National Highways apologises over smart motorway sign failure

Drivers reported problems with gantry signs on parts of the M6, M1 and A1(M),

National Highways has apologised after "unexpected issues" left motorists seeing random lane closure signs on sections of smart motorway in England.

Problems were reported by drivers on the M6, M1 and A1(M), with "mile upon mile" of lane closure warnings and "unreadable" overhead signs.

Speed limits were placed on some routes and extra traffic patrols introduced.

Andrew Page-Dove of National Highways said: "We apologise for any inconvenience caused."

The agency said the problems started at around 14:30 BST on Wednesday and lasted until almost midnight.

Smart motorways use technology to regulate traffic flow with overhead signs telling motorists speed limits and which lanes are closed.

Some use the hard shoulder as an extra lane of traffic, but critics claim they have led to road deaths.

Posting on social media drivers complained of gantry signs displaying two different speed limits and incorrect lane closures while others were so bright they "hindered night vision".

Mr Page-Dove said: "As with any technology, there are occasional outages and so we have well-rehearsed procedures to deal with issues which arise.

"We took additional measures to limit any impact on drivers or traffic flow, including extra traffic officer patrols and, virtual CCTV patrols.

"We took the decision to reset the systems to ensure any errors were rectified as swiftly as possible."

'Public safety jeopardised'

At the end of 2020 there were 369 miles of smart motorways in England, including 168 miles without a hard shoulder.

According to government figures obtained by BBC Panorama in 2020, 38 people were killed on smart motorways between 2014 and 2019.

Rotherham Labour MP Sarah Champion said she had repeatedly told the government that smart motorways were "fundamentally unsafe".

Jason Mercer, a constituent of Ms Champion, was killed in a crash on a stretch of smart motorway on the M1 near Sheffield in June 2019.

"No amount of technology can mitigate the risk of removing huge stretches of hard shoulder," said Ms Champion.

"It chills me to think that the safety technology is unreliable, magnifying the inherent risks still further. I am appalled that public safety could be jeopardised by the failure of National Highways to keep safety features operational and have raised this repeatedly to successive Ministers."