Dangers of the Bangor to Belfast Road

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Ms Morrice:

I want to thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for being able to have this debate today. I also want to thank the Minister in advance for his patience and for being here to listen to what is an important issue.

Exactly one year ago this month, a young woman, Orla Hewitt, lost her life in a horrific accident on the Belfast to Bangor road. It was a Friday evening. She was driving home from work on her own, and she was hit by a lorry crossing the carriageway. Her life was not the only one devastated that day. Her four-year-old daughter was left without a mother, and her parents, her partner, her family and her friends all have to suffer the terrible consequences of this for the rest of their lives. I had the privilege of knowing Orla, and this debate is by way of paying tribute to her and her family and all the other families who have lost loved ones in tragic circumstances on our roads. I want to do more than pay tribute. I want to use the mandate that I have been given to press for positive change to reduce the terrible toll of death and destruction on the roads.

The debate is about the Belfast to Bangor road, believed to be one of the most dangerous roads in the country. It is said that people are taking their lives in their hands when they use this road, and the figures I have gleaned recently bear this out - they are nothing short of shocking. Ten people have been killed on this 10-to-11-mile stretch of road over the past three years - yes, 10 people on this small stretch of road over the past three years. If those people had died as a result of paramilitary activity, there would be uproar. However, this is a different type of terror that stalks us, and it is just as shocking, just as horrific and just as devastating for the families of the victims. Some might argue that, given the high volume of traffic on this road - and the statistics show that something in the region of 39,000 vehicles per day use it, which certainly is high - relatively speaking, the number of fatalities is low. However, everyone will agree that one death is one too many.

The figures for the period 1998-99 to 2000-01 show that 270 people were injured on the Belfast to Bangor road, of whom 42 were seriously injured. Serious injuries can include brain damage, loss of limbs and other horrific outcomes that statistics cannot possibly describe. Over a three-year period 270 people were injured, that is, 90 people injured on this short stretch of road each year. I am sure the Minister and everyone will agree that this is totally unacceptable. The cost, in terms of human tragedy, is far too great to calculate, and the Minister has heard me on many occasions referring to the cost to the economy of the casualties and deaths from road accidents. However, if those calculations are correct with regard to emergency services, healthcare, loss of income and productivity, the cost of those killed or seriously injured on the A2 since 1998 must surely go into tens of millions of pounds. That is why I cannot accept as justification the excuse that traffic-calming engineering works to slow down the speed of traffic are too costly.

I paint a bleak picture. However, on the positive side, it does not have to be that way, because we have the power to change the situation. That is why a debate of this nature is valuable. The Assembly can channel the anger and frustration of families, road safety groups, local councillors who have campaigned for years for something to be done, road users who are sick and tired of facing those dangers daily, and the emergency services who have to witness and deal with those tragic events into a positive outcome. Devolved government gives us the power to do something. The road is dangerous; it must be made safe.

In preparation for the debate, I spoke to many people who are closely involved - the police, road safety campaigners, people who live and work in the area and people who use the road regularly. There is general agreement that one of the most dangerous parts of the road is the stretch between Ballyrobert - which is at the Crawfordsburn turn-off - and the entrance to Holywood.

The road is best described as a dual carriageway without the safeguards. It is a four-lane highway with nothing separating the traffic. Many Members have used that road on many occasions and are aware of the dangers. The lanes are far too narrow. The speed limit is 50 miles per hour, and a car can stop dead in the outside lane to turn right, whether it is going to or coming from Belfast.

It is sheer madness to allow that to continue; therefore, I am proposing several actions to make the road safe. First, a central crash barrier should be built to separate the lanes of traffic and to prevent people from turning right off the main highway. Secondly, the speed limit should be reduced to at least 40 miles per hour on the stretch between Ballyrobert and the outskirts of Holywood. Currently, the route runs down from a dual carriageway with a central reservation and a speed limit of 60 miles per hour into a road with a speed limit of 50 miles per hour and absolutely no safeguards between the oncoming flows of traffic.

There should also be more rigorous enforcement of the speed limits along the road. For example, new ideas and new legislation should be examined to allow fines to be used to pay for enforcement projects. I will go into that issue in more detail later. Better signage is also needed, and I suggest the use of the speed-reducing strips that are on many dual carriageways to reduce cars' speeds as they come to an intersection. Those measures would be valuable in reducing the speed of traffic on the road.

