The country’s highways boss has responded to warnings from his own staff about Greater Manchester’s Smart Motorways - insisting ‘they’re the safest roads in Europe, if not the world’.
Duncan Smith, executive director of operations at National Highways, spoke to the Manchester Evening News following a series of complaints from traffic officers around faulty signs, signals, CCTV, stranded drivers, and issues around staffing levels which they claimed were impacting driver safety on the M62 Junctions 10-12, where the hard shoulder works as a live lane.
But Mr Smith insisted the debate around the safety of the high-tech roads, which are equipped with electronic signals, signs, radars, speed and vehicle counters and CCTV, was an ‘emotional’ one, with the statistics proving there are in fact less accidents on smart motorways than on conventional roads.
