Vital motorway warning signs fail to work up to 10% of the time

‘Drivers are facing a smart motorway roulette’: Woman whose husband died in tragic crash blasts smart motorways as it’s revealed vital warning signs fail to work up to 10 per cent of the time

• Electronic motorway signs are being hit by technical problems 10% of the time
• Only around 1,000 of such incidents are picked up each month, sources said
• Signs informing drivers of speed limit changes were out of use for 3% of the time

Motorists are facing a ‘smart motorway roulette’ because vital warning signs fail to work up to 10 per cent of the time, the Daily Mail can reveal today.

So-called all-lane-running motorways are designed to reduce congestion by axing hard shoulders.

If a collision or breakdown takes place, staff are supposed to detect it and close the lane – with the help of CCTV cameras and radar.

Around 1,000 of these incidents are picked up each month.

However electronic signs, which warn of lane closures ahead, were hit by technical problems 10 per cent of the time in September.

Motorists are facing a ‘smart motorway roulette’ because vital warning signs fail to work up to 10 per cent of the time 

Red ‘X’ signs that inform drivers of speed limit changes or closed lanes were out of use for 3 per cent of the time.

Claire Mercer, whose husband was killed on a smart motorway in 2019, said: ‘With so many of these signs failing to work, drivers are facing a smart motorway roulette.’

Last month the Mail revealed that systems monitoring 280 miles of road stopped working for seven hours.

The figures for failing signs were obtained by Labour MP Sarah Champion, who has been campaigning to ban smart motorways.

She said: ‘It is shocking that these systems are so unreliable, yet the Department for Transport and National Highways continue to hide behind technology as an excuse for placing motorists’ lives at risk.’

National Highways insists that motorists have several opportunities to see that a road is closed through other functioning signs on nearby gantries – even if one red ‘X’ or text sign is not working.

It is also understood the figures reflect outages for signs on the entire smart motorway network and not just all-lane-running routes.

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