Driver guilty over fatal smart motorway crash

A van driver who crashed into a broken-down car in a smart motorway's outside lane has been found guiltyof causing death by careless driving.

Barry O'Sullivan was driving on the M4 in Berkshire when he hit the stationary Nissan Micra, which burst into flames with Pulvinder Dhillon inside it, on 7 March 2022.

Dhillon, 68, from London, who was a passenger in the car, was killed.

O'Sullivan, 45, of Wixams, Bedfordshire, said there was nothing to warn him of the car on the motorway, with signs and alerts defective for days before the crash.

Prosecutors at Reading Crown Court said any competent driver should still have avoided the Micra, owned by Dhillon's daughter, Rajpal Dene, on the motorway westbound between junctions 11 and 12.

But the defence argued that an accident was always likely to happen and that O'Sullivan was failed by the smart motorway system.

O'Sullivan was found to have been driving his Ford Transit Connect van at about 77mph in the moments before the crash at about 08:30 GMT.

Footage taken in the moments before the impact showed multiple motorists driving around the marooned car.

Prosecutor Ian Hope said O'Sullivan "essentially ploughed straight into the back of the stationary Nissan, with there being no apparent avoiding action to the naked eye."

O'Sullivan, who had a clean driving licence and showed no trace of alcohol or drugs, suffered serious injuries himself and was in hospital for four months following the incident.

Alerts from radars to detect stopped vehicles had not been working on the M4 between junctions 8/9 to 12 for five days before the crash, the court heard.

Smart motorways use technology to regulate traffic flow and ease congestion.

They also use the hard shoulder as an extra lane of traffic to increase capacity, but critics claim that has led to road deaths.

Instead of a continuous hard shoulder, there are refuges every mile.

The £814m project to install a 32-mile stretch of smart motorway, between junction 3 at Hayes and junction 12 at Theale in Berkshire, was completed in December 2022.

In April 2023, the Conservative government cancelled plans for all new smart motorways following safety and cost concerns.

A National Highways spokesperson said: "Any death on our roads is one too many and our thoughts are with the family and friends of Pulvinder Dhillon following this tragic incident.

"While nothing can ever compensate for their loss, the person responsible has been found guilty of driving carelessly."

O'Sullivan is due to be sentenced on 24 April.