There is no doubt that excessive speed is a major killer on the Bangor to Belfast Road. It is treated as a speedway, which is why new ways of policing speed limits must be examined. There is such a thing as a "netting- off" scheme, where revenue from fines is used to pay the cost of, for example, new high-tech speed camera schemes. That should be seriously considered, even as a pilot project, for this stretch of road. Apparently, the project has worked successfully in Nottinghamshire. We should try to adopt the best practice exemplified elsewhere in the United Kingdom, in these islands and in continental Europe.

There are many other dangerous points along the stretch of road, including the Rathgael junction on the outskirts of Bangor and the Croft Road junction at Holywood. Parking also poses problems. There are no parking restrictions whatsoever, or occasionally there is a double yellow line. A red line warning that parked cars will be towed away would be a valuable introduction. Time does not permit me to detail other aspects of that issue. I want to give other Colleagues a chance to speak their minds on the issue.

I have spoken about the actions that can be taken to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured on the road. In my call to the Minister for progress, I am also sounding a serious warning. A time will come - and it already has come in the United States - when families of victims test through the courts whether the authorities have done enough to protect road users. We must be conscious of that. The time has come for an end to buck-passing between Departments; they must now augment the strategy and resources for road safety. Much more money is needed for road safety, whether for use by the Department of the Environment, the Department for Regional Development or the Police Service's Traffic Branch. The time has come for action, and I am not just talking about the Bangor to Belfast road; I am talking about roads throughout the Province.

I spoke to a police inspector who said that there must be sea change in the culture that accepts that accidents are inevitable. No level of deaths on the roads is acceptable. Zero tolerance is imperative. The time has come for action so that no more families must bring flowers to the Bangor to Belfast road. I rest my case.

I thank Ms Morrice for bringing the debate to the House. This is an opportunity to discuss a serious problem in north Down. The Bangor to Belfast road has been in its present configuration for about 40 years.

I went to school in the area, and I can recall walking about a mile along that road to church on Sundays. At that stage it was a heavily used road, and it has remained in much the same state and configuration since then, with some modifications.

Traffic flow on the road has increased dramatically over the years. The 'Family of Settlements' document shows that Bangor has had a 20% increase in its population in the past 20 years, and since a majority of people in north Down work outside the area - many of them in Belfast - the traffic flow along that road has increased dramatically.

The road is dangerous. There are four lanes - two each way - closing at what can be a combined speed of 120 miles per hour. Although there is a 50 miles per hour speed limit on the road, most drivers tend to travel about 60 miles per hour and some even faster than that. There are high speeds and high volumes of traffic on a road designed 40 years ago for a much lower volume of traffic. Ms Morrice has already described one of the main difficulties on the road. On the stretch of road between Cultra and Craigavad there are a series of right turns, and some of those arrive as a surprise to the unwary driver because they have just driven over the brow of a hill. Unless drivers know the road, they can suddenly find that the traffic in front of them in the outside lane has stopped dead. Drivers try to cut in, and that leads to accidents.

Action of some sort must be taken to do away with the threat to life described by Ms Morrice. Some years ago I saw a plan for a new motorway on the Craigantlet side in the hills parallel to the road. The difficulty is that the price of land in Northern Ireland is so high that there is no possibility that the Department would be able to buy the land, let alone afford the money to build a motorway. There was another cunning plan to build a parallel motorway on the lough shore side. However, the cost of those motorways is clearly prohibitive, and it is unlikely that they will be built.

What can we do? One solution is to reduce the volume of cars. Colleagues in the House will be aware of the regional development strategy and of the regional transportation strategy currently being developed by the Department for Regional Development. They will also know from previous speeches made in the House that the Bangor railway line is being relaid and that it is to be hoped that there will be new trains on that line next year as a flagship for the way ahead in public transport. That will allow the Department to encourage commuters to leave their cars in a park-and-ride and travel to and from Belfast by train. If all goes well, that should reduce substantially the volume of traffic on the road. However, that will not do away with the problem.

