A biker has blamed smart motorways for a life-changing accident which left him with horrific injuries including one of his legs needing to be rebuilt.
Jack Gallowtree, 33, said his nightmare crash unfolded as he travelled on the M6 southbound from Manchester on April 26. The Wolverhampton model and tattooist’s motorbike started to suddenly lose power near junction 18 and realised he had to get to safety.
What could have been the hard shoulder was being used by two lorries as a legal lane so he decided he need to go in front of them to reach the side of the carriageway before his bike stopped. But as he reached the side of the road one of his wheels left the tarmac with disastrous consequences.
He bucked to the left at 60mph before crashing, shattering his left leg so badly emergency surgery needed a skin graft and left it a centimetre shorter. Jack said: ‘Smart motorways are death traps whose existence is completely nonsensical.
‘I could have pulled in, could have took the tools off my bike and checked if I could have made any adjustments, if it couldn’t be resolved, I could have waited for breakdown recovery.
Read More: Motorcyclist demands smart motorways are ditched after suffering horrific accident on M6
My brother Paul has been on this case for years as someone who has spent decades travelling the motorways repairing buses and trucks. This is one of several emails he wrote to the Transport Secretary – it followed a pledge by Grant Shapps to review the dangers (it never happened because ‘smart motorways’ are part of the global Smart Grid)
Good Morning Grant,
Further to my emails earlier this week I would like to thank you for your stance on stopping any further rollout of ‘SMART’- DUMB motorways pending a review of their safety. Let me advise you on the statement that if they cannot be made as safe or safer than conventional motorways they will be scrapped. The simple answer to that is they can’t so scrap them NOW.
I will explain why and don’t be fooled by DUMB and DUMBER (Highways England) that their stopped vehicle radar technology is the answer. IT IS NOT. Knowing that a vehicle has stopped sooner will not reduce the risk in those precious seconds after a vehicle comes to a stop in a live lane. You have to understand the risk to life is instantaneous once a vehicle becomes stranded even if a lane closure was instigated immediately you will still have a number of vehicles already within the closed section who will not see the sign until they get to the next gantry by which time it could be too late.
You are in a position now where people’s lives are in your hands as I am in my job when dealing with stranded coaches in dangerous locations. What you need to ask yourself is would you like to put yourself in the position of auditioning for a funeral just because your car had happened to suffer a breakdown or indeed would you put your family in this position.Well that is exactly what has been done to every family that uses the motorway. It needs to STOP and it needs to STOP now before any more are killed.
Obviously it is going to take time to reinstate the EMERGENCY LANE/HARDSHOULDER, but we could start by closing lane one on smart motorways where possible on certain sections although we have to be careful we do not introduce any more confusion for the motorist which has already been done by this ludicrous design.
Think about it from a common sense point of view, mate. Then get that clown running Highways England and everyone else involved in all the lies and propaganda, and there has been plenty, sacked. In a sane world they would be up for corporate manslaughter at the very least. My claim that these have been MURDER BY DESIGN is a very valid one. Thank you and I am hoping you will make the right decision.
Paul Icke
