SAFETY concerns have been raised over the multi-millionpound improvements made to the M3.

For a number of months, a 13.4 mile stretch of the M3 between Basingstoke and London had a restricted 50mph speed limit while a £174million scheme to upgrade the carriageway was completed.

A fourth lane was opened at the beginning of July but after months of the new system, at least one driver still believes that the loss of a hard shoulder could potentially put lives at risk.

Les Sennett, 84, of Merton Road, South View recently broke down on the M25, but believes if he was making the journey on the M3 when his vehicle broke down it could have been a very different story.

He said: “Because of these new so called ‘smart lanes’ there isn’t a hard shoulder along the whole carriageway. So what if you break down and you can’t get to one of these emergency zones? It is just suicidal.

“If I were to break down, and the message isn’t sent out quickenough, what’s going to stop a lorry ploughing into the back of me? And there is no way you are going to want to get out of your vehicle.

“I believe they haven’t really thought about this logistically and the design needs to be reconsidered.”

Highways England is trialling highly visible orange coloured emergency zones which will be easily spotted by motorists.

A spokesman for Highways England said: “Our traffic officers work around the clock to help people who do come into difficulty on our motorways.

“Smart motorways are central to the modernisation of England’s motorways. They provide additional capacity by making the hard shoulder available as a traffic lane, provide emergency areas for drivers to stop and use variable speed limits to smooth traffic. Our evidence shows that they are as safe as other motorways, some of the safest roads in the world.

“We recognise motorists need to be confident using smart motorways, and are already making improvements such as improving signs and painting emergency areas bright orange.”