The Government is said to be poised to overhaul Britain's deadliest motorways as it is revealed 38 people have died on the roads in just five years.
The 'smart motorway' system is set to undergo review after the series of fatal crashes were linked to what critics say are dangerous flaws in the network.
An eight-year-old boy from Leicester is among the dozens who have died on Britain's killer motorways.
A coroner warned of the dangers of the motorways after Dev Naran was killed in May 2018 when his granddad's stranded car was struck by a lorry on a hard shoulder of the M6 after it was opened to moving traffic.
Dev's grieving mother later told media her boy's death was 'preventable' as she blasted Highways England for not having the technology to spot stranded vehicles, and for scrapping the hard shoulders broken down drivers use as refuges while they await rescue.
She was at her other son's bedside in hospital as doctors feared he may die due to his severe epilepsy when she received the heartbreaking news.
Dev had been travelling in the car with his granddad to see them to say goodbye to his brother in hospital.
But an hour later distraught Meera Naran found herself with both her boys in the same hospital.
Only one survived. Ms Naran told the BBC last year following an inquest into Dev's death that the smart motorways' dynamic shoulders were a threat to people's lives.
BBC Panorama will report the findings tonight as Transport Grant Shapps admits they could be safer.
But critics have told the programme the government's proposed changes don't go far enough.
Smart motorways don't have a hard shoulder, meaning drivers who break down can be trapped among the high-speed traffic.
They were introduced in order to improve traffic flow in the most congested parts of the UK's motorway network by using the hard shoulder as an extra lane.
The BBC has uncovered figures that reveal on one section of the M25 near misses have increased 20-fold since the hard shoulder was taken away.
Panorama will tonight report the government's plans to overhaul the smart motorway system that are yet to be officially announced.
The plan is said to include a radar detection system, more emergency laybys, and end the dynamic hard shoulders system, which can switch between being operating a shoulder and for use by live traffic.
The radar proposal would see the expansion of a car detection system already in use on two parts of the M25, which spots vehicles as soon as drivers break down.
According to the BBC, motorists nationwide wait an average of 17 minutes to be spotted and a further 17 minutes before they are rescued.
An estimated 200 miles of smart motorway already exists, and another 300 miles is being coverted.
Critics have told Panorama smart motorways are dangerous ahead of tonight's programme, 'Britain's Killer Motorways'.
Mr Shapps told the programme: “We absolutely have to have these as safe or safer as regular motorways or we shouldn’t have them at all.”
According to official figures obtained by the BBC, in the five ears before the M25 was converted to a smart motorway there were72 near misses.
In the five years after the change, there were 1,485.
The former government minister who introduced smart motorways has told the BBC he was misled on their safety.
Sir Mike Penning had agreed to the expansion in 2010 after a successful trial on the M42 near Birmingham, which had gone well because the motorway already had emergency stopping points for drivers located every 600 metres.
However many other motorways on the network have fewer stopping points, with some reportedly 2.5 miles in some stretches.
He is leading an all-party group of MPs who will this Tuesday public a report that will accuse Highways England of carelessness over the smart motorway rollout.
Sir Mike tells the BBC tonight: “They are endangering people’s lives.
“There are people that are being killed and seriously injured on these roads, and it should never have happened.”
Highways England told the programme the roll-out plan was approved by ministers and it is working on smart motorway safety.
Panorama, ‘Britain’s Killer Motorways?’ on BBC One at 8.30pm tonight
