Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of red-X non-compliance on smart motorways for each of the last two years for which data is available.

Highways England published comprehensive evaluation reports for the first three years of operation of the M25 junctions 5-7 and 23-27 all lane running schemes on 16 July 2018. These included information on non-compliance and on a programme of work designed to improve Red X compliance.

The evidence indicates an overall improvement in the Red-X compliance rate on both schemes between the three-year and one-year reports. The majority of drivers obey Red-X signals. Highways England continue to work closely with the Police to issue warning letters to drivers who fail to comply with a Red-X signal, as well as running a range of driver information campaigns.