Drivers face penalties for ignoring smart motorway lane closures

Motorists who ignore lane closures on smart motorways face a £100 fine and three penalty points on their driver’s licence from March, under new proposals by Highways England.

The Daily Telegraph reports that since December 2016, the department has “issued around 80,000 warning letters” to motorists for ignoring the rules on smart motorways - which regulate traffic using cameras and sensors.

The newspaper says a third of the warnings were sent to motorists for driving in closed lanes, which are labelled by a large red cross.

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RAC Foundation director Steve Gooding said: “We need to see a redoubling of communications by Highways England to leave no doubt in motorists’ minds as to what a red X sign means.

“It’s important that drivers understand that where the carriageway has been blocked by a collision or a breakdown, the price for ignoring the red X could be a lot higher than a fixed penalty notice.”

Roadside cameras that would automatically snap drivers breaking the law are “currently being tested”, according to documents seen by the Press Association.

The proposed new measures come in the wake of research that revealed that in the space of a year, motorists were fined in excess of £1m for speeding on smart motorways, says Auto Express.

Recently obtained figures show that in 2015, the authorities issued 52,516 fixed penalties on smart motorways, which include the M1, M25 and M6.

This compared to 2,023 on the same stretches in 2010-11, before they became smart motorways, says Auto Express.