153 drivers passed broken down car on motorway minutes before tragedy
Nargis Begum tragically died after a Mercedes ploughed into a car being driven by her husband on the M1 northbound on September, 9 2018.
A total of 153 drivers passed by a stopped car on the motorway without calling emergency services before a horror crash killed a woman.
Nargis Begum tragically died after a Mercedes ploughed into a car being driven by her husband on the M1 northbound on September, 9 2018.
Nargis had left the car after it lost power whilst on a section of the road near to Woodall Services, South Yorkshire. The driver, her husband, managed to street it of the carriageway after it came to a half in a live lane, Yorkshire Live reports.
According to a prevention of future deaths report issued by Senior Coroner Nicola Mundy in 2022, and published on June 18, 2025, the car was not known to have any defects, and had been serviced.
When it came to a stop, however, the offside wheels of the car remained on the road in lane one of the motorway. Nargis, left the car and rested on the barrier, close to the car. The coroner states that just 16 minutes and 21 seconds later, a Mercedes car crashed into the rear of the car, crashing into the 62-year-old and leading to her death.
The report found that in that 16 minutes and 21 second, 153 drivers passed by the stopped car but none of them alerted Highways England/ National Highways, or the emergency services.
One witness the coroner spoke to stated he had discussed calling National Highways with his partner, but thought cameras on the motorway would detect the stopped car.
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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.
After investigating, 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 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.
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