A widow whose husband died on a smart motorway in Yorkshire has vowed to “keep fighting”, despite being told she should not sue the organisation that is responsible for them.

Jason Mercer, 44, and Alexandru Murgeanu, 22, were hit by a lorry and killed on a stretch of M1 which did not have a hard shoulder, after they stopped in the left-hand lane to exchange insurance details following a minor collision near Sheffield, in June 2019.

Mr Mercer's wife Claire has been looking to take legal action, because she believes that National Highways should accept some responsibility for the deaths.

But lawyers have told the 46-year-old she should not sue National Highways, as she is unlikely to win when the organisation has already explained that using limited resources to monitor CCTV footage of the motorway 24 hours a day would not have been feasible.

Claire Mercer has been looking to take legal action after her husband was killed on a smart motorway which had no hard shoulder

It comes after South Yorkshire Police said the organisation will not face criminal charges, because it “did not owe road users a relevant duty of care” under the terms of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007.

However, Ms Mercer said she will not give up and her lawyers are preparing to take National Highways to the High Court, by challenging the decision to roll out smart motorways with a judicial review.

“I’ve given up my career as an engineering buyer to concentrate on this full time,” she said. “I’m not giving up and I’m not going away. Jason is still dead, so I can’t just stop.

“I’m going to keep fighting until we have hard shoulders back on every single motorway across the country.”

Jason Mercer, 44, left, died alongside Alexandru Murgeanu, 22, from Mansfield, in a smart motorway crash.

It comes after Coroner David Urpeth said Mr Mercer’s and Mr Murgeanu’s deaths could have been avoided if there had been a hard shoulder, at an inquest in January 2021.

He also called for a review into the safety of smart motorways without a hard shoulder, claiming that they carry “an ongoing risk of future deaths”.

Prezemyslaw Zbigniew Szuba, who was driving the lorry which ploughed into the two men, was jailed for 10 months after admitting two counts of causing death by driving without due care and attention.

Duncan Smith, National Highways Executive Director of Operations, said: “Our thoughts continue to be with Ms Mercer for her loss.

"We take our responsibilities towards road safety very seriously, and care passionately about the people who use our roads.

“The rollout of new smart motorways not in construction has been paused, and we will continue to make our network as safe as it can possibly be.”

Eight months before the fatal collision, Nargis Begum died on the M1 near Woodall Services, after the Nissan Qashqai she was a passenger in broke down.

The 62-year-old grandmother and her husband Mohammed Bashir, 69, waited for help by the car for around 17 minutes before another vehicle collided with it.

At an inquest in September, Coroner Nicola Mundy ruled that the lack of a hard shoulder had contributed to her death.

Last week, Rotherham MP Sarah Champion urged the Government to abandon the rollout of smart motorways that have no hard shoulders, claiming they are “death traps”.

But Roads Minister Richard Holden said smart motorways are “far safer” than other roads as they are constantly monitored with a network of cameras and stopped vehicle detection technology.

According to the Minister, 75 per cent of stopped vehicles are detected within 20 seconds and around 90 per cent are detected within a minute, but National Highways is “working hard to deliver further improvements”.

Last year, the Government announced it would pause the roll out of new all-lane running smart motorway schemes, until five years of safety data is available, but said construction on existing schemes would be completed.

Smart motorways: Widow of driver killed on M1 vows to 'keep fighting' after legal setback