The case for replacing steel central barrier on motorways with a concrete safety barrier has long been well made.
Concrete has proven its ability to stop fatal cross over incidents where an out of control vehicle crashes through the central barrier.
Unfortunately, the roll-out rate for this technology has been pitiful over the last 12 years. The north of England certainly seems to be the “poor cousin” when it comes to safety on our motorways and saving lives.
The crazy thing is, the concrete barrier is no more expensive than stell barrier – and it has very little maintenance costs and a proven track record in reducing road death and injuries.
We continue to lobby for more of our motorways to be fitted with this proven concrete safety barrier technology.
Three recent crossover incidents on the M5, in which vehicles have smashed through the central barrier into oncoming traffic on the opposite carriageway, have left three people dead. Over the last few years, Safer Motorways has worked desperately hard to put this issue on the public agenda. Our reasoning is simple. First of all these deaths are completely…
A quick test for you. Was the photograph on the left taken in Nigeria, Cyprus or the UK? Yes you guessed it – it’s right here in the UK, at junction 22 of the M5 to be precise. We understand from the Department for Transport that ALL safety barrier in the UK satisfies European Standards – in this…
Much of the current road technology in the UK is based around specified safety requirements from the 1960s. That was fine when we were all driving around in Morris Minors and Triumph Heralds but it is clearly not suitable for modern vehicles that weigh twice as much as their 1960s counterparts. Compare the size and weight of a…
The latest statistics show that the quantity of concrete safety barrier being installed on UK motorway central reservations is currently set to double in 2010. Estimates show that those counties which are actively adopting concrete safety barrier will install around 100 km in 2010 compared with only 50 km in 2009. Whilst it has been government policy since…
A young man died on the A329M near Reading when his vehicle crossed the carriageway and hit a Ford Transit van traveling in the opposite direction. The response from the general public was immediate. “Why has the Council not installed concrete barrier earlier on this section of (what is all but in name) a fully fledged motorway?” Amongst…
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…
Every month without fail horrendous central reservation cross-over stories are unfolding before our eyes. And all of them involve steel barrier employed as a safeguard between oncoming motorway and dual carriageway traffic. The sad truth is that steel may have once been a great cost effective method to help prevent cross over incidents, but the problem lies within…
Every year there are some 200 accidents in the UK in which vehicles have breached the central reservation steel barrier. These crossover incidents result in an average fatality rate of 40 deaths per year and according to UK government figures, each fatality has a financial cost in excess of £1 million. This is merely the tip of the…
