Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to reinstate the hard shoulder on SMART motorways while an investigation into the accidents that have occurred on SMART motorways is carried out.

On 2 November 2021, the Transport Select Committee published its report, The Rollout and Safety of Smart Motorways, which agreed that the Government was right to focus on upgrading the safety of All Lane Running smart motorways, rather than reinstating the hard shoulder, which the Committee recognised could cause more deaths or serious injuries on our roads.

Having carefully considered the Committee’s report, the Department will be taking forward all its recommendations. This includes the recommendation to pause the roll out of future All Lane Running schemes until a full five years’ worth of safety data is available. During the pause, we will continue to make sure all existing All Lane Running smart motorways are made as safe as they can possibly be.

We will also take forward the recommendations to pause the conversion of Dynamic Hard Shoulder smart motorways to All Lane Running until the next Road Investment Strategy. We will additionally retrofit more Emergency Areas across existing All Lane Running schemes; conduct an independent evaluation of the effectiveness of stopped vehicle detection technology; explore the introduction of the emergency corridor manoeuvre into the Highway Code; and, investigate the benefits of health and safety assessments being undertaken by the Office of Rail and Road.

Taken together, these measures will help ensure that our roads continue to be among the safest in the world, helping drivers not just to be safe, but crucially, to feel safe and confident when driving.