Poll: Should motorway hard shoulders be opened up to ease traffic flow?
Questions are being raised again about using motorway hard shoulders for traffic following the death of a Telford man when he stopped on the M6 to check his trailer.
The opening of the inquest into Anthony Marston, heard he had stopped on a section of the motorway, close to the junction with the M54, which has no permanent hard shoulder, part of a strategy to keep congested traffic running. He died when a lorry hit his vehicle.
The accident is likely to call into question the use of hard shoulders for traffic.
A Commons committee said earlier this year that plans to convert more hard shoulders into lanes for traffic should be scrapped.
The Transport Select Committee said the "dramatic change" would be dangerous.
But the Department for Transport said "all-lane running" was designed to be as safe as ordinary motorways.
'Smart motorway' schemes only use the hard shoulder at peak times or during periods of congestion, although there are some sections of motorway that have no hard shoulder except for intermittent refuge areas.
The Department for Transport said there was "growing evidence" that the additional lanes were providing "much-needed additional capacity quickly and efficiently on our roads while maintaining or improving safety".
But it said it is "determined that the reviews currently taking place into emergency refuge areas should be completed swiftly and that action on the recommendations will be taken".
