Prevention of Future Deaths reports · 2021
Regulation 28 report to prevent future deaths, reference 2021-0062, written 3 Mar 2021. A coroner writes one of these when an inquest reveals a risk that could cause further deaths unless something changes.
| Date of report | 3 Mar 2021 |
|---|---|
| Reference | 2021-0062 |
| Deceased | Zahid Ahmed |
| Coroner | Tom Stoate |
| Coroner area | Bedfordshire and Luton |
| Category | Road (Highways Safety) related deaths · Other related deaths |
| Source | judiciary.uk record · original PDF |
| Responses published | 1 |
Text extracted from the PDF text layer. Reproduced verbatim, including the scan's own layout.
48515-2019 Senior Coroner - Emma Whitting Bedfordshire & Luton REGULATION 28 REPORT TO PREVENT FUTURE DEATHS THIS REPORT IS BEING SENT TO: HIGHWAYS ENGLAND 1 CORONER I am Tom Stoate, Assistant Coroner for the area of Bedfordshire and Luton. 2 CORONER’S LEGAL POWERS I make this Report under paragraph 7, Schedule 5, of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 and Regulations 28 and 29 of the Coroners (Investigations) Regulations 2013. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2009/25/schedule/5/paragraph/7 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/1629/part/7/made 3 INVESTIGATION and INQUEST On 6 December 2019 I commenced an Investigation into the death of Mr Zahid Ahmed, aged 19. The investigation concluded at the end of the inquest on 14 January 2021. The conclusion of the inquest was Road Traffic Collision. 4 CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE DEATH On the afternoon of 1 December 2019, Zahid Ahmed (where relevant, “the deceased”), aged 19 years, was a passenger in the rear nearside passenger seat of a blue Kia Sedona multi-person vehicle with five other occupants. Whilst it was on the smart motorway at the M1 South Junction 11a, the Kia suffered a mechanical defect which caused it to lose power and the engine check light to illuminate on the instrument panel. The Kia exited the main carriageway and entered an Emergency Refuge Area (ERA), where it remained stationary for approximately 12 seconds. The Kia re-entered the main carriageway and, shortly after, its hazard lights were illuminated. The Kia then stopped in lane one, approximately 145m south of the ERA, a section operating as a running lane with no hard shoulder. Three other vehicles were able to avoid colliding with the Kia. At approximately 15:15 hours, a Polish registered black Scania R450 articulated heavy goods vehicle travelling at 56 MPH hit the rear of the Kia causing significant damage, ##DW<<corAddress>> Tel ##DW<<corTel>> | Fax ##DW<<corFax>> and causing Mr Ahmed multiple traumatic injuries. At 16:37 hours a paramedic examined the body of the deceased at the scene and confirmed his death. The road surface was good, and the weather conditions were cold but clear and dry. As the Kia was stationery and the parking brake applied, Mr Ahmed had probably removed his seatbelt (although I concluded in any event that a seatbelt would not have made any difference to the injuries he sustained). The driver of the Scania had a clear and unobstructed view, allowing him between approximately 8 and 10 seconds to identify and react to the presence of the Kia, and to use the road space and time available either to stop safely in lane one or to move into lane two in order to avoid the collision. The collision occurred primarily due to the failure of the Scania driver to perceive and respond to the presence of the Kia in enough time to avoid a collision, and also due to the presence of the Kia in a running lane of the motorway as no alternative was available to the driver after leaving the ERA. The cause of Mr Ahmed’s death was determined to be: Ia Multiple Traumatic Injuries Ib Ic II 5 CORONER’S CONCERNS During the course of the Inquest the evidence revealed matters giving rise to concern. In my opinion there is a risk that future deaths will occur unless action is taken. In the circumstances it is my statutory duty to report to you. The MATTERS OF CONCERN are as follows: 1) The stretch of the M1 motorway where this fatal collision occurred is part of the ‘Managed Motorway’, which runs from Junction 13 to Junction 10. It features variable speed limits and, in places, an ‘actively managed hard