§ Mr. Terry Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Transport how many fatalities have been caused in motorway accidents due to sections of crash barriers parting on impact with the result that displaced sections of barrier have pierced the impacting vehicle.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyIn the five cases where the angle beam parted on impact, there were two instances where a section of the barrier pierced the impacting vehicle.
§ Mr. Terry Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Transport what evidence he has about the incidence of motorway crash barriers parting on impact as a resift of faulty welds at sectional joints.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyWe are aware of five fatal accidents on the motorway network where welds have parted on impact. Two were cases of single welds and three were in respect of double welds.
§ Mr. Terry Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Transport how many motorway crash barriers currently exist which are joined together by the single weld galvanised over technique introduced in 1976.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyFew if any single weld angle pieces have been installed since 1976 and from 1985 only double welds have been specified. The 2,000 or so single welds out of a total of 14,000 on motorways date almost entirely from installations originally provided before 1976.
§ Mr. Terry Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Transport if the welding specification of motorway barrier connections has been changed since April 1985.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyYes. Revised details for tensioned corrugated beam safety fences were issued in June 1985. These specified that angle beams should have double sided butt welds to the requirements of BS 5135:1985 "Process of Arc Welding of Carbon and Carbon Manganese Steels".
§ Mr. Terry Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Transport what evidence his Department has collected about deteriorations in the single weld, galvanised joints on sections of motorway crash barriers.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyWe have no evidence of such deterioration and it is very unlikely that a galvanised weld in this position would deteriorate significantly over a period of 15–20 years.
§ Mr. Terry Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Transport if there has been any change in the welding specification of motorway crash barrier joints since 1976.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyYes. In March 1976 the welding specification for tensioned corrugated beam safety fencing was altered to require either a strengthened single sided butt weld or a double-sided butt weld. Since June 1985 only the double-sided butt weld has been permitted.