Written evidence submitted by Mr Peter Smith (RSM0089)

Smart Motorways are far safer than Dual carriageways which both surprisingly have a 70 mile per hour limit.  On a Smart Motorway there are normally 4 lanes thus more lanes available in breakdown and accident situations with more emergency lay-bys. The road is normally straighter giving greater visibility. 

On a Dual Carriageway there are normally only 2 lanes and they are frequently less straight meaning less visibility and have less lay-bys.  Give me a Smart motorway over a Dual carriageway, at 70 miles per hour, every day of the week.

I travel a lot in America.   There lorries/trucks do not normally travel in the inside lane (lane 1).  In fact in Arizona they are often told to travel in lane 2.  This could be applied to 4 lane Smart Motorways in this country, with exceptions for going off at junctions. Also it would be easy to restrict lane 1 to a maximum of 60 miles per hour controlled by overhead signs. Strict 60 to be applied. Also in America fines are often double in road works which is a simple rule to carry over to Smart Motorways to enforce speed limits. After all the reason for Smart Motorways is to increase capacity – not encourage speeding.

April 2021