shoulder’, which is a hard shoulder that in certain circumstances may be driven on. Variable speed limit and ‘hard shoulder running’ information is conveyed to drivers via electronic matrix signals message boards, and verge signs positioned along the Managed Motorway. These signals are controlled by operators within the Highways Agency Eastern Regional Control Centre (ERCC). At around 400m south of the Toddington Services southbound entry, the hard shoulder commences and is managed for a distance of around 1.1 km, before the motorway becomes designated ‘All Lanes Running’ (ALR) again around 500m north of Junction 11a. Travelling south from Junction 12, however, the motorway is ALR, and there is no hard shoulder. 2) Detective Constable , of the Bedfordshire Police Serious Collision Investigation Unit, gave evidence at Mr Ahmed’s inquest as follows: “The Bedfordshire and Luton Coroner Service Tel 0300 300 8383 | FAX absence of a hard shoulder contributed to the collision. Had the [deceased’s] vehicle been able to stop in a location other that a live lane, the offending HGV would not have driven into the back of it”. 3) The vehicle in which the deceased was a passenger suffered a mechanical defect which caused it to lose power. It is not clear where the vehicle could have pulled to a halt in a safe place in these circumstances, given that there was no hard shoulder and all lanes were live. I consider that could create a risk of future deaths. 6 ACTION SHOULD BE TAKEN In my opinion action should be taken to prevent future deaths and I believe you have the power to take such action. 7 YOUR RESPONSE You are under a duty to respond to this report within 56 days of the date of this report, namely by 29 April 2021. I, the coroner, may extend the period. Your response must contain details of action taken or proposed to be taken, setting out the timetable for action. Otherwise you must explain why no action is proposed. 8 COPIES and PUBLICATION I have sent a copy of my report to the Chief Coroner and to the family of Mr Zahid Ahmed. I have also sent it to DC of the Bedfordshire Police Serious Collision Investigation Unit who may find it useful or of interest. I am also under a duty to send the Chief Coroner a copy of your Response. The Chief Coroner may publish either or both in a complete or redacted or summary form. He may send a copy of this report to any person who he believes may find it useful or of interest. You may make representations to me, the coroner, at the time of your response, about the release or the publication of your response by the Chief Coroner. 9 Tom Stoate Assistant Coroner for the area of Bedfordshire and Luton Dated: 3 March 2021 Bedfordshire and Luton Coroner Service Tel 0300 300 8383 | FAX
1 response published against this report on judiciary.uk. A response is a body's written reply to the coroner's concerns; publication is at the discretion of the Chief Coroner's office, so an absent response does not mean nobody replied.
REGULATION 28 REPORT TO PREVENT FUTURE DEATHS
THIS RESPONSE IS BEING SENT TO:
The Assistant Coroner for the Coroner Area of Bedfordshire and Luton, Mr
Tom Stoate of The Court House, Woburn Street, Ampthill, Bedfordshire,
MK45 2HX in response to a ‘Regulation 28 Report to Prevent Future Deaths’
following an inquest hearing into the death of Zahid Ahmed that concluded on 14
January 2021.
1 HIGHWAYS ENGLAND
, Safety, Engineering and Standards Executive Director, and
I am
Chief Highways Engineer, responding on behalf of
, Acting Chief
Executive of Highways England Company Limited of Bridge House, 1 Walnut
Tree Close, Guildford, Surrey, GU1 4LZ.
Highways England did not fall within the statutory definition of an Interested
Person as contained at Section 47(2) of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 and
did not otherwise receive notification of the inquest hearing date or a request to
attend the inquest.
As such, we were not present at the hearing and had no prior awareness of the
discussions which occurred or the conclusions that were reached. We were
therefore not afforded the opportunity to provide input to the inquest as the
highway authority.
In complying with our duty, Highways England have responded within 56 days of
the date of the Regulation 28 report to prevent future deaths, namely by 29 April
2021.
