Smart motorways: Go Left safety campaign 'outrageous', widow says

A widow has criticised a "foul" advert featuring two squashed flies giving smart motorway safety advice to the tune of a Pet Shop Boys song.

The official film, released this week, shows a pair of singers in fly costumes urging a driver to "go left".

Claire Mercer, whose husband was killed on a smart section of the M1, said she thought it was a "spoof" at first.

Highways England said the "light-hearted" advert was designed to deliver life-saving information.

The film shows a warning light appear on a driver's dashboard as he travels along a smart motorway.

Both flies, who appear to be squashed against the car's windscreen, break into a song based on the Pet Shop Boys' Go West, urging the motorist to leave at the next junction or "go left" and pull into an emergency refuge area.

A tweet of the campaign video by Highways England attracted a number of negative comments:

Mrs Mercer's husband Jason and another driver, Alexandru Murgeanu, were killed instantly when a lorry ploughed into them near junction 34 in South Yorkshire in June 2019.

Writing on Facebook, the 44-year-old, from Rotherham, said: "I thought it was a spoof. They had two people dressed as squashed flies on the windscreen - did they not see the analogy?

"What happened to our loved ones, without going into the details, they weren't in their vehicles when they were hit.

"This is a silly, bad joke about a serious and hurtful subject," she added.

South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Dr Alan Billings said he thought the advert was "insensitive" and "provocative".

Mike Wilson, Highways England chief highway engineer offered his "deepest sympathies" to those involved.

"We are determined to do all we can to make our roads as safe as possible.

"Although the tone of the campaign is light-hearted, it is designed to deliver life-saving information in an accessible and memorable way and to keep people safe," he added.

Mr Mercer, 44, and Mr Murgeanu, 22, from Mansfield in Nottinghamshire, had pulled over to exchange details of a minor collision when they were hit.

At the inquest, a coroner found the lack of a hard shoulder had contributed to their deaths.

Smart motorways, which use technology to maintain the flow of traffic and give information on overhead displays, have existed in England since 2002.

The all-lane-running version - which involves opening the hard shoulder permanently to drivers - began in 2014.

Another version uses a "dynamic hard shoulder", which opens and closes to traffic depending on congestion.

The Commons Transport Select Committee is investigating smart motorway safety.

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