M4 Hard Shoulder to Have a Fourth Lane

The M4 Hard Shoulder, which is to be turned into a fourth lane, throws up many safety concerns from the perspective of planners, the Chair of the Commons Transport Committee, and road users. The fourth lane, which is scheduled to be implemented along a thirty two mile stretch of road connecting Hayes, West London and Theale, to Berkshire, has been given the seal of approval from Transport Secretary Chris Grayling and effectively means the loss of the hard shoulder, in order to make room for the controversial fourth lane. Labour’s Louise Ellman, who currently chairs the Commons Transport Committee, has expressed safety concerns of the forthcoming plans, particularly as it takes away a refuge point for broken down vehicles and their recovery. This means that any broken down vehicles would be left on the carriageway, posing a risk to other road users. It also poses a risk for emergency and service personnel.

Accidents on the motorway are common and subsequently, many road users have to make a motorway accident claim, through accident claim companies in the Birmingham area.

Accidents range from small accidents to vehicles and people, to more serious accidents – the risk of a fourth lane of traffic without the use of a hard shoulder has the potential to increase the overall accident risk.

When an accident occurs, the hard shoulder is an effective way for emergency vehicles to get to the scene as quickly as possible. Taking away the hard shoulder, means that emergency vehicles have to negotiate their way through queuing traffic, which inevitably puts lives at risk.

Whilst improving and expanding the motorway network is critical in order to manage the ever increasing travel flow effectively and safely, unfortunately this particular plan seems to have ignored the safety implications of taking away a hard shoulder on a busy stretch of road. The safety of every single road user is paramount in ensuring that accidents on the motorway are minimised and that any improvement seeks to consider every element – this seems to ignore the genuine concerns of the Chair of the Commons Transport Committee and planners, whose only concern is that the motorway is a safe place for all road users and emergency personnel.

There appears to be flagrant disregard in relation to the overall safety of road users by allowing the M4 to have a fourth lane instead of a hard shoulder. It will therefore be of little surprise if there is an increase in accidents on the motorway in this particular stretch, and resultant motorway accident claims.

It is hoped that the concerns of planners and Commons Transport Committee will be taken into account in order to ensure that the concerns of all those involved are taken into account and addressed accordingly.