2 CORONER’S MATTERS OF CONCERN
The MATTERS OF CONCERN were identified as follows: –
1) The stretch of the M1 motorway where this fatal collision occurred is part of
the ‘Managed Motorway’, which runs from Junction 13 to Junction 10. It features
variable speed limits and, in places, an ‘actively managed hard shoulder’, which
is a hard shoulder that in certain circumstances may be driven on. Variable speed
limit and ‘hard shoulder running’ information is conveyed to drivers via electronic
matrix signals message boards, and verge signs positioned along the Managed
Motorway. These signals are controlled by operators within the Highways
Agency Eastern Regional Control Centre (ERCC). At around 400m south of the
Toddington Services southbound entry, the hard shoulder commences and is
managed for a distance of around 1.1 km, before the motorway becomes
designated ‘All Lanes Running’ (ALR) again around 500m north of Junction 11a.
Travelling south from Junction 12, however, the motorway is ALR, and there is
no hard shoulder.
2) Detective Constable
, of the Bedfordshire Police Serious
Collision Investigation Unit, gave evidence at Mr Ahmed’s inquest as follows:
“The absence of a hard shoulder contributed to the collision. Had the
[deceased’s] vehicle been able to stop in a location other that a live lane, the
offending HGV would not have driven into the back of it”.
1
3) The vehicle in which the deceased was a passenger suffered a mechanical
defect which caused it to lose power. It is not clear where the vehicle could have
pulled to a halt in a safe place in these circumstances, given that there was no
hard shoulder and all lanes were live.
3 DETAILS OF ACTION TAKEN
Highways England is the Government-owned company charged with operating,
improving England's motorways and major A-roads.
maintaining and
Responsibility for the road network in other parts of the UK rests with the
devolved administrations. This response accordingly addresses the position in
England.
The introduction and continuing roll-out and development of smart motorways in
England has been Government policy since 2008. Smart motorways provide
substantially more road capacity than conventional motorways. In the face of
increased traffic volumes, they reduce congestion, congestion related incidents
and allow faster and more reliable journeys, without the greater disruption, cost
and environmental impacts of conventional road widening. At the same time, the
Government’s Stocktake demonstrates that smart motorways have improved
overall safety compared to the conventional motorways they have replaced. But
not in every way, hence we are taking forward an Action Plan to further improve
safety.
Safety is Highways England’s top priority. According to the 2019 performance
report published by CEDR (Conférence Européenne des Directeurs des Routes
/ Conference of European Directors of Roads), motorways in the UK have by
some margin the lowest rate of fatal accidents of any roads in Europe1, in terms
of fatality rates, smart motorways are the safest roads in the country.
The design standard
following a
comprehensive safety assessment and hazard analysis which demonstrated that
they would be at least as safe as, or safer, than the conventional motorways they
replaced.
for smart motorways was adopted
Each smart motorway scheme must also meet this same strict test: to be at least
as safe as, or safer than, the conventional motorway it replaced. We carefully
monitor all schemes after delivery to ensure that this standard is met in all cases.
Smart motorways incorporate a number of important features designed to
improve the safety of people using them. These include technology to monitor
traffic flow, set variable speed limits to ease congestion, and give information to
drivers, such as closing lanes via Red ‘X’. And smart motorways are safe, with
the number of fatalities low given the volume of traffic using them.
However, risk cannot be eliminated entirely from roads. Hard shoulders do not
eliminate the risk of collision and, indeed, 8% (or 1 in 12) of all deaths on
motorways are on hard shoulders. The specific risk posed by the absence of
hard shoulders on all lane running smart motorways, and in particular the greater
risk of collision between stationary and moving vehicles has been recognised
throughout. But that specific increased risk is outweighed by the reduction in
1 https://www.cedr.eu/download/Publications/2020/CEDR-Technical-Report-2020-01-
TEN-T-2019-Performance-Report.pdf
2
other risks brought about by all lane running smart motorways. The evidence
has demonstrated that all lane running smart motorways lead to fewer, not more,
deaths.
All lane running schemes are designed to, and do, operate safely without the
need for radar stopped vehicle detection (SVD) technology. But SVD systems
can make all lane running smart motorways safer still, by automatically detecting
stopped vehicles on the carriageway and thereby enabling a more rapid
response. In 2013 the Highways Agency identified an automated SVD system
to further reduce the risks of vehicles stopped in live lanes, and this was trialled
between 2014 and 2016. Following successful trials, in September 2016 it was
decided that SVD would be included as standard in all new all lane running
schemes entering the design stage. The standard requires a coverage of at least
95% of the carriageway, with a minimum detection accuracy of 80% and a
maximum time to alert an operator of 30 seconds.