Ms Morrice identified various actions, and I agree with most of them. Right turns must be banned, and that is something that can be done fairly easily. Some thought would have to be given as to how people who live on the opposite side of the road get home. One option would be to construct one or two new crossover bridges. That would be expensive, but traffic volume will increase in the future - although that could be reduced by public transport - so we must start looking 10 years ahead and construct those bridges to allow people to get back over the carriageway and have access to their homes.

The idea of an Armco barrier is attractive on the fast sections of the road, and provided that there are crossover areas, that could be managed. Clearly it is not suitable where people travelling away from Belfast need to get to the Craigantlet side. They must be able to get into their houses somehow. So that is perhaps a combination and a development of possible solutions.

It may be possible to introduce rush-hour speed limits. Experiments on the M25, where 60 miles per hour speed limits were introduced, showed that traffic travelling at a constant pace produced a much larger volume of traffic going safely through a given point at a particular time. There may be a case for introducing some form of rush-hour speed limit.

I oppose Ms Morrice's contention that there should be low speed limits at all times on the Bangor to Belfast road. During the day, when there is a much lower volume of traffic, it would be unfair to interfere too much with the rights of the motorist to drive at a normal and sensible speed, provided that the right-turn risks are taken away. That would not be as much of a problem in such circumstances. Actions must be taken that would lead to a suitable compromise so that there is not too much interference during the day, but that deal with problems at difficult times.

I urge the Minister to re-examine the problems on the Bangor to Belfast road. Action must be taken now, because the projections and the problems will get worse unless there is a plan to deal with them.

I shall speak briefly on the motion for two reasons. First, as a frequent user of the Bangor to Belfast road, I know the problems associated with it and the volume of traffic that it carries. Secondly, in the enforced absence of my party Colleague Mrs Eileen Bell, a Member for the constituency in which the road lies, we would not wish the voice of Alliance to go unheard by default.

Coming from the Ards Peninsula, I hope that I can be forgiven for comparing roads in my area with the Bangor to Belfast road and for saying, as gently as I can, that some people do not know when they are well off. The Bangor to Belfast road has been a major problem for many years. It was a problem in the days when the volume of traffic was but a small fraction of the present cavalry charge. Experts have often considered the problem, and alterations have been carried out as a result of their studies. The camber has been improved on some of the more dangerous bends. The road was widened slightly where it was possible to do so. A section of dual carriageway was built at the Bangor end of the road. However, the problems persist.

There are too many cars for too narrow a road. Speeding seems to be the norm, and unfortunately serious accidents are inevitable. Widening the road is not possible where it is most needed, and no amount of campaigning will overcome that fact. The entire Northern Ireland block grant would be needed to compensate the adjoining landowners for eating into their front gardens, never mind the cost of the construction. The Alliance Party would support any agreed solutions that would make road safety a priority in order to cut down on fatalities.

Perhaps the matter is being examined from the wrong angle. Should we not try to reduce the volume of traffic instead of trying to accommodate it? Should we not try to improve driving standards and to cut down speeding on the Bangor to Belfast road? Ms Morrice spoke about that issue.

I am glad that the Minister for Regional Development is with us today. I am sure that he will listen to what I have to say on this issue. Modest investment in the A20 from Portaferry to Newtownards would improve road safety on that road. The experts tell us, however, that many people in a similar situation will give up the use of their cars if they are provided with an acceptable, reliable and dependable form of public transport. We should seek to have improved bus and rail services that the public could have more confidence in, and which would surely stop many drivers from killing themselves and, indeed, killing or injuring others, through excessive speeding and lack of attention when using this very busy road.

Safer driving and a lighter volume of traffic would benefit everyone, and those goals are attainable. On behalf of my Colleague Eileen Bell, I fully support every effort being made by the Minister and the Department for Regional Development to provide a good safe passageway on this road, thereby saving lives.

Although I am not a Member for the North Down constituency, I would like to make a few points, because I travel along the road regularly, having relatives in Bangor.

The dangers of the Belfast to Bangor road are well known. Many people use the road to travel to the north Down coast, which is a popular area for day trips, especially at Easter and during the summer months. However, the road is, sadly, only one of many in Northern Ireland that has accident black spots and many fatalities. My sympathy goes out to all those who have lost loved ones on our roads. However, in listening to the debate and what has been said about greater use of public transport, I think that there is some hypocrisy, given that most Assembly Members use cars. I take the point, but traffic volumes will not decrease - if anything, they will increase.

