§ Mr. Viantasked the Minister of Transport how much of the programme of work outlined by his Parliamentary Secretary during the course of the debate on road safety, which took place on 20th June, 1952, has been implemented; and what are the areas in which the work has been done and the type of work.
Mr. BraithwaiteI am glad to be able to give the hon. Member the following information:
Improvement of Accident Black Spots
Local highway authorities and agent authorities for trunk roads are pressing on with works spread widely over Great Britain to improve accident black spots. These works include the provision of footpaths, lay-bys, roundabouts and pedestrian refuges, the improvement of road junctions, the elimination of bottlenecks, the realignment of bends and the improvement of visibility. The following table shows the number and the cost of schemes aproved on trunk and classified roads respectively.
roads amounting to a total cost of£228,000. He has also been able to authorise under Defence Regulation 56A or recommend for loan sanction over 600 schemes amounting to a total cost of£1,125,000.
127WFlashing beacons
Since the policy of installing flashing beacons was announced a detailed specification for the flash mechanism has been settled by the local authorities associations in consultation with my Department and local authorities are now proceeding to install the flashing beacons. A number of beacons are already operating in Birmingham, for example. A start has been made in London at Stoke Newington. I hope that these beacons will be operating throughout the country by next winter.