6 March 2025
These new figures highlight the scale of anxiety drivers suffer on ‘smart’ motorways. The 4th annual safety Stocktake due to be published last year has yet to be released. The AA is calling for the report to be published urgently.
Q. Compared to three years ago, to what extent do you feel safe driving on each of the following types of motorways?
| A motorway with a continuous hard shoulder | A motorway with no hard shoulder but with emergency refuge areas (lay-bys) about one and a half (1.5) miles apart | A motorway with no hard shoulder but with emergency refuge areas (lay-bys) about three quarters (0.75) of a mile apart | A motorway where the hard shoulder can be 'switched on and off' so it can be used as a running lane at peak times | |
| A lot safer | 66% | 16% | 18% | 16% |
| A lot less safe | 2% | 30% | 27% | 34% |
The survey of more than 13,500 drivers found that motorways where the hard can be switched on and off at peak times to create an additional running lane caused the highest number of respondents to say they didn’t feel safe.
One respondent told us “I believe smart motorways are incredibly dangerous”, another added “I do not think I would feel safe if I broke down on one”, with one driver stating “They are anxiety inducing”.
Some went further, with one telling us “MIDAS** doesn't work, and taking away the hard shoulder was a (redacted) idea.” These underline the fear people feel towards driving on ‘smart’ motorways.
Three-fifths of drivers want the existing ‘smart’ motorway network converted back to traditional three running lanes with a permanent hard shoulder. Just 11% said the network should be left in its current state; 9% said that all running lane systems should be converted to “Dynamic Hard Shoulder” Schemes and 14% said that they should be turned into “Controlled Motorways”.
“Both The AA and drivers say this experiment has failed and urge for the reinstatement of a permanent hard shoulder.”
These figures are broadly in line with the results of a similar survey carried out by The AA in 2023 just after the then Conservative Government announced there would be no further ‘smart’ motorways built in England.
What are the types of motorways?
The AA has been raising concerns about ‘smart’ motorways since their introduction in 2010 and believes they should be scrapped. At least 79 people have been killed on ‘smart’ motorways between 2010 and 2024. Figures suggest if you break down on a ‘smart’ motorway without a hard shoulder you are three times more likely to be killed or seriously injured than on one with a hard shoulder.
The AA’s Motoring Manifesto, published just before the election highlighted how AA members felt about ‘smart’ motorways and that they hadn’t delivered the promised benefits around cutting congestion. Previously it was revealed that more than a third of drivers said they don’t use the inside lane due to fear of broken-down vehicles ahead and any incident leads to severe congestion and delays for emergency services getting to the scene of crashes.
In an attempt to make the existing ‘smart’ motorways safer, in 2020, the previous government pledged just under £1billion to improve safety on the network. This includes building 150 more emergency areas at the side of ‘smart’ motorways to bring down the distance between them from 1.5 miles to 0.75. Around half of these schemes have been completed with half still under construction, including on sections of the M1; M3; M4; M5; M20 and M25.
Jack Cousens, head of roads policy for The AA, said: “Given the choice between ‘smart’ motorways relying on technology or motorways with a hard shoulder, drivers are clear which they prefer.
“In the last few years, there have been numerous reports of signal outages and CCTV failures across the network. It is vital the overdue Stocktake is released so we can understand the impact of these technical failures.
“More emergency areas will help, but drivers are frustrated with the perceived lack of urgency to complete the work. While many upgrades have been completed, there are several major motorways that only began work last year.
“Both The AA and drivers say this experiment has failed and urge for the reinstatement of a permanent hard shoulder.”
* Yonder received 13,721 responses from AA members to its online poll between the 10th to the 17th December 2024. Yonder is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.
** MIDAS is a UK distributed network of traffic sensors which are designed to alert the local regional control centre (RCC) to traffic flow and average speeds, and set variable message signs and advisory speed limits (or mandatory speed limits on smart motorways) with little human intervention.