Action will now be taken to retrofit SVD to all existing all lane running smart
motorways. This is an ambitious, highly engaged and complex programme,
which the Government and Highways England have committed to completing by
the end of September 2022.
In October 2019, the Secretary of State for Transport asked his department to
review the safety evidence in relation to smart motorways. In March 2020, the
Department for Transport (DfT) published an Evidence Stocktake and Action
Plan for Smart Motorway Safety. The Action Plan set out 18 measures to make
smart motorways even safer than they already are, and to tackle the negative
public perception of, and build public confidence in their safety.
We have recently published our Smart motorways stocktake first year progress
report 2021. This sets out our progress in delivering the March 2020 Action Plan,
the latest evidence on the safety of smart motorways, and commitments we are
making to accelerate measures to further help drivers feel safe and be safer on
smart motorways.
Highways England, working in partnership with the DfT and other stakeholders,
has made and continues to make good progress in delivering on the Action Plan.
In the 12 months since the Stocktake and Action Plan were published:
• We have progressed our commitment to end the use of dynamic hard
shoulders by March 2025. At the time of this response, 7 schemes are
at the preliminary design and survey stage.
• We are progressing our commitment to install SVD technology on every
all lane running smart motorway. We have so far trialled SVD on the M25
junctions 5-6 and junctions 23-27 (which covers all 25 miles of all lane
running on the M25). The technology is currently being commissioned on
the M3 Junctions 2 to 4a and M20 Junctions 3 to 5. Work on the M1
Junctions 32 to 35a started in February 2021. We have also completed
the design stages on three further schemes. In addition, we have
completed a large-scale trial of a system that analyses CCTV images to
identify stopped vehicles on the M4 junctions 19-20.
• We are on target to deliver the roll-out of changes to our traffic officer
patrols to increase traffic officer presence on smart motorway sections,
where the average distance between places to stop in an emergency is
more than one mile. This supports the aim, by July 2021, to reduce the
3
average time it takes traffic officers to attend incidents from 17 to 10
minutes.
• We have published a new design standard for the provision of places to
stop in an emergency. The new design standard (GD 301), which applies
to all schemes entering the design stage, means that a place of relative
safety will be spaced at ¾ miles apart, with a maximum of one mile where
¾ mile spacing is not feasible2
• We have installed 10 additional emergency areas on the M25 and we
have begun a programme to monitor their impact on live lane breakdown
rates to understand if they have reduced the level of live lane stops
• We are developing delivery programmes for additional safety measures
for the M6 Bromford viaduct and four sections of the M1 (including the
location of this incident). To inform this programme we commissioned
independent reports and have undertaken feasibility studies of potential
additional measures. The measure details are included in the “Details of
further action proposed” section of this response
• We have upgraded all existing emergency areas on smart motorways to
have bright orange surfacing and marked stopping areas.
• We have completed initial surveys in readiness for installing more signs
in between places to stop in an emergency. We expect to install around
1,000 new signs.
• We have continued to run public information campaigns focusing on
specific elements of motorway driving. In 2020 these included activity
urging drivers not to drive in lanes closed by Red ‘X’ signs, to adhere to
variable speed limits and to keep left (February/March); a summer
campaign encouraging drivers going on holiday or day trips to check their
vehicles before setting out,
the risk of breakdowns
(July/August); and a campaign discouraging tailgating, a factor in around
1
in 8 casualties on England’s motorways and major A-roads
(September/October).
