Smart Motorways: Why a Third of Drivers Still Don't Trust Them

Picture this: you're cruising along at 70mph in what used to be the hard shoulder, nose to tail with lorries, and your only lifeline if the car splutters and dies is a painted refuge area that might be a mile behind you or a mile ahead. For millions of UK drivers, this isn't a hypothetical. It's Tuesday morning.

New findings reported by the BBC show that around a third of surveyed drivers say they feel unsafe on smart motorways. Given that this stretch of road design has been the subject of parliamentary inquiries, coroner's reports, and years of campaigning by bereaved families, that statistic shouldn't come as a shock. But it should still give the Department for Transport pause. Public trust in a major piece of national infrastructure remains stubbornly low, and that has real consequences for how people drive, where they choose to travel, and what confidence they have in the system meant to protect them.

What the Report Actually Found

The BBC's coverage centres on driver perception rather than a single new incident. Around a third of those surveyed say they feel unsafe using smart motorways, with concerns clustering around road design, what happens during a breakdown, and general safety when the hard shoulder has been repurposed as a live traffic lane. This isn't a fringe view. It represents a substantial minority of the driving public who approach these roads with genuine anxiety rather than routine confidence.

For context, smart motorways come in a few flavours. "All lane running" schemes remove the hard shoulder entirely, turning it into a permanent traffic lane, with emergency refuge areas placed at intervals along the route. "Dynamic hard shoulder" schemes open the hard shoulder only at busy times. There are also "controlled" motorways, which keep the hard shoulder but use variable speed limits and overhead gantries to manage flow. Of these, all lane running has attracted by far the most criticism, largely because it removes the one permanent safe space drivers have traditionally relied on if something goes wrong.

Why This Story Matters Beyond the Headline

The government has already responded to public and political pressure once. In 2022, then-Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced that the rollout of new all lane running smart motorways would be paused, citing insufficient safety data and public confidence concerns. Existing stretches were not torn out, but the expansion programme was halted, and additional emergency refuge areas were promised on existing sections.

That pause was itself a tacit admission that something wasn't working as intended, at least in terms of how the public perceived it. The fact that a third of drivers still report feeling unsafe, years after that intervention, suggests the trust deficit hasn't closed. It's one thing to slow down new construction. It's another to convince the millions of people already driving on existing smart motorway sections that they're as safe as a conventional three-lane motorway with a hard shoulder.

This matters because perceived risk changes behaviour. Drivers who feel unsafe may hug the inside lane unnecessarily, brake erratically when passing gantries, or become distracted checking mirrors for stranded vehicles instead of concentrating on the road ahead. Anxiety at the wheel is not a trivial side effect. It's a safety issue in its own right, layered on top of whatever structural concerns exist with the road design.

There's also a fairness dimension. Breakdown risk isn't evenly distributed. Older vehicles, and drivers who can't necessarily afford newer cars with better reliability, are statistically more likely to suffer a mechanical failure at the worst possible moment. On a conventional motorway, a hard shoulder gives you somewhere to go. On an all lane running stretch, your options narrow considerably, and that disproportionately affects those already more likely to have unreliable transport.

The Legal and Regulatory Picture

There's no specific criminal offence called "driving unsafely on a smart motorway." Instead, the normal framework of road traffic law applies, layered with motorway-specific rules that drivers are expected to know.

Highways England, now National Highways, operates smart motorways under standard powers to manage the strategic road network. The Highway Code sets out specific guidance for these roads, including rules 258 to 269, covering what to do if you break down, how to use emergency refuge areas, and what red X signals on overhead gantries mean. Driving in a lane closed by a red X is a specific offence, and it's now enforced using cameras, with fines and penalty points available for those caught ignoring it.

If you break down in a live lane with no hard shoulder, the official advice is to keep your hazard lights on, try to get to an emergency refuge area or the nearest exit, and if you cannot move the vehicle at all, stay inside with your seatbelt on and call 999 if you're in immediate danger, rather than attempting to get out and stand on the verge. Radar-based Stopped Vehicle Detection technology has been rolled out to try to spot stationary cars faster and close lanes automatically, but coverage and response times have themselves been a source of criticism, particularly on older sections of converted motorway.

From a liability perspective, if a driver is killed or injured on a smart motorway due to a genuine defect in road design, maintenance, or a failure of detection systems, there can be scope for inquest findings or civil claims against National Highways, though these are rarely straightforward and depend heavily on the specific circumstances. Coroners have, in several high profile inquests, made Prevention of Future Deaths reports directly criticising the safety of all lane running schemes, which is part of what pushed the government towards its 2022 pause.

What Drivers Should Know

If you regularly use smart motorways, and given how much of the network has been converted, most drivers do without realising it, a few practical points are worth keeping in mind.

Know what type of motorway you're on. Signs at the start of managed motorway sections usually indicate whether the hard shoulder is a permanent lane or only opens dynamically. If you're not sure, assume there's no hard shoulder available and plan accordingly.

Understand emergency refuge areas. These are marked with blue signs showing a telephone symbol and are typically spaced further apart than most drivers expect, sometimes over a mile. If you feel your vehicle struggling, don't wait until the last second. Head for the next refuge area as soon as you notice a problem.

Red X means stop, no exceptions. Ignoring a red X on a gantry isn't just dangerous, it's a specific enforceable offence that can result in a fine and points on your licence.

If you break down with nowhere to go, stay calm and stay belted in. Hazard lights on, call for help via the roadside SOS phone or 999 if you can't move the car safely. Don't attempt to cross live lanes on foot unless staying in the vehicle presents a greater danger.

Keep on top of vehicle maintenance. This sounds obvious, but breakdown risk on a smart motorway carries higher stakes than on a conventional road, so tyre checks, fluid levels, and battery health matter more than ever before a long motorway journey.

Consider route planning for anxious passengers or nervous drivers. If smart motorway sections genuinely unsettle you, route-planning apps often allow you to avoid specific stretches, even if it adds a little time to the journey.

Looking Ahead

The government's 2022 pause on new schemes bought some breathing room, but it didn't resolve the underlying trust problem, and this latest survey data suggests that gap hasn't meaningfully narrowed. National Highways continues to invest in additional refuge areas and detection technology on existing stretches, but the pace of retrofitting has been criticised as slow relative to the scale of the network already converted.

Politically, smart motorways remain a live issue. Campaign groups representing families affected by fatal incidents continue to push for a full reversal, including reinstating hard shoulders on all lane running sections, while the government has so far resisted committing to that scale of rebuild given the cost involved. Expect continued scrutiny, more coroner's reports, and likely further select committee inquiries as this data circulates.

For individual drivers, the practical reality is that smart motorways aren't going away in the short term, so the sensible response is informed caution rather than blanket avoidance where that's even possible. Know the rules, know where the refuges are, and treat every gantry sign as an instruction rather than a suggestion.