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14
Jan 2022
Andrew Jones MP welcomes pause in smart motorway rollout
Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones has supported the government's decision to pause the rollout of smart motorways.
Mr Jones was a key advocate of smart motorways during his time as a minister at the Department for Transport between 2015 and 2019.
The government this week shelved any further implementations of the scheme “until five years worth of safety data becomes available” for motorways built before 2020.
There have been mounting concerns about the technology after multiple deaths and near misses have been reported.
Government figures show 38 deaths on smart motorways were recorded between 2014 and 2019, including John Mercer, who died on a stretch of the M1 without a hard shoulder in 2019.
Speaking at a Westminster Hall debate on the issue yesterday, Mr Jones said:
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During his time as a transport minister in May 2016, Mr Jones insisted that the rollout of smart motorways was not being done “on the cheap”, as opponents of the scheme had claimed. They said it compromised safety.
At a Transport Select Committee debate at the time, the Conservative MP said:
At the same debate, he later added that the government was monitoring the safety of the schemes and that he did not think it was “a question of having a back-up plan or pausing”.
The government has said pausing the rollout builds on its action plan for smart motorways, which includes adding emergency areas and upgrading cameras to detect red X offences.
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