HC Deb 05 December 1962 vol 668 cc1303-4
33. Mr. Boyden

asked the Minister of Transport how many accidents there have been on M.1 in the last four months; and how many of these have been attributed to road repairs on the southbound carriageway.

Mr. Marples

The most up-to-date figures available relate to accidents in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire since the end of August when the bulk of the road repairs started. During this period, there were 83 accidents on the M.1 in these counties, 49 of which involved injuries, including five fatalities. Twenty-two of these accidents, none of them fatal but nine of them involving injuries, may, on present information, be attributable to the road repairs on the south-bound carriageway.

Mr. Boyden

Is the right hon. Gentleman satisfied that the lighting and road signs where these repairs were taking place were adequate? How many of the accidents can be traced to insufficient warning of the repairs both at night and during the day?

Mr. Marples

Until inquest verdicts are given, we cannot say positively whether the accidents were in any way attributable to road works. I have sent an official along the M.1 several times since the works started in order to see that the lighting was adequate. I think that it is, but, if the hon. Gentleman has in mind a particular instance where it is defective, I will look into it again.

Mr. Paget

Is not the inadequacy of the lighting here a result of the dazzle from the traffic coming the other way, there being no anti-dazzle barrier in the middle? That is the danger I find driving down this stretch of road.

Mr. Marples

If the hon. and learned Gentleman will tell me of the particular place he has in mind, I will see that an official of the Road Research Laboratory goes there and makes scientific tests at that point.

Mr. Hocking

Will my right hon. Friend pay particular attention to the lighting problem? Does he realise that, quite often at night, a string of red lamps placed alongside road works looks very much like the rear lights of heavy vehicles moving slowly along the road? Could some other form of lighting be put with them?

Mr. Marples

I will consider that suggestion.