A broken-down Volvo was crushed when a lorry ploughed into it on a ‘smart motorway’ where the hard shoulder was being used as the slow lane.Shocking pictures show the destruction caused to the rear of the vehicle after the smash on the M1 in the early hours of Tuesday. The car was travelling on the southbound carriageway between junctions 29 and 28 in Derbyshire when it broke down on the hard shoulder, being used as a slow lane.
A blue HGV travelling behind it failed to see it in time and smashed straight into the back of the stranded car. No one was injured. The force posted: ‘M1 South J29 to J28 overnight. Volvo breaks down in lane one. Lorry fails to see it and react in time and drives into it.
‘Good job there was no one sat in the back. Break down in a live lane? Get out, quickly, call 999. ‘This isn’t politics or victim blaming but a public safety message. Get out the car or suffer the consequences of others failings.’
Other drivers expressed their fury at smart motorways, branding them an ‘absolute death trap’.
Peter Walker wrote on social media: ‘Wow, they were very lucky. It’s bad enough breaking down and being on hard shoulder (was said to be the most dangerous place) but when no hard shoulder absolute death trap.’
Twitter user Alan Quincey added: ‘Not very smart motorway – there’s gonna be a major pile up sometime soon.’
