Huw Merriman, the chairman of the transport committee, said more evidence was needed before further smart motorways are opened “because lives have been lost and many motorists feel unsafe using them”.

MPs also delivered a veiled criticism of Mr Shapps’s insistence that data shows “smart motorways are as safe as or safer than conventional ones”.

They pointed out that the benchmark of five years of safety data had only been collected on around a quarter – 29 miles – of all lane running smart motorways on which the hard shoulder is always live.

The report said the current safety statistics were “limited and volatile” and no new smart motorways should open until five years of research had been compiled on all existing stretches.

MPs also called for new emergency refuge areas to be created on existing smart motorways so the maximum distance between them is reduced from 1.6 miles to one mile.

The report stopped short of calling for smart motorways to be scrapped altogether but urged ministers to consider changing to “controlled” versions where the hard shoulder is back in use and the speed limit varied to manage congestion.

Claire Mercer, who set up Smart Motorways Kill after her husband Jason died on the M1 after stopping in a live lane, said: “I dread to think what tragedy will make ministers wake up to what every motorists knows – smart motorways kill and Highways England staff know they cannot spot stranded vehicles.”

A spokesman for the Department for Transport said it would “consider” MPs’ findings, adding: “We recognise that improvements have not always been made as quickly as they could have been in the past but, as the committee has set out, the Transport Secretary is absolutely committed to making smart motorways as safe as possible, including committing £500 million on upgrades and the faster rollout of stopped vehicle detection.”