Widow slams delays to end of motorway smart lanes

THE widow of a man killed on a smart motorway says more lives are in danger as she blasted a lack of urgency in responding to calls for hard shoulders to be reintroduced.

- Ciaran McGrath

Claire Mercer accused the Department for Transport of "stalling tactics" and demonstrating a "lack of common decency".

Her husband Jason, 44, died when he was hit by a lorry after stopping on the M1 near Sheffield in 2019.

Law firm Irwin Mitchell, representing his family, said it wrote to the Government and National Highways in October outlining "compelling evidence regarding safety concerns".

It pushed for hard shoulders to be reinstated on smart motorways where emergency lanes have been converted to live lanes to boost capacity.