AA Zone

Many of us have strong views on drink driving, speeding, etc. Traffic delays due to accidents and road works cause major annoyance and legislation fuelled by frantic press demands pores out weekly.

This said, many of our current motoring problems stem directly from this very pressure and government response. Health and safety, political correctness and over zealous forensic investigation merely add to the problem. Clearly our police officers and other emergency personnel are entitled to safe working conditions and none of us would disagree with their oft expressed desire “to go home alive at the end of our shifts”.

We hear daily on radio that two, three or four motorway sections have been shut down completely, slip roads closed, lanes reduced or rolling road blocks put in force…….and why? An accident, a caravan on its side, a lorry jack-knifed, a fire on the hard shoulder, an object on the carriageway, a chemical spillage, road works, a vehicle in contact with a bridge, an unexplained police incident, an investigation and other recurrent explanations.

Sometimes it is hoped to have the carriageway open “in a day or two”, “by this time tomorrow,” “by tonight or in a few hours” and meanwhile traffic tails back, becomes trapped and the people involved are unable to go about their normal lives for intolerable periods. Millions of working hours are lost, tragic social costs incurred, valuable vehicles and machinery immobilised and costly fuel wasted.

Years ago when a road accident occurred, the injured were released by the fire brigade, if trapped, and taken away by ambulance; police chalked the position of the vehicles and then obtained details of the drivers, vehicles and witnesses and arranged for recovery; the road was then re-opened. In the event of a fatality, photographs would be taken and the Coroner informed. Other formalities were dealt with in a safely parked car or police station and the scene fully examined later. Keeping the highway open was a major priority.

The reason for this post is to ask if anyone is aware of serious research having taken place into cost/benefit between extensive traffic delay and improved road safety. How many drivers the subject of these long forensic investigations and health and safety measures actually come to court, are convicted and banned for life; how many return to the motorway to repeat their offences? How many lives are saved? How is the phenomenal cost of all this inconvenience measured against improved driving standards? What is the justification for hours of repetitive research into the b*****g obvious?