Today Nottinghamshire Live is joining bereaved families in calling for smart motorways to be scrapped - after 79 deaths on roads where there is no hard shoulder. Those mourning their loss were hoping for change when a motion calling for an end to existing smart motorways was put forward to Nottinghamshire County Council.
But they were left disappointed - as the motion failed with 34 councillors voting against it. Widow Wendy Steer, who believes smart motorways are "the worst thing that has ever been built", was hoping that Nottinghamshire County Council would become the first council in the country to formally oppose it.
She is the wife of the 79th victim of smart motorways. Her late husband 53-year-old Andrew Steer died in January last year after his van hit a stationary lorry on a stretch of the M1.
