by The computerized safety system for smart motorways across the country has been shut down, leading to a “horrific” six-car pile-up after a vehicle broke down in a live lane, the Telegraph can reveal.
A whistleblower has revealed how National Highways systems “crashed”, disabling radar technology that detects stuck vehicles, leaving control room staff unable to close lanes to traffic, speed limits and electronic signs. setting up or using CCTV cameras.
The “catastrophic failure” led to a pile-up on the M6 southbound on January 19 when a car was left a “sitting duck” after breaking down on the inside lane, which used to be the hard shoulder.
The vehicle failed to reach an emergency shelter on the “all lane” stretch of the motorway before being repeatedly hit by other vehicles between junctions 3a and 3 near Coventry.
The National Highways whistleblower, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “We had no stopped vehicle detection systems, no CCTV and no control over signs and signals.
“It’s really lucky that no one was killed.
“Thank God, God was watching over them, because we certainly weren’t.”
A break lasted three hours
A National Highways spokesman said the “unplanned break” lasted three hours, and the six-car collision resulted in only “minor injuries”.
This latest system failure and subsequent multiple crashes would not have come to light if the whistleblower had not taken the risk of contacting the Telegraph.
The Dynac software, which controls bridge signs and signals – including the “red X” that closes lanes to traffic – as well as the stopped vehicle detection radar, was shut down between 5.25pm and 8.30pm.
Control centers in the North West, Yorkshire and North East, West Midlands, East Midlands and South West all went offline, leaving only the South East and East operational.
In 2021, The Telegraph revealed how the team nicknamed Dynac “Die Now” because it was “prone” to bugs and shutdowns.
Claire Mercer, who campaigned for the Government to scrap all smart motorways after her husband, Jason, died on the M1 in 2019, said it was only a matter of time before many people lost their lives in a “tragedy preventable” only.
She said: “How many other alarming system failures and live lane breakdowns are happening that we don’t hear about?
“National Highways tells drivers to move left in an emergency. But, this driver on the M6 moved as far to the left as possible, but was left as a sitting duck because there was no hard shoulder.
“That technology failure means that failure has increased dramatically. When Dynac and its safety systems fail, dumb motorways become smart motorways.”
‘All smart motorways should be scrapped’
Mrs Mercer, 47, said Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, had a “lack of concern” in 2023 to scrap all smart motorways when he stopped the roll-out of the new motorways.
“Was it the revenue from the fines they generate, or the large contracts that go to private contractors to build them, that meant it wasn’t that far to destroy all smart motorways,” she asked.
The Government removed fourteen smart motorways – including 11 already on hold and three earmarked for construction – from the government’s road construction plans last year. However, ministers have refused to reinstate the hard shoulder on all routes, which would effectively kill the smart motorway project.
Edmund King, president of the AA, said: “As we have been warning for years, this smart motorway experiment has once again failed to put lives at risk by leaving car occupants as sitting ducks.
“Drivers have never trusted the system, so getting rid of all smart motorways is probably going to be a big election issue.”
A National Highways spokesman said: “As with any technology, there are planned and unplanned outages from time to time so we have well-established procedures to deal with issues that arise.
“We have additional measures in place to limit any impact on drivers or traffic flow, including increased patrols by our traffic officers and active CCTV monitoring.”
Systems prone to repeated ‘power outages’
In January, The Telegraph revealed that Dynac and other motorway safety systems are at risk of repeated “power cuts”.
The network’s computers suffered electricity supply problems lasting 541 hours over 52 separate days at many locations in the summer of 2023.
Eight of those power outages took more than 24 hours to resolve, with one lasting four days and 22 hours on the M6, near Junction 18 in Cheshire.
A Department for Transport spokesman said: “Drivers deserve to trust the roads they use and, recognizing public concerns, the Government has canceled plans for all smart motorway schemes.
“Working with National Highways, we continue to invest £900 million in further safety improvements to existing smart motorways.”
Simon Williams, head of policy at the RAC, said: “It’s alarming to see how vulnerable our so-called smart motorways are. When lives depend on technology there should be failsafes in place to prevent this type of incident.
“This proves that safety technology and emergency refuge areas can never replace the hard shoulder. We again call on the Government to act before it is too late.”
