Drivers face penalties for ignoring smart motorway lane closures
Offending motorists may get £100 fine and three penalty points
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.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
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.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Life in the post-truth era
Opinion The mainstream media can't hold back a tsunami of misinformation
By Theunis Bates Published
-
Magazine printables - November 8, 2024
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - November 8, 2024
By The Week US Published
-
Magazine solutions - November 8, 2024
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - November 8, 2024
By The Week US Published
-
Sport on TV guide: Christmas 2022 and New Year listings
Speed Read Enjoy a feast of sporting action with football, darts, rugby union, racing, NFL and NBA
By Mike Starling Published
-
House of the Dragon: what to expect from the Game of Thrones prequel
Speed Read Ten-part series, set 200 years before GoT, will show the incestuous decline of Targaryen
By Chas Newkey-Burden Published
-
One in 20 young Americans identify as trans or non-binary
Speed Read New research suggests that 44% of US adults know someone who is transgender
By The Week Staff Published
-
The Turner Prize 2022: a ‘vintage’ shortlist?
Speed Read All four artists look towards ‘growth, revival and reinvention’ in their work
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
What’s on TV this Christmas? The best holiday television
Speed Read From films and documentaries to musicals for all the family
By The Week Staff Published
-
Coco vision: up close to Chanel opticals
Speed Read Parisian luxury house adds opticals to digital offering
By The Week Staff Published
-
Abba returns: how the Swedish supergroup and their ‘Abba-tars’ are taking a chance on a reunion
Speed Read From next May, digital avatars of the foursome will be performing concerts in east London
By The Week Staff Published
-
‘Turning down her smut setting’: how Nigella Lawson is cleaning up her recipes
Speed Read Last week, the TV cook announced she was axing the word ‘slut’ from her recipe for Slut Red Raspberries in Chardonnay Jelly
By The Week Staff Published