Unfortunately, the Patten Report on policing has had a detrimental effect on policing resources. Recently, there have been reports that the police traffic branch for the Greater Belfast area, which includes the Belfast to Bangor road, will be cut back. This decimation of police traffic branch resources will, sadly, almost certainly result in more accidents on the Belfast to Bangor road and on many other roads. Driving standards will deteriorate on all roads throughout Northern Ireland due to a lack of on-the-ground policing. We need adequate policing resources to police our roads properly and to catch those drivers who are intent on careless and reckless behaviour, and who endanger not only themselves and their passengers but also all road users.

The penalties for motoring offences are hopelessly inadequate, particularly for those who are guilty of causing death or serious injury. Several constituents who have lost loved ones have contacted me in the past few years, and I am sure that most Members have come into contact with relatives who have lost loved ones as a result of careless or reckless driving. Their pain is then compounded when those who are guilty of causing the deaths receive totally inadequate sentences. In some cases they receive only suspended sentences. Sentences must be tougher, and magistrates must be provided with the necessary legislation to deal with such offenders.

The proposer of the motion, Ms Morrice, is quite right in saying that the speed limit is too high on stretches of this road. However, the speed limit must be enforced to reduce the speed. The greatest deterrent is to have a visible police traffic branch presence on the road. I have travelled on the Belfast to Bangor road about six times in the past couple of months and, through no fault of the police, I have yet to see a police vehicle sitting by the roadside. Unfortunately, there will be more accidents and fatalities on that road, and elsewhere, unless more resources are put into the police traffic branch, rather than reducing its resources.

First, I congratulate the Member for North Down, Ms Morrice, in securing an Adjournment debate on this subject. I thank her for raising the matter and for bringing it before the Assembly. It is a matter of considerable importance in its specific content and in the general issue that it raises.

I apologise to Ms Morrice, as my Colleague Sammy Wilson indicated that he would like to take part in the debate. I regret to inform the House that his mother passed away at lunchtime today. I am sure the House would like me to convey its condolences and sympathy to him and his family.

I assure the House that road safety is one of my Department's top priorities. I am fully committed, along with the Roads Service and other agencies, to doing all that I can to reduce the number of people killed and injured on our roads. I assure the House that I take the views expressed seriously, as well as the suggestions that have been made. I will give an initial response to some of those issues; however, the Department will have to look at some of them, particularly at a technical level. I hope, in due course, to respond more fully to Members who have raised specific points.

I was aware that the timing of today's debate was significant to the Member for North Down, Ms Morrice, as it is almost a year since her friend was tragically killed in an accident on the Belfast to Bangor road. I extend my condolences to the family and to Ms Morrice.

I was somewhat disappointed by the Member's speech. It lacked one important ingredient: recognition that there are causes of accidents that have nothing to do with roads or the conditions thereof. That was rectified in the speeches of Mr McCarthy and Mr Boyd. I want to place on record, although I shall not comment on it as the matter is sub judice, that someone will be appearing in court as a result of the case that was the spur to Ms Morrice raising the issue, and there will be an attempt to prosecute for driving without due care and attention.

I have a different number for fatalities, although that is not the key issue - it depends on where one believes the Belfast to Bangor road starts and ends. However, of the six fatalities that I am aware of in the three years mentioned by the hon Member, every one was the fault of the driver of a vehicle. Inattention, diverted attention, excessive speed and driving without care are causing the accidents. People, not roads, cause accidents. That was missing from the hon Member's speech. She said that "we have the power to change the situation" - if the "we" is the community as a whole, I agree, because it ultimately comes down to the people behind the wheel as to whether we can change it and the impact that we can have.

Taking the advice of the Member for North Down, Mr McFarland, I will speed up at this stage to place on record what the Roads Service has done on the Belfast to Bangor road. It is a main arterial route into Belfast, and it has a two-way traffic flow of almost 40,000 vehicles per day in some sections. Therefore, it is an important trunk road and commuter route.

Safety along that route is of particular concern. Therefore, the Roads Service has been active in carrying out several schemes, specifically directed at improving road safety, over the last year or so. I hope the House will allow me to outline some of these schemes, indicating the work undertaken.

