FENCES ETC. TO SAFEGUARD PERSONS USING PUBLIC ROADS (Hansard, 20 June 1984)

§ Sir Hector Monro
The clause begins by providing: The roads authority may … provide … barriers as they think necessary". The Dumfries and Galloway regional council and the roads authority have been pressing year by year, with the strongest support from myself, for the erection of central reservation barriers on the A74. The Bill gives authority for such barriers to be erected but the Scottish Development Department steadfastly says no. I know that it will trot out the old argument about cost but the issue is that of safety and not cost. I am sure that the Department knows that the majority of serious accidents on the A74 result from vehicles crossing from one carriageway to another. The most serious accident, which was the subject of a private notice question a few years ago, involved the death of 10 people. That was the result of a vehicle crossing from one carriageway to another.
I appreciate that over the years there has been a steady extension of the length of road that has central reservation 355 barriers, but I find it hard to accept the arguments presented by my hon. Friend to the effect that it is much safer for a vehicle to cross form one carriageway to another rather than to bounce into the central barrier and to return to its own flow of traffic. That argument is not borne out from the results of accidents on the A74. Why is it that the Bill gives an authority the power to erect a barrier when the Scottish Development Department vetoes such provision?

§ Mr. Allan Stewart
Barriers can lead to more accidents rather than fewer. Much depends on traffic flows and the speed of traffic. The circumstances of a particular stretch of road have to be considered. As my hon. Friend recognises, central barriers have been provided on parts of the A74. I can assure him that they are provided and will be provided where they will make a positive contribution to safety. We take these matters extremely seriously. In some circumstances barriers can lead to more accidents.

§ Sir Hector Monro
When my hon. Friend talks about speed, I take it that he means increasing speed. It was accepted recently that heavy lorries should be able to travel at 50 mph and not 40 mph. Is that not an additional reason for the provision of central reservation barriers?

§ Mr. Stewart
That is an additional factor and we shall need to assess the results of changes in speed limits to ascertain whether central barriers are sensible. I can assure my hon. Friend that we keep these matters under review.

§ Mr. Dewar
The hon. Member of Dumfries (Sir H. Monro) has raised a constituency issue but it is one that has general interest. Like the majority of Scottish Members, I drive on occasion on the A74 which has a rather unfair reputation as a dangerous road. Statistics do not always justify the headlines about the "killer road" with which we are all familiar. I have listened to the brief exchanges between the hon. Gentleman and the Minister and it is clear that the Government are saying that a subjective judgment must be applied to any given stretch of road to ascertain whether a central barrier is a safety device or an added hazard. They have in mind the danger of a vehicle hitting the central barrier and bouncing back and creating more mayhem in the lane in which it was travelling rather than if it had crossed over the road.
I am not enough of an expert on the technicalities of road traffic management to pass judgment on when the Government's philosophy is sound and when it is not. It would be of some interest to the Committee if the Minister were to explain to what extent he thinks that further central barriers could be erected on the A74. We know that a good deal of the road has been provided with a central barrier. The local Member, perhaps following his local interest, is saying understandably that more could be done and the Minister is saying that it is a matter of judgment. The Minister's judgment might be that we should have more central barriers but we cannot afford them. Alternatively, he might be saying that we have all the central barriers that we need and that the stretches of road that are not covered by them should be left uncovered because of the merits of the Department's argument on road safety. I am not clear which argument the Minister is advancing.
When moneys are available, does he accept that a considerable additional mileage along the A74 will be 356 covered by central barriers? It would be useful to know what development he expects to take place when there is not a shortage of cash.

§ Mr. Allan Stewart
The need for central barriers is kept under review in the light of changing developments. I did not wish to imply that decisions are made on subjective criteria when I set out the major criteria that are taken into account. Decisions are taken after the application of a mathematical formula which has been developed by the Transport and Road Research Laboratory. There is no question of decisions being taken other than on the basis of a full and objective statistical analysis.