PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Motorways: Safety (17 November 2021)

Since assuming office, the Secretary of State’s focus has been to ensure that Smart Motorways are safer than conventional motorways, committing an additional £500 million in infrastructure, technology and communications to make these roads safer.

We welcome the Transport Select Committee’s (TSC) report Rollout and safety of smart motorways, published on 2 November 2021, and its scrutiny. The Department will now consider its recommendations in detail, providing a formal response in due course. This is a serious piece of work which we will engage with closely in the months ahead. We are pleased that the TSC recognises that reinstating the hard shoulder on all all-lane running motorways could put more drivers and passengers at risk of death and serious injury and that we are right to focus on upgrading their safety.