§ Mr. BellinghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many people have died in the past five years because of the absence of a system of separation between the carriageways on dual carriageways.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyThe absence of a system of safety fencing is not in itself a cause of accidents.
The accident report forms used by the police do not record causes of accidents. Even if details of all candidate accidents were readily available, the number of cases in which fatal consequences would have been avoided had a system of safety fencing been present could only be a matter of speculation.
§ Mr. BellinghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) when he expects the A1 and A74 dual carriageways to receive complete crash barrier protection;
(2) what extent of the A1 and A74 dual carriageways are protected by crash barriers.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleySome 115 miles, 53 per cent., of the A1 is already protected by central reserve safety fencing. A programme of installing central reserve safety fencing on the A1 is under way. It will be completed by the early 1990s.
The A1(M) and the A74 in England have full central reserve safety barrier protection.
§ Mr. BellinghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if he was further plans to increase the extent of crash barrier cover on dual carriageways;
(2) what is his policy on enforcing the erection of crash barriers when planning new dual carriageways.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyYes.
A programme to provide central reserve safety fencing on most existing and new dual carriageway trunk roads was announced on 17 December 1986, at column 537. Safety fencing on existing and new non-trunk road dual carriageways is a matter for local highway authorities.
Mr. BelllinghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is(a) the total mileage of dual carriageways covered by crash barriers and (b) the percentage that represents the total mileage.
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§ Mr. Peter BottomleySome 598 miles of trunk road dual carriageway are protected by central reserve safety fencing. This represents 37 per cent, of the total mileage of trunk road dual carriageways.
§ Mr. BellinghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what distance of dual carriageway is not covered by any form of crash barriers.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleySome 1,036 miles of trunk road dual carriageway are now not covered by central reserve safety fencing.