§ Mr. Andrew Welshasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what studies his Department has made of the effects of slow moving local traffic flows daily crossing dual carriageway roads which carry fast moving inter-city traffic; what effects this situation is estimated to have on accident rates; and what is his policy with regard to avoiding such situations in new dual carriageway construction.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonStudies have been undertaken over many years by the Transport and Road Research Laboratory and the Department of Transport on the aspects of design which influence the capacity and safety of junctions. The benefit of this research is contained in a technical memorandum (SH/82) used by roads authorities.
All trunk road manoeuvres create some hazard. Excessive speed of traffic on the trunk road and inexperienced drivers, who have difficulty in negotiating junctions, are the main causes of accidents. Accident rates on new stretches of road tend to drop once drivers have become used to the junctions.
In the design of new dual carriageways the policy adopted is to minimise the frequency of junctions and, where possible, to concentrate traffic crossing, joining and leaving the dual carriageway at the minimum number of locations.
Pupils and pupil-teacher ratios in education authority schools Island authorities/Scotland 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 11986–87 Primary schools Number of pupils Orkney 2,000 1,923 1,886 1,910 1,910 1,866 1,825 1,826