Given the cold shoulder

Smart motorways were designed to ease congestion but significant safety concerns prompted the Government to apply the brakes a move that has now been made permanent

- Charlie Flindt

AS I SAT in yet another traffic jam on the M25, checking my fingernails and browsing the local radio stations, news broke of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s ban on ‘smart’ motorways. I allowed myself an unconvincing cheer.

I still get anxious when joining one. I was brought up with the ‘hard shoulder’, a place of refuge in case of breakdown. And bearing in mind my first four cars were Italian, I was always grateful for its availability. Recently, the hard shoulder has become rare. Should I worry? Cars are infinitely more reliable than they were four decades ago – and that’s what must have been uppermost in the mind of the transport guru in charge of solving motorway congestion. “Let traffic use the hard shoulder – no one else is.” And before you knew it, capacity was boosted by 33%.