Martin Gerb Davies
The brother of the first motorist to die in a smart motorway crash involving only vehicles swerving to avoid a broken-down car has condemned scrapping hard shoulders as “utter madness”.
Martin Gerb Davies, 54, was killed when his flat-bed pick-up collided with a lorry veering away from a stationary car in a live lane on the M1.
His death is believed to be the first where only those vehicles steering clear of a stranded car were involved in the collision.
Criticism of smart motorways has often focused on how people are killed after their cars fail to reach an emergency refuge before being hit by traffic because Highways England fails to spot them and close the lane.