§ 2.38 p.m.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the tests on crash barriers and double steel rail safety fences being carried out on an eighteen-mile length of the M1 have now yielded enough information for further barriers to be erected on all motorways.]
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF PUBLIC BUILDING AND WORKS (LORD WINTERBOTTOM)My Lords, we took full account of these experiments in reaching our conclusion that it would not be an economical use of our limited resources to install central crash barriers along the whole length of all motorways. But we shall install further lengths wherever particular road conditions or traffic volumes make this desirable. The reasons for this decision are set out in full in the sixth Special Report from the Estimates Committee for 1967–68.
LORD ST. JUSTMy Lords, while thanking the noble Lord for his reply, may I ask him whether the steel rail fencing would be cheaper to install than actual crash barriers?
§ LORD WINTERBOTTOMMy Lords, I cannot answer the noble Lord now because I am not informed on that matter, but I will write to him about it.
§ LORD NUGENT OF GUILDFORDMy Lords, is it intended to do any planting on the central reservations where crash barriers are not going to be fixed, so that at least there will be the benefit of preventing headlight dazzle?
§ LORD WINTERBOTTOMMy Lords, if the noble Lord will permit me I will write to him on that point, too.
§ LORD SOMERSMy Lords, can the noble Lord tell us whether the central crash barriers will incorporate an anti-dazzle screen as well?
§ LORD WINTERBOTTOMMy Lords, perhaps the noble Lord would care to await my answer to the next Question which deals with this point.
§ LORD AIREDALEMy Lords, would the Government bear in mind that tough shrubbery as an alternative to a steel barrier has a cushioning effect on a vehicle that is out of control, and does not have the effect, which a rigid steel barrier has, of causing such a vehicle to bounce back into the highway?