40% of personal injury accidents on some roads caused by lorries - Baker

5 September 2008

Road collisions with lorries caused nearly 40% of personal injury accidents on some of England’s roads over the past five years, the Liberal Democrats have uncovered.

The figures, revealed in Parliamentary answers to Liberal Democrat Shadow Transport Secretary, Norman Baker, identify some of the most dangerous roads in England for collisions with heavy goods vehicles (HGVs). They show that:

• Nearly 40% of personal injury accidents over five years on the M20 involved collision with lorries, along with 35% of the accidents on the M6, M25 and A14
• In 2006, 356 people were injured in accidents with lorries on the M1 and 397 on the M25

Commenting, Norman Baker said:

"Some of our busiest roads are becoming lorry accident blackspots. Many of these are accidents that could have been avoided.

"Our road network is clearly not capable of dealing with the large volume of freight it presently carries. Ensuring that much more freight travels by rail would make our roads safer for everyone.

"Yet, instead of tackling the need for rail freight, the Government continues to plough money into road expansion while the railways are starved of investment."

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