HC Deb 18 February 1977 vol 926 cc376-7W
Mr. Watkinson

asked the Secretary of State for Transport how much money has been spent on the existing motorway safety programmes.

Mr. Horam

Expenditure in the first 10 months of the current financial year was as follows:

Installation of signals and telephones (new and existing motorways) £1.6 million
Safety barriers (for updating earlier motorways) £1.2 million
Lighting—installation on new and existing motorways £1 million
Lighting—maintenance (including electricity) £0.8 million
Publicity at service areas £17,000

Mr. Watkinson

asked the Secretary of State for Transport what safety programmes the Transport Road Research Laboratory is presently working on for motorway control.

Mr. William Rodgers

Relevant work includes a study of the types and frequency of incidents which interrupt normal traffic flow, and development and appraisal of methods for predicting or rapidly detecting bad weather and other problems. Studies are also being made of drivers' needs for information, and of their behaviour on high-speed roads, especially in fog. Strategies for the control of traffic on high-speed roads are being examined; and current work on motorway signals covers both the effects of present signals on driver behaviour and safety, and the development of new signal symbols which might be used to give drivers more information. Provision of traffic information by radio is also being studied.