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AA warning: rotten roads 'kill hundreds'
Page 16
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BRITAIN'S ROADS are a "national disgrace" leading to hundreds of unnecessary deaths. says the AA MotoringTrust.
The motoring organisation says that Britain's A-road network has such poor skid-resistance standards that one in five fails initial safety checks. Minor roads, where no independent safety review is carried out, are worse. It estimates that up to £10bn needs to be spent to make our road network safe.
At its road safety conference, Are Britain's Roads a National Asset, or a National Disgrace?, the group also revealed that UK bridges lag more than 10 years behind Europe with a third of local authorities' bridges not strong enough to carry today's traffic; one in seven lamp posts being lifeexpired and likely to fall over, and almost 5,000 fatal and serious road accidents a year involving drivers hitting trees, lamp posts and telegraph poles. These accidents could be mitigated by crash barrier protection, it stresses.
Speaking at the seminar, AA director John Dawson said the government's plan to stop the rot is thwarted on local roads because politicians divert essential maintenance money to other services to curry short-term favour.
"What comeback do they face in 10 years' time? he asks. -Who makes the link between decisions to cut road maintenance and casualty wards full of avoidable road crash victims?
"More than £38bn that British road users pay in taxation needs to go into a trust fund and paid out only to those who deliver a well maintained and safe roads system. Britain's roads could be a national asset if they were properly funded and maintained. At the moment... they are a national disgrace."