Government pauses smart motorway rollout

"Having carefully considered the committee’s report, I will be taking forward all of its recommendations. This includes the recommendation to pause the rollout of future ALR smart motorway schemes until a full 5 years’ worth of safety data is available.

"During the pause, we will continue to make sure all existing ALR smart motorways are equipped with best-in-class technology and resources and are as safe as they can possibly be."

The recommendations in the report are as follows:

• pause the conversion of dynamic hard shoulder smart motorways to ALRuntil the next Road Investment Strategy
• retrofit more emergency areas across existing ALR schemes
• conduct an independent evaluation of the effectiveness of stopped vehicle detection technology
• explore the introduction of the emergency corridor manoeuvre to the Highway Code
• investigate the benefits of health and safety assessments being undertaken by the Office of Rail and Road.