DRIVERS’ lives were feared to be at risk yesterday after smart motorway systems broke down.
The controversial technology — where the hard shoulder is used as an extra live lane — failed for two hours across huge parts of the country.
Signs and signals froze while broken-down vehicles were unable to be detected, potentially leaving motorists to the mercy of speeding traffic.
AA president Edmund King said: “Drivers in dangerous live-lane situations are left as sitting ducks.
"Perhaps it is now time to go back to the drawing board and totally redesign these roads as drivers have lost faith in their safety.”
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RAC head of roads policy Nicholas Lyes called the breakdown, which affected the whole of England apart from the East and South East, “deeply concerning”.
National Highways said it was “urgently investigating an unplanned outage”.
No major incidents were reported.
The Government has already paused the rollout of smart motorways for five years amid safety fears.
