Poor roads 'costing hundreds of lives'

Hundreds of lives are being lost each year because of the poor condition of Britain's roads, watchdogs said today.

The problem is also leading to a backlog of billions of pounds in road repairs, the AA Motoring Trust added.

Britain's A-road network now had "skid resistance standards so poor that one mile in every five fails initial safety checks,'' it said. Minor roads, where no independent safety review is carried out, were even worse.

At a seminar in London organised by the trust, it was also revealed that a third (2,500) of local authority bridges in England need strengthening in order to carry today's levels of traffic, with £300 million a year needed to get it done by 2010.

Also 250,000 lamp posts are over 30 years old - the age at which they could collapse and a further 1.1 million will reach 30 years by 2010. An extra £1 billion is needed to ensure they are renewed.

AA Motoring Trust director John Dawson described the state of the roads as a "national disgrace."

He added: "In 1999, the Government launched a 10-year plan to attack our crumbling transport system pledging to transform our transport infrastructure over the next 10 years and make Britain's transport the rival of any in Europe.

"The plan has forced the Government to come out of denial and face facts. It now knows the idea that Britain's transport could rival any in Europe by 2010 is plain silly while, in this country, we invest so much less than other European countries. It knows now that the rot on roads and bridges matches the rot on rail and underground.''

Johnny Thomson