same time, a third of radar detection schemes tested failed to meet the standard – two of which failed and worsened in a 12-month period.
'This loss of safety technology, which drivers have been asked to put their trust in, meant they were put in unnecessary danger.'
Nicholas Lyes, the policy director of motoring charity Iam Roadsmart, said: 'After the many billions of pounds that have been spent on smart motorways, the metrics do not show a safer network compared to what it replaced.
'It also reveals that on those stretches of all-lane-running smart motorways without a hard shoulder, the rate of fatal and serious collisions involving stopped vehicles is almost double that of both a conventional motorway and those with a dynamic hard shoulder.'
The 'killed and seriously injured' rate on smart motorways increased on 12 out of the 39 stretches around the country, Telegraph analysis of ORR data revealed. In three of those sections, the rate more than doubled.
More than 50 deaths have been linked to crashes on smart motorways caused by vehicles ploughing into broken-down cars that cannot escape from traffic.
The planned expansion of smart motorways across the nation was halted by Rishi Sunak in 2023.
But National Highways is about to complete a £900 million 'emergency retrofit' plan to build hundreds of new safety laybys on existing smart motorways.
The ORR said on Thursday that it was 'improbable' National Highways would meet its current target of reducing road deaths by 50 per cent by the end of this year.
Feras Alshaker, the ORR's director of performance and planning, said: 'It is a good thing that safety continues to improve on the strategic road network, and we should recognise the work that National Highways has been doing to improve safety on its roads.
'National Highways must now focus on implementing the remaining actions from its plan to further improve road user safety.'
Nick Harris, chief executive of the state-owned road maintenance body, said: 'Our ambition is that no one should be harmed while travelling or working on our roads, which means that safety continues to be our number one priority.
'Our latest analysis continues to show that overall, in terms of deaths or serious injuries, smart motorways remain our safest roads.'