Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Road Safety Strategy, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of the proposed rural roads categories.

The Road Safety Strategy sets out the Government’s intention to explore whether the proposed rural road categories are appropriate at a local level and to assess their potential for wider national application. The Department’s forthcoming work on rural road categorisation is intended to better reflect the significant variation in road types currently captured by the broad definition of “rural”. Developing a clearer and more consistent understanding of what constitutes a rural road would support more effective targeting of safety interventions, helping to ensure that resources are focused where they can deliver the greatest impact.