Committed to Increasing Safety & Reducing Congestion
Welcome to the safermotorways.co.uk website.
Each month we highlight key issues that affect safety and congestion on UK motorways.
Our long running campaign to speed up the replacement of steel barrier on motorway central reserves continues in 2008 although we do expect to see a greater take up of concrete step barrier this year. Concrete step barrier is proven to virtually eliminate crossover incidents and the need for the endless repairs to steel barriers that cause so much congestion on our motorways and major trunk roads.
Meanwhile, whilst we all wait patiently for this revolutionary product to be rolled out across the country, the death toll continues to mount.
Last month a landmark study into HGV cross-over incidents by the Transport Research Laboratory discovered that almost a quarter of fatal accidents could have been prevented by the installation of a “very high containment fence or barrier”.
The TRL's study examined 39 fatal HGV cross-over accidents that took place on major roads in Great Britain and discovered that the existing steel barriers could not withstand the lateral impact energy from the lorries. In nine cases, the accident could have been avoided if a concrete structure had been in place.
Concrete barrier has the ability to contain vehicles up to 13.5 tonnes which is certainly peace of mind for the majority of motorists on the road. In addition to this, there has not been a single reported incident where a concrete barrier has been breached on British roads. Unfortunately, while we see these encouraging studies unfold, we are still subjected to avoidable cross-over incidents on a weekly basis... read on >
Motorists' safety given the cold-shoulder
Breaking down in your car is the ultimate nightmare for any motorist. In fact breaking down on the motorway is most motorists' idea of hell. Getting yourself to safety on the hard shoulder, parking your vehicle, and getting help is by no means an easy task. For this reason the government have come under fire by concerned motorists as plans to use the hard-shoulder as a 'widening' exercise are being criticised for being both dangerous and irresponsible.
The Highways Agency, which has run more than £3 billion over budget on its road-building programme, plans to save billions of pounds by abandoning essential widening. This is because converting a hard-shoulder for traffic costs about £10 million a mile, whereas widening costs up to £40 million a mile.
These costs are to be reduced even further by cutting the number of lay-bys, which the agency calls “emergency refuge areas”... read on >
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