M4 Smart Motorway opening could be delayed for additional safety measures

The government has confirmed no new smart motorways will open unless they have radar technology to spot broken down vehicles.

The announcement came today from transport secretary Grant Schapps who said plans to retrofit the Stopped Vehicle Detection (SVD) System will be accelerated by Highways England.

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Mr Shapps' action plan includes a deadline of rolling out SVD across the entire network by March 2023, but now says this work will be done by September this year.

This could delay the opening of the part of the M4, where a smart motorway project has been going on for a number of years.

New projects for the M25 and M3 were also given permission last year.

The project, which will eventually see the motorway between Theale and Hayes and Harlington in London converted into a smart motorway, was due to finish in the spring.

There have been major concerns over safety on the motorways which have been completed.

The controversy is over the conversion of the hard shoulder into a "live lane" to allow more capacity.

Lanes are closed if the breakdowns are spotted, but there have been a number of incidents where lorries have ploughed into stationary vehicles.