to reduce
• We have also committed an additional £5 million this year on a campaign
to improve driver awareness further. On 10 March 2021 we launched a
national targeted campaign to increase road user confidence and
awareness of what to do in the event of a breakdown. This included TV
advertisement, additional short films, and print and digital advertising to
ensure maximum reach amongst the target audience. The campaign
launch was subject to changes in Government travel guidance and was
accordingly postponed from January 2021. Key messages conveyed by
the campaign includes:
The advice to drivers who experience a problem with their vehicle is to leave the
motorway if possible. But if that is not possible Highways England recommends
the
found on our website here:
https://highwaysengland.co.uk/road-safety/breakdowns/
following, which can also be
2 with some exceptions where not feasible to construct additional emergency areas, such as
where junctions intersect or on bridges
4
If your vehicle has a problem, or you get into trouble on a motorway, stay calm
and try to exit at the next junction or motorway service area. If that’s not possible:
Go left
o put your left indicator on and move into an emergency area, onto
a hard shoulder, motorway service area, left-hand verge or A-
road lay-by.
o switch your hazard warning lights on, even during the day. If it’s
dark, use side lights and in poor visibility use fog lights as well
o on a motorway without a hard shoulder, it should be possible for
most vehicles experiencing a problem to reach an emergency
area. These are spaced regularly, and are marked by a clearly
visible orange road surface and blue signs featuring an orange
SOS telephone symbol.
Get safe
o
if it is safe to do so, and you can get out with any passengers,
exit your vehicle on the side furthest from traffic. If it is not safe
to do so, stay in your vehicle and wait for help.
o keep well away from moving traffic and your own vehicle. Get
behind a safety barrier where there is one, and where it is safe to
do so. If you’re on a verge, be aware of any unseen hazards such
as uneven ground or debris.
Get help
o contact Highways England on 0300 123 5000 and then a
o
breakdown recovery provider.
if you are unable to exit your vehicle and get to a safe place, have
stopped in a live traffic lane or feel your life is in danger, stay in
your vehicle with your seatbelts and hazard lights on and call 999
immediately.
The Highways England website also includes information on how to drive on
motorways:
https://highwaysengland.co.uk/road-safety/how-to-drive-on-
motorways/
• We have begun rolling out automated “report of obstruction” messages
on signals when SVD technology identifies a potential incident. “Report
of obstruction” messages were enabled on the M3 junctions 2-4a in
December 2020.
In March 2021, we made location information for all smart motorway
emergency areas available to satnav providers
•
• We have engaged with car manufacturers to help build greater
awareness of eCall (SOS, which has been fitted to new cars as standard
from April 2018) and bCall (roadside assistance) functions in newer cars.
• We have begun to upgrade HADECS enforcement cameras and
associated technology to provide automated detection to facilitate the
enforcement of Red ‘X’ violations across the whole smart motorway
network. As at the date of this response we have upgraded 39% of all
cameras. The Road Traffic Offenders (Prescribed Devices) Order 2019
came into force on 10 June 2019 to enable recordings to be used in the
enforcement of Red 'X' violations (3 points, £100 fine).
• We have drafted new provisions for The Highway Code to provide more
guidance for motorists driving on high-speed roads, including smart
5
motorways. A 4-week consultation on these proposed amendments
commenced in early March 2021 and finished end of March 2021.
• We have signed a strategic partnership agreement to strengthen our
relationship with the independent recovery industry, setting out a
common and agreed set of safe operating procedures for use across the
industry when helping road users who get into difficulty on smart
motorways.
• We have commissioned an independent review of the widths of
operational emergency areas. This found that 13 were less than 4.4
metres wide, but that all 13 are wider than the 3.3 metre width of a hard
shoulder. We are now working on completing safety risk assessments to
help guide our next steps for widening any narrow emergency areas.
• The Department for Transport has completed its review of existing
evidence relating to the use of red flashing lamps. Ministers have agreed
to implement off-road trials to understand the likely impact of allowing the
use of red flashing lamps for road recovery operators, and to work with
the recovery industry to promote best working practices and develop
specific industry guidance on vehicle lighting.
