Motorway madness: Smart roads 'are now more deadly' as a third of speed cameras have not worked for almost a YEAR

Smart motorways have been made 'more deadly' because highways chiefs have failed to fix more than 150 speed cameras for nearly a year, it can be revealed.

Ministers have admitted cameras enforcing speed limits across a staggering 440 miles of major roads in England have been out of action since December last year.

This represents one in ten miles of the country's Strategic Road Network (SRN), which includes all motorways and major A-roads. It is also more than a third of all cameras (400) across the entire motorway network.

Officials confirmed the 'anomaly' is affecting many miles of smart motorways, on which enforcement is particularly important because they have variable speed limits to prevent deaths and injuries.

Labour launched an independent review into the fiasco after faults with the 154 cameras first emerged in December 2025.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander deemed the failure to be so serious she launched the review the following month.

This was supposed to report back within 18 weeks, but it is yet to be published.

Ministers have admitted 154 speed cameras enforcing limits across 440 miles of major roads - including smart motorways - in England have been out of action since December last year 

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander deemed the failure to be so serious she launched a review in January, but it is yet to be published

Tory shadow transport minister Greg Smith said the failure had 'potentially made smart motorways even more deadly' 

Critics today called on ministers to 'get a grip' of the situation if they're serious about road safety and preventing injuries and deaths.

Tory shadow transport minister Greg Smith said: 'Labour's smart motorways aren't looking very smart when up to 440 miles are without functioning cameras.

'Ministers need to take responsibility, come clean about this failure and get the system working properly.

'It's clear that this has potentially made smart motorways even more deadly. Labour needs to get a grip.'

President of the AA, Edmund King, said: 'The review was commissioned in January, yet ten months later we are still waiting to see its conclusions.

'Motorists must have absolute confidence that motorway technology is accurate, reliable and properly tested, especially on 'smart' motorways that rely on technology and variable speeds.

'It is particularly concerning that the technical solution is apparently still undergoing testing almost a year after the problem was identified.

'We need action on what went wrong and what safeguards are being introduced to prevent similar failures.'

The RAC's road safety expert Rod Dennis added: 'Malfunctioning speed cameras on smart motorways do more than just let speeding drivers get away with breaking the law and endangering lives – they further undermine confidence in the very types of road we know drivers already have serious misgivings about.

'The safety of everyone using smart motorways depends on people sticking to variable speed limits.'

The shocking failure was laid bare in an answer to a written Parliamentary Question this week, in which transport minister Justin Madders was asked how many speed cameras had been fixed since the problem first emerged last December.

President of the AA, Edmund King, said the disclosure was 'particularly concerning' as 'the technical solution is apparently still undergoing testing almost a year after the problem was identified'

Thousands of drivers were wrongly issued speeding tickets before the faults were publicly declared last December 

Confirming it still hadn't been fixed, he said: 'The anomaly impacts 154 cameras on 10% (440 miles) of the Strategic Road Network (4,500 miles)...A solution to the technical anomaly has been developed and is undergoing thorough testing.'

He added that police were enforcing 'speed offences on the network via a range of tactics'.

However, critics point out that teams of officers cannot police the affected road stretches with mobile cameras to the same extent as 154 fixed cameras rolling 24/7.

When National Highways first announced the problem last December, it said it was down to how variable speed cameras were interacting with speed signs on A roads and motorways.

But it didn't reveal that the affected M-roads were smart motorways.

A software synchronization delay meant there was a delay of around ten seconds between speed cameras and variable speed signs on overhead gantries, meaning some drivers were incorrectly identified as speeding after the limit had changed.

It meant that on a road where the speed limit increases, a driver may see a sign saying 60mph, but the camera recording it was still working on the basis of a previous 40mph speed limit.

As a result, thousands of drivers were being wrongly issued speeding tickets. But nearly a year on, the problem hasn't been fixed and the cameras remain out of action.

Variable speed limits are used on smart motorways to slow down traffic during busy times to prevent collisions.

Enforcement is particularly important for preventing collisions on the roads because some smart motorways have their hard shoulder permanently removed to create an extra lane, meaning drivers who break down can be smashed into from behind.

The Daily Mail has campaigned for better smart motorway safety for several years, highlighting several arguably preventable deaths after motorists became stranded on the roads in live lanes of traffic.

A spokesman for National Highways, the quango responsible for running England's SRN, said: 'Speeding offences continue to be detected and prosecuted.

'A range of enforcement measures are in place to help keep road users safe.

'A fix for the impacted cameras is going through rigorous testing.'