Smart motorways update – AA reaction

Reacting to the Department for Transports update on ‘smart’ motorways*, Edmund King, AA president says; “It is encouraging that progress has been made on our demands to make ‘smart’ motorways safer. The objective should be to create the safest roads we can.

“The number one improvement advocated by the AA and our members is to increase the number of emergency refuge areas and retrofit them to older schemes to ensure they are placed at approximately 0.75 miles apart. More ERAs, together with improving the accuracy of stopped vehicle detection radar, should be the urgent priorities.

"Due to revised climate change targets** and more home working an urgent investigation should be conducted into the need for new ‘smart’ motorway expansion."

ends

NOTES TO EDITORS

* https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/highways-england-first-year-progress-report-on-smart-motorways-stocktake?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_source=a523de23-762c-4676-94d6-f2dfe49d5c74&utm_content=immediately

** https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-enshrines-new-target-in-law-to-slash-emissions-by-78-by-2035