Protest marchers against smart motorways are carrying 38 coffins to Parliament Square in London

Action group Smart Motorways Kill will be carrying full size coffins to Parliament Square today (November 1) to protest against the new smart motorways.

The protest will be led by the widow of a man who died on a smart motorway near Sheffield.

Claire Mercer's husband Jason was killed on the M1 in 2019 after being hit by a lorry. He had had been involved in a minor collision and had stopped along with the other vehicle. The motorway had no hard shoulder, but did have a refuge lane further up the road.

The protesters will gather at Belvedere Road in South East London shortly (1.30pm) and march to Parliament Square where they will hear speeches.

Each of the 38 coffins represents a person who died in the five years up to 2019.

They will then carry the coffins from Parliament Square to the Department of Transport.

A post on the Smart Motorways Kill website says ****WE WILL NOT BE BLOCKING ANY ROADS OR GLUING OURSELVES TO ANYTHING***

The group stress they will 'not be creating a public nuisance. Our aim is to protect the public not annoy them'.

The group hopes that the impact of seeing coffin after coffin carried across Westminster bridge will 'drive our message home'.