SMART Motorways advocate made chief road safety advisor

NATIONAL Highways has placed a prominent supporter of the smart motorway rollout as a chief road safety advisor.

Nick Reed was formerly placed at the Transport Research Laboratory and is now going to be helping to deliver National Highways vision of improving safety on England’s Motorway and A-road network.

The smart motorway roll-out has been peppered with problems since the outset. From last-minute design changes, launching the roads without stopped vehicle detection systems in place, and a serious of fatal crashes, confidence in the new type of roads is at an all-time low.

Reed spoke to the House of Commons earlier this year, claiming that smart motorways are no less safe than conventional roads. Despite this, smart motorways increased from 172 miles to 204 miles between 2017 and 2019. In the same period, road deaths on those same roads increased from five to fifteen.

Despite Reed’s support of the roads, he is not without his criticisms of them. He does feel that construction of more roads should be halted, although only for so long as it takes the technology required (stopped vehicle detection) to be properly implemented on them.

He also feels that one of the primary factors for not building any more of the ALR roads is not road safety. Reed feels that the environment should be the reason the smart motorway network is halted and that there are too many cars on the road already.

Speaking of his appointment, Nick Reed said:

"I am delighted and honoured to have been appointed to this new role. Throughout my career, my prime motivation has been to reduce the harm associated with road transport. This is an exciting opportunity to work with industry, academia and innovators to support and challenge National Highways in delivering on its ambitious zero harm agenda."

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