§ Mr. Dodsworthasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what consultations he has had concerning the safety of introducing hard shoulders on the offside of four-lane carriageways in England and Wales.
§ Dr. GilbertNone has, as yet, been held.
§ Mr. Dodsworthasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if it is still his policy to construct roads to standards which minimise the risk of accidents and injury; and, if so, whether he will require that traffic assessments of schemes which will increase manœuvres known to be hazardous, such as lane-changing on motorways, should include estimates of the increased number of accidents likely to result.
§ Dr. GilbertAccident savings are an important consideration in the design of 383W new roads, and the appraisal of schemes includes assessment of the accident or other savings offered by different solutions. One of the benefits of constructing motorways is that they have a low accident rate as compared with those of other roads.