Wife died after police not told when car broke down in live M1 motorway lane

More than 150 drivers passed by a stopped car on the motorway without calling the authorities - before a horror crash led to the death of a mum.

The vehicle in which Nargis Begum, 62, was travelling broke down on a section of the All Lanes Running SMART motorway of the M1 in South Yorkshire. Her husband, 69-year-old Mohammed Bashir, pulled over to the hard shoulder on the northbound carriageway but the offside wheels of the vehicle remained on the road in the first lane of the motorway.

Some 16 minutes and 21 seconds later - after 153 other cars had passed - a Mercedes crashed into the rear of the stationary car, propelling it into Nargis and causing her fatal injuries. None of the 153 drivers alerted Highways England/National Highways, or the emergency services, Mrs Begum's inquest heard yesterday.

One witness the coroner spoke to said he had discussed calling National Highways with his partner, but thought cameras on the motorway would detect the stopped car. The coroner investigated the stationary vehicle detection technology, and heard evidence that it was believed it would detect 80% or more of stationary vehicles in a timely fashion.

But Mrs Begum, from Darnall, Sheffield, succumbed to injuries sustained by the impact after the Mercedes ploughed into her car on the M1 which, in some sections, is still a SMART motorway.

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After investigating Mrs Begum's tragedy, the coroner said there were three matters of concern for Highways England to take action on. These were the "lack of public understanding regarding the need for them to call National Highways should they identify a problem on the motorway network", the lack of emphasis on the importance of the responsibility of road users to alert the authorities of problems like stationary cars and the lack of a priority for this message despite public information during the SMART motorways rollout.

National Highways responded to Yorkshire Live's coverage by saying: "Mrs Begum’s death was a tragedy, and our sympathies remain with her family and friends. National Highways is the Government-owned company, sponsored by the Department for Transport (DfT), charged with operating, maintaining and improving England's motorways and major A-roads. Responsibility for local roads rests with local highway authorities and the road network in other parts of the UK rests with the devolved administrations."

They say the government published a 'Smart Motorway Safety Evidence Stocktake and Action Plan' in March 2020 which sought to increase safety, and that National Highways had published reports in 2021 and 2022 showing the action they had taken towards achieving this.

They said there was an ongoing programme of road safety activity intended to make roads safer, including a section on breakdown advice, and that action needed to be taken in wider consultation with others.

The response added: "We worked with stakeholders to launch England’s first major campaign, in 2021, to raise awareness of the eCall or 'SOS' button function, which increasing numbers of newer cars come with and which can be used to call for help, by the driver or someone else needing help, if a situation requires emergency services."

Mrs Begum died on September 9, 2018 after her husband's Nissan Qashqai car, which had no safety defects and had been serviced, lost power suddenly, Doncaster Coroner's Court heard.