Sheffield: Smart motorway widow campaigns at police HQ

A widow whose husband died on a smart motorway has said she will challenge a decision not to charge National Highways with corporate manslaughter.

Jason Mercer died in a crash on the M1 near Meadowhall in June 2019.

Claire Mercer has been campaigning outside South Yorkshire Police headquarters on what would have been her husband's 47th birthday.

National Highways said smart motorways were the least-deadly roads in the country.

Mr Mercer, from Rotherham, died alongside Alexandru Murgeanu, when they were hit by a lorry near Sheffield.

They had stopped on the inside lane of a section of smart motorway to exchange details after a minor collision.

Mrs Mercer maintains National Highways are partly responsible for her husband's death.

"They are in charge of the roads," she said. "They sign massive contracts with private companies on the back of these roads.

"And yet they don't owe us a duty of care. It just seems absolute madness. We want that decision analysed."

Mrs Mercer was speaking outside South Yorkshire Police headquarters where she had organised a screen to show a picture of her husband on what would have been his 47th birthday.

It was the second year she had campaigned outside the force's headquarters on Mr Mercer's birthday.

Last month, South Yorkshire Police announced that National Highways will not face corporate manslaughter charges over the crash.

That decision followed their analysis of another crash on a smart section of the M1 which led to the death of 62-year-old grandmother Nargis Begum.

"South Yorkshire Police spent about 10 months looking into corporate manslaughter charges but, for very unsatisfactory reasons, decided to end their investigation," Mrs Mercer said.

"Me and a lot of other people don't agree that that was right."

Sheffield coroner David Urpeth decided that Mr Mercer and Mr Murgeanu, 22, were unlawfully killed, and said: "it is clear a lack of hard shoulder contributed to this tragedy."

Rotherham coroner Nicola Mundy referred Highways England, who have since been taken over by National Highways, to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

The CPS was asked to consider if corporate manslaughter charges were appropriate in relation to the death of Ms Begum, near Woodall Services, in September 2018, prompting the police to examine both crashes.

Mrs Mercer said: "If it had been in a factory or some other environment there would be no question.

"I'm not giving up until we get the hard shoulder back, and we really are getting more people behind us when they learn more and more about exactly what these roads are and how we've had the wool pulled over our eyes."

In January, the government said the rollout of smart motorways had been paused amid safety concerns until five years' worth of data has been collected to assess whether or not they are safe for drivers.

National Highways chief executive Nick Harris said it cared "passionately" about the people who use the road network and it worked fully with the police.

National Highways say that smart motorways are the safest roads in the country in terms of fatality rates.

It said fatal casualty rates were a third higher on conventional motorways, per mile travelled, than on smart motorways.

"Our deepest sympathies remain with the families of Jason Mercer, Alexandru Murgeanu and Nargis Begum," Mr Harris added.

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