§ Mr. RookerTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what research he has(a) commissioned, (b) published and (c) evaluated from (i) the Transport Research Laboratory and (ii) others on the contribution of sideways spray from lorries and coaches to accidents on motorways. [3429]
§ Mr. NorrisIn 1990 the Transport Research Laboratory undertook a review of the contribution of spray to motorway crashes and followed this with a study in which the police were asked about the contribution of spray when they reported injury accidents on wet motorways or A and M roads.
The study suggested that spray was a contributory cause in about 131 and 552 accidents on motorway and A and M roads in Britain each year. The annual cost of these accidents was estimated to lie between £6,905,010 and £29,095,020, based on the Department of Transport's figure for the average cost of a motorway injury accident.
The reports also discuss results of earlier estimates by the Transport Research Laboratory and others on the contribution of spray to accidents.