§ Mr. IllsleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer of 28 June,Official Report, column 479, what is the average costs assessed by his Department of (a) building one mile of new dual carriageway trunk road, (b) building one mile of new single carriageway trunk road, (c) equipping one mile of dual carriageway trunk road with safety barriers, (d) equipping one mile of single carriageway trunk road with safety barriers, (e) equipping one mile of dual carriageway trunk road with lighting, (e) equipping one mile single carriageway trunk road with lighting, (g) a single case of serious injury requiring temporary hospitalisation caused by a road accident, (h) a single case of serious injury requiring permanent hospitalisation caused by a road accident and (i) a single case of death caused by a road accident; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. WattsThis question relates to operational matters of the Highways Agency. I have asked the chief executive, Mr. Lawrie Haynes, to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Lawrie Haynes to Mr. Eric Risley, dated 18 October 1994:
The Minister for Railways and Roads, Mr. John Watts, has asked me to write to you in reply to your recent Parliamentary Question concerning road construction and accident costs.The road construction cost information is shown below al 1993 prices
Road Type Average Building cost Safety Fencing Lighting 2 lane dual all purpose £5.5million £44,000 £86,000 Single carriageway £2.2 million £10,000 £50,000
The cost of building a road varies from site to site and is dependent on the standard of provision. The above figures are average costs per mile including safety fencing and lighting but do not include the cost of design or VAT. The total length of safety fencing provided varies from scheme to scheme, depending on the type of barrier, type of scheme and obstacles crossed; the costs given are based on average cost of providing safety fencing in the past.The information on the cost of injuries is not available in the format you requested; however, there are standard monetary values for use in valuing the savings of accidents and these cover fatal, serious and slight injuries. A fatal injury is defined as one which results in a death within 30 days of a road accident. A serious injury is one which results in the person involved being detained as an "in-patient" or sustaining fractures, crushings etc. requiring medical treatment, including those causing death after 30 days of a road accident. A slight injury is defined as one which is other than those classified as fatal or serious.The values for these injuries at 1992 prices are given below:
Injuries Fatal £715,330 Serious £74,480 Slight £6,080