Highways England could be found responsible for smart motorway tragedy

24 February 2021

A Doncaster coroner has asked the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to consider charging Highways England with corporate manslaughter, following a fatal accident on a stretch of smart motorway. We at Marshall Minibus leasing are always supportive of any measures which improve road safety, and we trust that you find this information useful.

Nargis Begum was killed in September 2018, in a collision on the M1 in South Yorkshire, when another vehicle collided with her husband’s car which had broken down. 

At the time of the collision, Nargis Begum had already exited the broken-down car, which was stranded in a live lane, 16 minutes prior and had been waiting for assistance for a further 6 minutes.  

At the time, the driver who hit Nargis Begum’s vehicle was not prosecuted. 

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has recently expressed his discontent with the expansion scheme for smart motorways. He commented, “Why these things were ever called smart motorways when they seemed to be anything but, I think was a misnomer”.  

In 2020, an investigation by BBC Panorama found that the number of people killed on Smart Motorways had reached 38 in just five years.

AA president Edmund King said, “This is a significant moment for smart motorways and highlights many failings, previously raised by the AA, that should have been spotted before the first fatalities, and clearly need urgent action.

“The coroner feels there are significant concerns in this case which require further investigation.

“The key one raised in court, from the AA’s point of view, is the risk of having only eight people watching 450 cameras within the Yorkshire and North East region.

“We feel the risk of death would be reduced with more emergency laybys and the extensive use of radar to help pinpoint incidents.

“We will await the CPS conclusions in due course, but this decision will once again raise serious questions regarding the permanent removal of the hard shoulder.”

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