National Highways ‘recognise concern’ after 3 M4 crashes in one week

The incidents occurred between January 7 and January 11 and resulted in the traffic death of an elderly pensioner. Two of these incidents were multi-vehicle collisions and one occurred between a car and a pedestrian. On January 7, the eastbound carriageway between junction 14 and junction 15 was closed after a pedestrian was struck whilst attempting to cross the carriageway.

This occurred at 9:40 pm on January 7 and the motorway was closed off for several hours during an investigation. On January 10, police closed the M4 Westbound between J12 and J13 following a serious collision from J12 A4 Bath Road (Theale) to J13 A34 (Chieveley / Newbury). The third incident happened around 4 am on Thursday, January 11 when a Mercedes Lorry and a van were involved in a serious crash.

Police released an appeal for dash cam footage of the incident after a man was rushed to hospital with serious and life-threatening injuries. Following these incidents, the Chronicle approached National Highways who said that they would be working with the local community on future safety improvements. The National Highways spokesperson said: “Safety is National Highway’s top priority, and we are committed to safety on the M4 as we are on all of our roads.

The stretch of road generally performs well on safety, nevertheless, we are never complacent and recognise the concern that people have expressed. “We’ll continue to keep safety on the M4 under continually review and work with the local community on any future safety improvements.” The latest figures show that in 2022 there were 37 slight incidents, 13 serious incidents, and one fatal collision between two cars on the M4 across Berkshire.

The M4 is one of many motorway networks that was originally proposed on the list of potential smart motorways or ‘All-lane running’ motorways.