I have received many emails regarding concerns over smart motorways and I appreciate these concerns.
It is essential that people feel safe and indeed are safe on smart motorways, and road safety remains an absolute priority for the Government.
Ministers recognise that there are issues with smart motorways around awareness, information, the positioning of refuges, as well as vehicle monitoring and the safety of vehicles re-entering the highway.
While work has already gone into remedying some of these issues, for example through the decision to reduce the spacing of emergency areas from one and a half miles to one mile, a wider range of actions needs to be taken.
I therefore welcome the fact that in October last year the Secretary of State for Transport asked officials to carry out an evidence stocktake to gather facts on the safety of smart motorways and to make recommendations for a package of measures to deal with this issue.
Ministers have reassured me that this work is being undertaken at pace and that the results will be published very soon.
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