Poll: Do you think it's safe to convert motorway hard shoulders for traffic?

All-lane running (ALR) schemes use the hard shoulder to ease the pressure on busy motorways and they have already been rolled out on dozens of miles of road.

There are currently just over 80 miles of ALR open to traffic but that figure is set to surge.

Almost 250 miles of ALR are set to be added to the road network by 2020 while almost 350 miles are due to be started but not finished up to 2020.

Meanwhile, there are also plans announced for just over 100 miles of ALR to be developed in the period between 2020 and 2025.

Shadow transport secretary Lilian Greenwood believes the Government needs to do more work to understand the implications of ALR.

"There are real concerns about the way all-lane running has been introduced on our motorways, without adequate evidence or consideration of the safety concerns raised by motoring organisations and the emergency services," she said.

The existing ALR schemes are on sections of the M25, M1 and M6, according to information published by the Department for Transport in response to written parliamentary questions from Ms Greenwood.

The Commons Transport Select Committee is currently conducting an examination of the safety of all-lane running schemes.

Both the AA and the RAC have expressed concerns about all-lane running.

RAC spokesman Simon Williams said: "While the RAC supports the principles of 'smart' motorways as the most cost-effective and rapid means of increasing capacity and reducing congestion, we would prefer to see the dynamic hard shoulder configuration used, where the hard shoulder is used as a running lane at busy times, as opposed to the all-lanes running one which leaves road users permanently without a hard shoulder.

"The decision to use an all-lanes running configuration as a default was taken before any trial took place, and although early signs show a cautious improvement on safety compared to a conventional three-lane and hard shoulder motorway, it is simply too early to make a judgment on doing away with almost 250 miles of motorway hard shoulder."

Mr Williams also said the RAC is concerned the distance between refuge areas is "too great".

"An RAC study showed that on the all-lanes running sections of the M25, only 42% of motorists who broke down were aware that emergency refuge areas existed, whilst only a meagre 28% could see one from where they broke down," he said.

"This compares unfavourably to the dynamic hard shoulder sections of the M42, M1 and M6, where 56% were aware of the emergency refuge areas and 40% could see one when they broke down."

Meanwhile the AA has raised its concerns about ALR with ministers and with the police.

It shares concerns with the RAC about the availability of refuge areas and the prospect of ALR creating "sitting duck" broken-down vehicles.

Edmund King, the president of the AA, believes the number of refuge areas needs to be doubled and they need to be increased in size.

He said: "The AA has consistently raised safety concerns regarding the new generation of 'smart motorways'.

"We were so concerned that the AA Trust has designed its own free course, 'Drive Motorway', to help scared drivers cope with increased anxiety over using motorways without hard shoulders."