A crash on a smart motorway that killed two pensioners would not have happened if there had been a hard shoulder, a coroner has said.
The inquest finding led to renewed calls from campaigners for smart motorways to be halted and hard shoulders reintroduced.
Derek Jacobs, 83, was killed on the M1 near Sheffield after his van had a burst tyre and he was forced to stop on the inside lane, where the hard shoulder had been removed.
A Ford Ka then hit the van. The Ka’s front seat passenger, Charles Scripps, 78, died in hospital two months after the collision.
The Ford, driven by Scripps’s wife, Jean, was shown on dashcam footage flipping over in the carriageway and ending up on its side before it was hit by a coach.
Concluding that both men died as a result of a road traffic collision, the assistant coroner Susan Evans told Chesterfield coroner’s court: “Smart motorways are hugely controversial because of the lack of any hard shoulder for motorists to use in times of need such as occurred here. It is immediately apparent that, had there been a hard shoulder, this incident would not have occurred because Mr Jacobs would have been able to pull off the live lane entirely.”
But the coroner added: “That said, there are many roads in the road network, including dual carriageway A-roads, that are subject to the national speed limit and do not have the benefit of any hard shoulder.”
She heard there was no evidence that Jean Scripps took any action to avoid the collision, despite the fact Mr Jacobs had parked his van almost touching the crash barrier on the far left of the carriageway.
Miss Evans said: “It is evident Mrs Scripps simply did not see the stationary van before she collided with it. For reasons we will never know, she appeared to have not been paying attention to the road.”
Giving evidence, the collision investigator Sgt Paul Moorcroft, said: “It is highly, highly unlikely this collision would have taken place had there been a hard shoulder.”
But he also said Jacobs’ van was only protruding into the carriageway by about 65cm and the Ford could have passed it without going into the second lane.
The van had been stationary for three minutes and 34 seconds before it was hit by the Scripps’s car.
Moorcroft said Jean Scripps, a retired teacher who was 77 at time, had plenty of time to see the obstruction, and many other drivers had taken avoiding action. He said: “My opinion is that distraction or a prolonged period of inattention by Mrs Scripps was the main causation factor in this collision.”
He told the inquest Jean Scripps had not been interviewed owing to her health, and the inquest heard medical evidence that she was diagnosed with dementia six months after the crash.
The collision is one of three on a 10-mile stretch of the M1 near Sheffield highlighted by campaigners who want smart motorways stopped and hard shoulders restored.
Jason Mercer and Alexandru Murgeanu died in June 2019 when they were hit by a lorry on the M1 near junction 34 after they stopped on the inside lane of the smart motorway section after a minor collision.
Speaking outside the inquest, Mercer’s wife, Claire, who has spearheaded the campaign against smart motorways, said: “We had something before that was infallible. The hard shoulder was just always there and didn’t make mistakes and we’ve replaced it with something that isn’t always there and does make mistakes.
“And that was a conscious decision. They have designed danger into a smart motorway.”
Nick Harris, chief executive of National Highways, said: “Our deepest sympathies remain with the families of Mr Jacobs and Mr Scripps, and all those affected by this tragic incident.
“It is vitally important to learn lessons from every road traffic collision and we will continue to build on the work and safety improvements already under way, taking all the necessary steps to help drivers and passengers feel and be safe.”
