Widow: Smart m-way f ilm is an insult

A WIDOW whose husband was killed on a smart motorway has branded a £770,000 safety campaign ‘patronising propaganda’.

National Highways this week launched an advertising blitz alongside a slick video featuring Gadget Show presenters Ortis Deley and Suzi Perry.

The Daily Mail can reveal the total cost of producing the controversial clip was £768,000.

Claire Mercer, whose husband Jason died on a smart motorway section of the M1 in 2019, said it did ‘not represent reality’.

The 12-minute video starts with Mr Deley and Miss Perry talking about their excitement at going ‘road tripping’ while listening to Abba. While cruising down the inside lane of a smart motorway with its hard shoulder permanently converted into a live lane, Mr Deley says: ‘Hey Suzi, look, we’re on an all lane running motorway...’

About 40 per cent of breakdowns on smart motorways with the hard shoulder permanently removed happen in a live lane due to a lack of emergency laybys – the clip fails to mention this.

While driving past an emergency layby, Miss Perry appears to suggest they are better than having a hard shoulder. The presenters also visit a

‘It’s quite a set-up. It’s really impressive’

CCTV control room, where cameras are used to scan the road and spot any incidents. A control room manager tells them: ‘We monitor the cameras. We monitor the smart motorways.’

As they leave, Mr Deley says: ‘It’s quite a set-up in there, isn’t it? It’s really impressive.’

In a Daily Mail investigation last year, an undercover reporter working in a control room in South Mimms, Hertfordshire, found more than one in ten cameras was broken, misted up or facing the wrong way.

The systems used to display warnings on gantries above smart motorways often also crashed.

Mrs Mercer said: ‘The two presenters were not given the full facts. It’s blindly ignoring what the real massive problems are – which is what propaganda is – and championing the few good bits.

‘The problem isn’t with the drivers. It’s patronising and victim-blaming.’

She added: ‘The fact they spent £768,000 of public money on it just adds insult to injury.’

Mel Clarke, of National Highways, said: ‘We’re investing hundreds of millions of pounds to make England’s motorways and A-roads even safer and are determined to help drivers be safe on all roads. Road safety campaigns play an important part.’