Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what comparative assessment his Department has made of the prevalence of traffic incident’s on all-lane running motorways and motorways with hard-shoulders; and will he make a statement.
Highway England have studied the first two completed All Lane Running schemes on the M25 where the hard shoulder was permanently converted to a running lane. These reviews found that the schemes have delivered an overall 27% safety improvement.
Highways England have always been clear that the benefits of smart motorways will not be delivered at the expense of safety and each smart motorway scheme must meet a strict safety objective, which is to be at least as safe as before the smart motorway was introduced.