Panorama reveals for the first time how many have died on roads that no longer have a hard shoulder.
Media playback is unsupported on your deviceBBC Panorama has obtained a 999 call, made by a family who broke down on a smart motorway
In the five years before the road was converted into a smart motorway there were just 72 near misses. In the five years after, there were 1,485. There are currently 200 miles of smart motorway and another 300 miles are due to be converted by 2025. He said:"We absolutely have to have these as safe or safer than regular motorways or we shouldn't have them at all."
Nationally, motorists currently have to wait an average of 17 minutes to be spotted, and a further 17 minutes before they are rescued. But when the scheme was expanded across the country, the safety refuges were placed further apart. On some sections, they are 2.5 miles apart. Highways England said the plans to expand smart motorways were approved by ministers and that it was working to gather the facts about safety.
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