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ACCIDENT BLACK SPOTS
Page 9
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What price road safety?
Barry Proctor drives us down one of the most dangerous stretches of road in Britain and asks: Is it not better to spend our money saving lives than on coping with the messy aftermath of accidents?
There's a stretch of the M6 in Staffordshire between J16 and Keele services which is notorious for its accident rate. It's a dark section of road which features a long, sweeping bend. People frequently describe a feeling of disorientation when driving there with comments along the lines of "I thought I was on the wrong side of the road". For some reason it's also said to be an unusually soporific section of road, which adds to drivers' problems.
Tragically just a couple of weeks ago it was the scene of yet another fatal accident. In the early hours of the morning a truck crossed through the central reservation and piled into another wagon. It's hard to imagine a more horrific accident than two 44-tonhers colliding at a combined speed of over 100mph —the miracle is that one of the drivers survived.
The motorway was closed for 12 hours and that part of the country was soon gridlocked. The authorities estimate that the cost of the average fatal road traffic accident is in the region of £1.5m, though this one undoubtedly cost the economy far more. But despite its safety record there seems no desperate hurry to install more substantial barriers or better lighting on this stretch of road. The same lethargy seems to infect thinking over the A14 in East Anglia.
The government says it is looking at improvements to the Al 4 but these won't start for another four years. Yes, four years. In the meantime there will be more accidents and more congestion and more lost millions as our creaking road network struggles to cope. You might wonder what happens to the millions we pay in fuel duty. Well, some of it goes on schools and hospitals. If we cut the amount wasted through serious accidents on the road network, think how many more of those we might be able to provide. "It's hard to imagine a more horrific aaident than two 44tonnets colliding at a combined speed of over 100mph" • Barry Proctor owns Barry Proctor Services, which is based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.