Nargis Begum: Sheffield family wants action after coroner reveals new concerns over smart motorway failings

Nargis Begum, aged 62, was fatally injured in a crash after the vehicle she was a passenger in broke down on a stretch of the M1 near Sheffield, classed as an all lanes running smart motorway (ALR), which have no hard shoulder.

In a prevention of future deaths report following an inquest into Mrs Begum’s death, coroner Nicola Mundy said there was a “lack of public understanding” regarding the need for people to call National Highways if they spotted a stranded vehicle.

The mum-of-five and grandmother-of-nine’s family are now appealing for action. Ms Mundy has written to National Highways telling it to take action to increase public awareness of the roads to prevent future deaths.

She said that despite advertising campaigns across TV, radio and social media, there had been “a lack of emphasis” around how road users had a “responsibility to alert the authorities to such problems.” National Highways had not appeared to treat raising public awareness as a “priority” and the messaging did not appear “to have effectively reached the public,” Ms Mundy said.

No drivers reported breakdown

It comes after more than 150 vehicles passed Nargis’ vehicle but none reported the breakdown to authorities before the fatal collision. The coroner’s comments have been welcomed by Nargis’ family and their legal team at Irwin Mitchell, and National Highways now has until November 11 to outline what measure it will take to reduce deaths on smart motorways.

Christopher Kardahji, the road accident lawyer at Irwin Mitchell who representing Nargis’ family said: “The issues around smart motorways safety are well documented and have been brought into question once again. The last four years and trying to come to terms with Nargis’ death has been incredibly difficult for her family.

“Each smart motorway casualty isn’t just a statistic. Behind every number is a story of human tragedy, with what happened to Nargis the starkest reminder of this. Sadly we continue to hear too many first-hand accounts of how families have been ripped apart following collisions on these roads which cover some of the busiest routes in the country.

National Highways

“While it’s too late for Nargis’ family we welcome the coroner’s comments and the need for National Highways to take urgent action to improve the safety of these roads. The prevention of future deaths order adds to the groundswell of opinion that smart motorway safety has been compromised and that more still needs to be done to protect road users.”

“We’re determined to do everything we can to support Nargis’ family and others we represent so no stone is left unturned in improving road safety. Our focus now turns to supporting them in the civil courts to provide them with all of the answers they deserve,” he added.

Mrs Begum, of Darnall, Sheffield, died in September 2018 after the Nissan Qashqai she was a passenger in broke down on the M1. She and her husband Mohammed Bashir, 69, who had been driving, exited their vehicle and were waiting for help to arrive when another vehicle then collided with their vehicle causing the Nissan to plough into Nargis.

The inquest was told that the Nissan had been stranded in lane one for more than 16 minutes with its hazards lights on before the other vehicle smashed into it. During that time 153 drivers had passed the stationary Nissan but nobody in any of the vehicles had alerted Highways England – as National Highways was known at the time – or the emergency services.

Driver thought cameras would pick up problems

One driver giving evidence at the hearing said he had been driving for more than 50 years and didn’t realise drivers had a responsibility to alert the authorities to a stranded vehicle. They believed cameras monitoring the roads would pick up stranded vehicles.

One of Mrs Begum’s children Saima Aktar, 40, arrived at the scene to find paramedics trying to save her mum. She said: “That hundreds of people drove past Mum before she was killed but didn’t report she and Dad needed help is truly staggering. In no way do we blame them. What it highlights is the shocking nature in which motorists have been allowed to drive on these roads for years without proper safety awareness and being made aware of how they operate and what they need to do in case of an emergency.

“While there may be cameras on these roads what happened to Mum shows people can’t rely on these. These cameras may not be watching you or the road so we urge people to take ownership of a situation they may come across and report it. It’s better for the authorities to have to deal with a lot of calls than none. It’s difficult to think that if people knew this information four years ago Mum may still be alive.”

“Our family have had to go through the most unimaginable pain for this detail to come to light. Nothing will ever replace the hurt and anger we feel but it’s vital that there’s now more public awareness of these roads. We just hope that by continuing to speak out we can help contribute to lasting change to protect others,” she added.

Jason Mercer

Irwin Mitchell is also representing Claire Mercer, of Broom, Rotherham, whose husband Jason, 44, was killed in a separate crash on the M1 near Sheffield classed as a smart motorway.

Irwin Mitchell is investigating bringing a separate judicial review against National Highways on Claire’s behalf calling for the hard shoulder to be reinstated on all existing ALRs.

A lack of previous public consultation around the introduction of the roads was identified in the 220 page report which took transport planning specialists at Royal HaskoningDHV more than a year to research.

National Highways’ Chief Executive Nick Harris said: “Mrs Begum’s death was a tragedy and our sympathies remain with her family and friends. We have an ongoing programme of road safety campaign activity, intended to provide important guidance to drivers to make journeys safer, easier and more reliable.

“I have also set work in train to explore extra actions we and partners might take to further increase awareness among the public of what they can do if they spot someone in difficulty on any road. We remain committed to helping drivers and their passengers be even safer and feel safe on all our roads, including smart motorways.”