£5,400 Scheme Cut Accidents by 70%
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IMPROVEMENTS made to Speen Corner, on the Bath Road west of Newbury, at a cost of £5,400, had cut accidents by 70 per cent., Mr. R. Gresham Cooke, director of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, told Newbury Rotary Club on Monday.
The road was narrow and wrongly cambered, with the result that vehicles could easily skid over the footpath and heavy outfits were often forced over the crown. In June, 1953, there were seven accidents, but in the corresponding month of this year only two. Using the official average accident cost figure of £660, the drop in accidents represented a saving of £3,300—a large proportion of the original outlay.
Mr. Cooke estimated that there were some 5,000 black spots on trunk and Class I roads alone, or about one every five miles. The cost of clearance would be in the region of £25m., but this would soon pay for itself out of savings in accident costs.
"In my view the Government ought to be spending £65m. more each year than they are now doing, a sum which would include the cost of the motorways and by-passes which we so badly need," he said.
ANOTHER "SMALL MAN" GOES
AHALIFAX coach business, Brearley's Tours, Ltd., has been bought by Hebble Motor Services, Ltd., who will absorb it into their own organization. The company's excursion and tour licences were transferred, without objection, by the Yorkshire Licensing Authority, last week. Six vehicles, comprising Bedfords and Leylands, were involved in the purchase.