Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Road Safety

Thursday 30 January 2020 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 2 Partly answered 0 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Government committed to improving road safety and reducing fatalities and injuries
  • Lilian Greenwood questioned the Department's approach to all-lane-running motorways and smart motorways
  • Karl Turner pressed for immediate action to prevent further tragic incidents and full radar coverage on motorways

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Lilian Greenwood Lab Nottingham South
Transport
Context

The right hon. Member for Hemel Hempstead has accused Highways England of a shocking degree of carelessness in rolling out all-lane-running motorways, and the chairman of the Police Federation described smart motorways as inherently dangerous and a death trap.

Question

What steps his Department is taking to improve road safety, given that the right hon. Member for Hemel Hempstead has accused Highways England of a shocking degree of carelessness in rolling out all-lane-running motorways, and the chairman of the Police Federation described smart motorways as inherently dangerous and a death trap?

Answer from Grant Shapps (Secretary of State for Transport)

The Government are committed to improving safety on all our roads, and to reducing the numbers of those who are needlessly killed and injured. Last July, we published “The road safety statement 2019: a lifetime of road safety”. I have uncovered a range of issues that I am not content simply to brush over. I have therefore requested further information, and we are nearly there. In this process, I have specifically included going back to, speaking to and in one case meeting the families of those who have been affected by these issues.

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Q2 Karl Turner Ind Houghton and Sunderland South
Transport
Context

The Secretary of State has the power to scrap dangerous motorways now, yet there are concerns about all-lane-running dynamic motorways or smart motorways.

Question

Will he stop this dither and delay and act now to avoid further tragic deaths and serious injuries? Will he also assure the House that there will be no restoration of these motorways without full radar coverage?

Answer from Grant Shapps (Secretary of State for Transport)

As I pointed out a moment ago—perhaps after the hon. Gentleman's question was written—it is important that we gather all the facts. Sadly, 1,700-plus people died on all our roads in 2018. Motorways are some of the safest of those roads, but the question is: are smart motorways less safe than the rest of the motorway network? For me, we must make them at least as safe, if not safer, otherwise they cannot continue. But we have to do this as a fact-based process. I am interested, rightly, in speaking to the families of the victims as well as to organisations such as the AA and the RAC and to Members of this House.

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