Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the current guidance is for a motorcyclist who breaks down on a live lane of a smart motorway.

Advice on what to do in the event of an emergency for all road users, including motorcyclists, is available to the public on the National Highways website and is aligned to that given in The Highway Code. We committed an additional £5 million on national and targeted communications campaigns to further increase awareness and understanding of smart motorways, how they work and how to use them confidently. This includes advice to drivers on what to do in a breakdown. National Highways’ main message informs drivers that if you breakdown, ‘go left’. Further information can be accessed here https://nationalhighways.co.uk/road-safety/breakdowns/.

National Highways undertook comprehensive safety assessments and analysis to help support the design of smart motorways and create a safe and intuitive environment for all drivers, including motorcyclists. To improve the detection of stopped vehicles (including stopped motorcycles), Stopped Vehicle Detection (SVD) will be implemented across the entire All Lane Running motorway smart motorway network by the end of September 2022.