To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what research the Government has carried out on the length of time taken to clear a motorway after a collision and reopen it for traffic.

The Highways Agency has conducted research aimed at assessing and reducing the duration of incidents occurring on the strategic road network which result in temporary motorway or lane closure.

The Highways Agency has also undertaken research in collaboration with the emergency services to establish a range of typical 'incident timelines' allowing the examination of the different phases of incident management. The outputs from this research can be found in the Highways Agency's Research Compendium published on the internet at

http://www.ha-research.gov.uk, also accessible through the Highways Agency's website at

http://www.highways.gov.uk.

The Highways Agency has also worked in collaboration with overseas organisations to share best practice on incident management.