Image: PA
The rollout of smart motorways, where the hard shoulder has been permanently converted into a fourth lane, should be stopped, a group of MPs says.
The all-party group backed campaigners who say having no hard shoulder puts motorists and recovery workers at risk.
England has more than 100 miles (161km) of All Lane Running (ALR) smart motorways, with 225 miles more planned.
MP Tracey Crouch said the rollout should be paused, but Highways England said ALR smart motorways were safe.
Smart motorways work by using the hard shoulder as a fourth lane, with variable speed limits to control the flow of traffic.
There are three main types of smart motorways in the UK:
• controlled
• dynamic hard shoulder - where the hard shoulder is used as a lane in busy traffic
• ALR - where the hard shoulder is permanently a fourth lane
It is the ALR schemes which are the most common and that are causing the greatest concern.
Figures from Highways England, obtained by the RAC via a Freedom of Information request, show that at the end of 2017 there were 100 miles of ALR motorway in England.
Last year, on these stretches there were 16 crashes across all lanes which caused injury involving stationary vehicles, such as broken-down cars.
The figures also show that over the same period, there were 29 similar crashes involving vehicles parked up on the hard shoulder for the whole of the rest of the network in England - which includes about 1,800 miles of road.
Source: BBC