TRANSPORT SAFETY A PRIORITY BUT NOT FOR NATIONAL HIGHWAYS

Mike Rawson

 

Decades of investment in transportation safety has resulted in a very much safer environment for those travelling by all modes of transport.

Across the world, hundreds of thousands of lives have been saved as a direct result of the work of scientists, designers and manufactures who have made safety their absolute priority.

Ocean going ships have double hulls and water tight doors to prevent them filling with water and capsizing. Each ship carries sufficient lifeboats for passengers and crew in an emergency.

Commercial jet aircraft are designed to fly on one engine when others fail or are shut down by the pilot due to fire or other problems.

The latest automatic signalling technology brings trains to a stop without driver involvement.

Modern carriages are designed to remain intact in the event of a serious crash.

The very latest safety feature can be found on London’s new Elizabeth Line (Crossrail) where a trackside walkway allows passengers, exiting a failed train, to reach the nearest station in safety.

There is no better example of safety than in today’s cars. Seat belts and multiple air bags and front crumple zones (to prevent the bonnet from entering the cockpit following a severe collision) are to be found in even the lowest priced models.

Side impact bars (which strengthen doors) and car bodies designed to remain in shape, protect the occupants in serious collisions.

Improving SAFETY has been the goal of industry and transport authorities worldwide since the mid twentieth century and an estimated million lives have been saved.

So the public can be forgiven for wondering why NATIONAL HIGHWAYS has knowingly introduced a policy on Britain’s motorways which sacrifices safety when emergency hard shoulders are converted to an extra traffic lane.

The policy, known as ALL LANE RUNNING (ALR) Smart Motorways has accounted for many violent deaths and life changing injuries.

Emergency hard shoulders have been the major safety feature on Britain’s motorways since 1959 when the M1 was constructed between London and Birmingham.

Make no mistake, the Highways Agency (now National Highways), when formulating the ALR policy, knew and accepted that there would be an increase in fatal and serious injury collisions when vehicles, unable to be driven, became stranded in live lanes.

National Highway’s callous attitude towards the safety of those using ALR motorways is nothing less than criminal and the prosecution of those responsible for the dangerous policy is long overdue.

The continuing failure of the justice system, in denying victim’s families the justice they deserve, is a stain on our country’s reputation for fairness and justice.

Mike Rawson            (Retired Metropolitan Police Traffic Sergeant)

www.smartmotorwayskill.co.uk

 

 

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