Highways England cannot face manslaughter charges for smart motorway deaths of public

摘要

A police "scoping" exercise has concluded that it is not possible to charge Highways England with corporate manslaughter in relation to deaths on "smart" motorways. Smart motorways are controversial, particularly those that temporarily or permanently convert the hard shoulder into a running lane, because of the risks when vehicles break down or are involved in a collision. Theoretically, vehicles should be able to pull over into an emergency area, with overhead warning signs for other drivers to slow down and move into other lanes. Several high-profile fatal incidents have, however, cast doubt on the efficacy of these measures, although the government continues to insist that the evidence shows that smart motorways are at least as safe as, if not safer than, conventional motorways. Following a report by the House of Commons transport select committee in 2021, the government announced on 22 January that it was pausing the rollout of new all lane running schemes - one of the three types of smart motorway (see box) - until five years of safety data are available for schemes introduced before 2020 (HSB 506 p.16).