On 26 February 2021, the Transport Select Committee publicly announced that
it would conduct an inquiry into the roll-out and safety of smart motorways, with
a particular focus on:
• The benefits of smart motorways, for instance to reduce congestion on
busy sections of motorway, and how necessary they are
• The safety of smart motorways, the adequacy of safety measures in
place and how safety could be improved
• Whether all lane running motorways are the most suitable type of smart
motorway
• Public confidence in smart motorways and how this could be improved
• The impact of smart motorways on the usage and safety of other roads
in the strategic road network
• The effectiveness of Highways England’s delivery of the smart
motorways programme, the impact of construction works, and the costs
of implementation
Highways England welcomes this inquiry, and is committed to assisting the
Committee in whatever way it can.
Highways England has also previously attended two previous smart motorway
Transport Select Committees in 2016 and 2019.
4 DETAILS OF FURTHER ACTION PROPOSED
Highways England is committed to ensuring that all roads for which it is
responsible remain safe and, indeed, to continuing to make them safer still. As
part of this, it will continue to deliver on the Smart motorway evidence stocktake
and action plan. One year on from its publication we have made good progress
and we will continue with this important programme of work.
We have published our Smart motorways stocktake First year progress report
2021 which sets out our progress in delivering the March 2020 Action Plan, the
latest evidence on the safety of smart motorways, and commitments we are
6
making to accelerate measures to further help drivers feel safe and be safer on
smart motorways.
• As noted above, we are developing delivery programmes for additional
safety measures for the M6 Bromford viaduct and four sections of the M1
including the location of this incident. We intend to publish the findings of
our safety reviews in June 2021.
• We will end the use of dynamic hard shoulder motorways by March 2025
by converting the current 63 miles of dynamic hard shoulder into a
permanent traffic lane providing greater consistency for motorists and
reducing the potential for confusion.
• We will continue to retrofit SVD to all existing all lane running motorways
and will complete this programme by the end of September 2022. This is
six months earlier than the 2020 Action Plan commitment. We have also
made a new commitment that all new schemes will have SVD technology
installed before they open, including the six schemes currently in
construction.
• We will continue with our programme to increase traffic officer presence
on smart motorways, where the average distance between places to stop
in an emergency is more than one mile, and reduce the attendance times.
• We will continue to ensure that all newly designed smart motorways
starting design from November 2020 conform to the new design
standard, including in relation to the spacing of places to stop in an
emergency.
• We will continue to monitor and assess the evidence relating to live lane
breakdowns, and to safety on smart motorways in general, and make
necessary design changes (including increasing the frequency of places
to stop) if the evidence supports it. In the 2020 Action Plan we committed
to complete the M25 monitoring period by 31 December 2021. We have
accelerated this commitment to complete the monitoring and present a
report to the Department for Transport by the end of August 2021.
• We will complete our programme of installing more signs in between
places to stop in an emergency by September 2022, six months earlier
than the 2020 Action Plan commitment.
• We will continue to invest to improve driver awareness.
• We will we will work with the DfT to review whether the emergency area
data we made available to satnav providers is being shared with drivers.
• We will continue to work with stakeholders to agree the key messages
for a public information campaign focusing on the use of eCall (SOS) and
bCall (breakdown assistance) buttons in vehicles which will run later in
2021.
• We will, in partnership with the DfT, publish the updated Highway Code
by Autumn 2021.
• We will continue rolling out changes to automate “report of obstruction”
messages on variable message signs when SVD technology identifies a
stopped vehicle.
• We will complete, by September 2022, our programme to upgrade
HADECS enforcement cameras and associated technology to provide
automated detection to facilitate the enforcement of Red ‘X’ violations
across the whole smart motorway network.
• We will complete our programme to widen emergency areas which are
narrower than the current standard.
7
5 TIMETABLE FOR ACTION
Future Action
Publish the findings of our safety reviews for the M6 J5-6
and M1 J10-13, J30-35, and J39-42.
Implement action plans to reduce Traffic Officer
attendance time from an average of 17 minutes to 10
minutes.
Date
June 2021
July 2021
Update of The Highway Code
Complete the monitoring of live lane breakdowns on the
M25 after the installation of 10 new emergency areas.
Deliver a public information campaign communicating
the benefits of eCall and bCall functions to road users
More communication with drivers – second run of
campaign launched in March 2021.
