Drivers caught ignoring smart motorway safety signs hit record high amid police clampdown

A record number of drivers have been caught driving in lanes market with a red X on smart motorways in the last three years, highlighting what has been described as the “fragility of one of the systems designed to keep stricken drivers safe”.

Road safety charity, IAM RoadSmart, submitted Freedom of Information requests to police forces across the county and uncovered that as many as 53,000 people were caught by enforcement cameras and fined for driving in a Red X-marked lane on a smart motorway.

Markings are displayed digitally on overhead gantries, with a red ‘X’ instructing motorists to move into another lane as there as there could be an obstruction.

Driving in X-marked lanes can be dangerous, so authorities are beginning to crack down on it heavily. In 2021, only nine police forces were acting against red X infringements, meaning just 4,393 drivers were prosecuted.

Eleven more police forces joined the fray in 2022 and thanks to the end of COVID-19 lockdowns, as many as 20,773 motorists were caught by enforcement cameras. In 2023, there were a total of 23 police forces attempting to catch offenders and a record 28,231 drivers received a maximum fine of £100 in the post with up to three penalty points on their licence.

While live lanes were designed to ease motorway congestion, the reliability (or lack thereof) of camera detection technology, the absence of a hard shoulder and the unpredictability of drivers following signage has caused major safety concerns. A total of 24 people were killed on smart motorways in 2022, with at least 79 people having lost their lives on these roads since the scheme’s introduction in 2010.

The RAC’s Head of Policy, Rod Dennis, described how these figures “sadly underline the fragility of one of the systems designed to keep stricken drivers safe on smart motorways”.

Director of Policy and Standards at IAM RoadSmart, Nicholas Lyes, also chimed in, saying: “Ignoring a red X sign on a smart motorway is dangerous because it risks a serious collision and for this reason, we welcome police forces clamping down on those who break the law.”

In 2023, the previous Conservative government ruled out building any more smart motorways, pledging to install emergency laybys and improve camera tech on existing roads. Lyes encouraged the new Labour administration to “give some serious thought” to increasing safety on smart motorways even further. 

At the same time, the RAC called for the new Government to "convert all-lane running stretches of smart motorway to either controlled motorways – with hard shoulders permanently restored – or to dynamic hard shoulder schemes, where a hard shoulder is in place for much of the day and night, and only opened to traffic at the busiest times of day.”

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