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AAfears private maintenance will damage safety - Driven to death by road profits?
00:00 05 Sep 1996
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Contractors taking over the maintenance of the road network are
being forced to confront the issue of safety, following warnings
that the transfer will increase road deaths.
The Automobile Association said this week that the need to make efficiency savings and make a profit may compromise areas of safety, such as winter maintenance.
This puts the construction industry in the firing line of a battle over safety standards between road users, local government and the Highways Agency.
The first two of 24 planned contracts creating the new "super-agencies" were awarded last week.
Paul Watters of the AA told CJ: "Will the winning consortium have the final say over salting in winter for example? They obviously have to make a profit. It's something that we will be raising with the Highways Agency at the meeting of the National Road Users Group next month."
The AA is also concerned that the continued pressure on local authority budgets may also compromise safety on the local road network.
Watters said: "Winter maintenance is a worrying area. It's yet another example of cost being watched before anything else. The situation could lead to an increase in fatalities. Just one road fatality costs œ800,000, which could wipe out savings made in local authority budget cuts."
Tommy Thompson, president of the County Surveyors' Society also expressed concern:
"There is less money in general and some counties are cutting back on their highways maintenance expenditure in order to fund education and social services.
"We will really only know how critical it will be after we know the budgets for the reorganised local authorities on 1 April 1997."
But the Highways Agency dismissed any suggestion that the new super agencies will be profit driven.
A spokesman said: "The new agency agreements are not about saving money, they are about getting maximum value for money. Safety has and will be paramount. The usual contractual safeguards will be in place."
l See Business page 12
The Automobile Association said this week that the need to make efficiency savings and make a profit may compromise areas of safety, such as winter maintenance.
This puts the construction industry in the firing line of a battle over safety standards between road users, local government and the Highways Agency.
The first two of 24 planned contracts creating the new "super-agencies" were awarded last week.
Paul Watters of the AA told CJ: "Will the winning consortium have the final say over salting in winter for example? They obviously have to make a profit. It's something that we will be raising with the Highways Agency at the meeting of the National Road Users Group next month."
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The AA is also concerned that the continued pressure on local authority budgets may also compromise safety on the local road network.
Watters said: "Winter maintenance is a worrying area. It's yet another example of cost being watched before anything else. The situation could lead to an increase in fatalities. Just one road fatality costs œ800,000, which could wipe out savings made in local authority budget cuts."
Tommy Thompson, president of the County Surveyors' Society also expressed concern:
"There is less money in general and some counties are cutting back on their highways maintenance expenditure in order to fund education and social services.
"We will really only know how critical it will be after we know the budgets for the reorganised local authorities on 1 April 1997."
But the Highways Agency dismissed any suggestion that the new super agencies will be profit driven.
A spokesman said: "The new agency agreements are not about saving money, they are about getting maximum value for money. Safety has and will be paramount. The usual contractual safeguards will be in place."
l See Business page 12
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