Smart motorway drivers have been hit with criminal convictions and more than £100,000 in fines, court costs and victim surcharges this year for ignoring “red X” lane closure signs, research has found.
Dozens of errant motorists are hauled before the magistrates’ courts of England and Wales every month after being caught driving in a motorway lane that has been temporarily shut down.
The red X signs can be triggered automatically or by National Highways, to close a lane when there has been a crash, a vehicle is stranded, or workers are in the carriageway.
Cameras dotted across the Smart motorway network catch the offenders, and many thousands are issued with £100 fixed penalty fines.
But Press Association research has shown that some drivers face a full criminal prosecution for breaking the lane-closure rules.
Since the start of this year, court records show 378 drivers have been convicted of ignoring the red X signs after being caught out by the automatic cameras, leading to fines totalling £48,409, costs of £33,255, and £20,183 in victim surcharges.
Most guilty motorists are also issued with three penalty points, some ending up with a driving ban if they already have points on their licences.
The RAC said it was “concerning” that drivers were continuing to flout the red X rules, which were first introduced with the advent of Smart motorways more than a decade ago.
“The signs play an absolutely fundamental role in keeping people safe,” said RAC road safety spokesman Rod Dennis.
“This is especially the case on those where the hard shoulder has been removed permanently, as the safety of a driver who has broken down in a live lane will depend entirely on other people reacting to the red X by moving to another lane.
“We implore drivers to take heed of these signs whenever and wherever they see them – not doing so might very well be putting people’s lives in danger.”
Last week, 12 motorists were convicted of ignoring the signs, in private court hearings dealt with under the fast-track single justice procedure.
School governor Paul Hollowell, 56, from Warrington, Cheshire, wrote to the magistrate to admit the offence, and said he tried to avoid a full criminal prosecution by agreeing to pay a fine and signing up to a driver safety awareness course.
But he ended up in court anyway after his laptop ran out of battery before the online course had finished, so he failed to meet the requirements of an out-of-court settlement.
“I chose the driver awareness course so I can learn from the mistake and avoid such driving error in the future,” he wrote.
Mr Hollowell was fined £384 by Manchester Magistrates’ Court, he received three penalty points on his licence, and he must also pay £120 costs and a £154 victim surcharge.
Miles Luckett, 33, from Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, said he saw the red X sign was showing because of a broken-down van as he joined the M1 at junction 15a in Northampton at about 1.30pm on February 20.
“Due to traffic conditions in the adjacent live lane at the moment of joining, I made a split-second judgment call that an immediate sharp lane change posed a safety risk,” he wrote.
“While I was attempting to react safely, I fully accept that a red X is a mandatory instruction and deeply regret my misjudgment in not slowing down sooner to merge.”
The data from the Smart motorway cameras show the red X had been showing on the inside lane for more than four and a half minutes when Mr Luckett’s BMW, and other vehicles, passed by.
He was issued with a £72 fine by Boston Magistrates’ Court, three penalty points, and a £29 victim surcharge.
Vauxhall driver Christopher Harvey, 60, from Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire, and van driver Andreas Charalambous, 65, from Southgate, north London, were both caught out within 30 minutes of each other as they used the M25 near junction 18 on February 9.
Harvey told Stevenage Magistrates’ Court that there was “no obstruction in front of me” and he could not understand how he could have avoided the offence.
He was fined £177 after entering a guilty plea, given three penalty points, and ordered to pay £120 costs and a £71 victim surcharge.
Charalambous said the lane to his right was “very busy” when he saw the lane closure sign, and it “took a while before there was a sufficient and safe clear distance to be able to move lanes”.
At Stevenage Magistrates’ Court he was given a £40 fine, three penalty points, £120 costs, and a £16 victim surcharge.