Consider a national programme of retrofitting additional
emergency areas on existing smart motorways where
places to stop in an emergency are more than one mile
apart
Autumn 2021
August 2021
Autumn 2021
November 2021
April 2022
Complete national rollout of SVD on existing ALR
sections
September 2022
Install additional traffic signs giving the distance to the
next place to stop in an emergency
September 2022
Complete the upgrade of HADECS3 cameras to enforce
Red ‘X’ compliance
September 2022
Automate the display of ‘report of obstruction’ messages March 2023
End the use of dynamic hard shoulders.
March 2025
Work with the DfT to review whether the emergency area
data we made available to satnav providers is being
shared with drivers
Ongoing
6 SAFETY OF ROAD USERS
Every road death is a tragic loss of life. We are determined to reduce the number
of fatal incidents, and injuries, on our roads and we want everyone who travels
or works on any of our roads to feel confident and safe.
risk-free
Although roads, especially high-speed
environments, our absolute priority is the reduction of road deaths and injuries
on our network.
roads, can never be
This is why we invest in road safety initiatives and public awareness campaigns,
to help prevent death and injury and to help give drivers the information they
need, to have safe journeys. This is in addition to information provided in other
areas, for example The Highway Code.
The Smart Motorway Safety Evidence Stocktake and Action Plan published by
the Government in March 2020 set out 18 measures to improve safety and build
8
greater public confidence in smart motorways. We welcomed the stocktake and
action plan as an opportunity to further improve the safety of smart motorways.
We are constantly listening to motorists, continually assessing how we can make
motorways safer for those who use them.
We urge road users to act safely and sensibly, including by informing themselves
about what to do in an emergency3, who to contact, and how to avoid dangerous
situations where possible, thereby minimising the risks to themselves and other
road users. We have recently launched our biggest ever, high profile multi-media
road safety campaign to help drivers know what to do if they break down on any
motorway, including one without a hard shoulder.
Respectfully, we would ask that coroners use the means at their disposal to
reinforce this message as appropriate. I have previously written to the Chief
Coroner to make this request of coroners.
Regarding this tragic incident, we note from the Police Forensic Collision
Investigation report that the vehicle which was struck, a Kia, suffered a defect
which caused it to lose power and the engine check light to illuminate on the
instrument panel.
The driver was able to exit the main carriageway and entered an emergency
area. At this point the driver should have contacted Highways England for advice
via the emergency telephone provided before re-joining the carriageway. He
could have also contacted a breakdown recovery service for assistance.
The Kia remained stationary in the emergency area for 12 seconds and then re-
entered the main carriageway. Shortly after, the Kia stopped in lane one, 145m
south of the emergency area. It was struck by a Scania HGV approximately one
minute later.
, the driver of the Scania HGV, received a 46-month
We note that
custodial sentence for causing death by dangerous driving and for causing
serious injury by dangerous driving. In addition, he was disqualified from driving
for a lengthy period.
We want to prevent further tragedies. We have listed earlier in this report the
measures we have taken since the publication of the stocktake. We believe our
actions are having an effect and will continue to make a difference.
Independent analysis provided by Transport Focus from the National Road
User Satisfaction Survey over the period 2014/15 to 2019/20 demonstrated
year-on-year improvements in the awareness of:
• Emergency areas (58% in 2019/20 compared to 36% in 2014/15);
• Use of the hard shoulder as an extra lane during busy times (74% in
2019/20 compared to 64% in 2014/15);
3 The Highways England website provides guidance on what to do in case of a
breakdown on any motorway: https://highwaysengland.co.uk/road-safety/breakdowns/
9
• Understanding when there is no hard shoulder when it permanently
converts to a traffic lane (64% in 2019/20 compared to 39% in
2014/15).
But we are not complacent. The death of Mr Ahmed was tragic. Our deepest
sympathies remain with his loved ones. We also extend our sympathies to the
driver and other passengers in the vehicle for the injuries they sustained.
We remain committed to improving communication with road users and to taking
steps to further improve the safety of smart motorways.
8
29 April 2021 Signed:
, Safety, Engineering and Standards
Executive Director and Chief Highways Engineer,
on behalf of Nick Harris, Acting Chief Executive of
Highways England
10
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