WHAT ARE ‘SMART MOTORWAYS‘ AND WHERE ARE THEY?

Smart motorways‘ are supposed to ease congestion by allowing cars to drive on the hard shoulder at least some of the time, with traffic being monitored via cameras and ‘active‘ speed signs.

There are currently more than 20 sections of ‘smart motorway‘ on seven different motorways, including on sections of the M25 and the M6.

Six more are under construction and another 18 are being planned.

However Highways England said a ‘comprehensive‘ review of ‘smart motorways‘ would be carried out after admitting lower limits were not always correctly set.

Jim O‘Sullivan, chief executive, said that 40, 50 or 60mph limits were being set before congestion mounted on ‘smart motorways‘ in England, using predictions about traffic levels.

Data has showed that 72,348 people were fined on motorways with variable speed limits last year. This was almost double the number a year earlier and a tenfold rise in five years.

Of those, two thirds of fines were handed out to motorists travelling at 69mph or below, even though the national speed limit is 70mph.

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Designed by Los Angeles-based engineering firm AECOM, the concept will be tested using a simulation model of the A59 in York.

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