Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has undertaken an impact assessment of the risks associated with the roll-out smart motorways.

In each case Highways England complete a full assessment of safety issues during the project design phase, and then monitor and evaluate performance after delivery, to ensure that smart motorways maintain the high levels of safety seen on existing traditional motorways.

Highways England have also completed operational safety assessments across their current live smart motorways. These show that smart motorways are meeting their safety objectives and are maintaining the high levels of safety achieved prior to their introduction.