First, high friction surfacing has been applied to almost all the signal-controlled junctions along the route, including the Sullivan Place and Shore Road junctions in Holywood, Tillysburn and, most recently, the Ballysallagh Road junction near Bangor. High level cantilever traffic signals were replaced, and additional signal heads on high poles have been provided at Cultra Station Road and Station Road, Craigavad. Safety improvements to prevent right- turning accidents have been undertaken at two junctions on the dual carriageway between Holywood and Belfast. Significant lengths of cycle track have been provided from Tillysburn to Holywood and from Ballygilbert to Springhill, near Bangor. We have resurfaced one and a half miles from Cootehall Road to Springhill, which has improved the skidding resistance of the road surface.

The urban traffic control system has been extended to cover 10 signalised junctions on the A2. The system continuously monitors the traffic signals for faults 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Maximum efficiency is ensured by altering the traffic signal timings to cater for the variety of traffic flows throughout the day. We have installed closed-circuit television cameras to monitor traffic flows at three additional junctions. The timings of traffic signals at Seahill junction were altered to create gaps in the traffic flow for the benefit of residents turning right at the nearby Larch Hill junction.

In January last year, we installed speed camera traffic signs along the entire route to support the police campaign of an increased level of speed enforcement on the road, in a bid to reduce the level of accidents.

I was interested in the Minister's remark that it is people, not roads, who cause accidents. He went on to list a host of actions carried out to make roads safer. Will the Minister not agree that safer roads can prevent accidents?

There are steps that we can take and have taken, to control people's behaviour and how they drive. I will address the specific issues raised by the hon Member. I also want to talk about some further safety improvements in the pipeline.

Roads Service officials have been developing a solution to the road accident problems at the junction of Rathgael Road and Old Belfast Road. That junction has the worst history of road accidents on the A2. The Roads Service has commissioned consultants to undertake a traffic study on the A2 Bangor ring road, Rathgael Road and Balloo Road. As a result of that study, junction improvements including the installation of traffic signals will be carried out in the forthcoming financial year, at a cost of £200,000. Roads Service also plans to resurface a section of road between Whinney Hill and Ballygrainey Road in the year 2002-03, at a cost of £600,000. That will contribute to road safety by maintaining good skidding resistance on the road surface.

For the longer term, as Members will be aware, my Department is developing a regional transportation strategy. Safety is one of the strategy's five key objectives, with an estimated outcome of a reduction in accidents of 5% from the current level. During the discussion on the regional transportation strategy, the Member who tabled the Adjournment debate today missed the point that without the intervention contained in the strategy, accident rates would be expected to rise by 14% over the current level by the year 2012. We are planning for a reduction under the strategy.

The outworking of the regional transportation strategy will be through transport plans that will make more specific proposals for the actions illustrated in the strategy.

The Bangor corridor is being dealt with through the preparation of the Belfast Metropolitan Transport Plan. That work involves the consideration of transport corridors, including the Belfast to Bangor route. Investigations will be carried out, using a multi-modal-study approach and the resultant recommendations will include measures for improving public transport and the road network in the Greater Belfast area.

There is a truism in the Member from Strangford's comments about paying more attention to getting people off the roads and into other modes of transport, rather than having to deal with the impact of greater traffic flows. The Belfast to Bangor route seems to be ideally placed for that, in light of the investment that is being made on the railway. There is a new station; new track is being laid; and new trains are coming onto that line. Undoubtedly, that improved service should attract people to use an alternative mode of transport. I hope that the Member will encourage her constituents to do so.

The basic argument that I have advanced is that the Department has provided a new, completely modernised station. I was there about a week ago. The Department is currently providing new track, and I hope that that will be completed soon. It has already set the contract for 23 new trains. I do not think that anyone could have expected the Department to progress so far in the short space of time since devolution.

That is not an immediate solution. However, if the hon Member wants an immediate solution, she has not provided any to the House today. The proposals that she has put forward will take even longer than what I have suggested.

How long will it take to change the speed limit to 40 miles per hour?

Order, order.

It is not a case of simply throwing out a suggestion and believing that, automatically, because the figures on a pole along the Belfast to Bangor road are changed, that will make a difference to the behaviour of drivers. A reduction of the speed limit would not necessarily mean that there would be any driver improvement. By and large, drivers who cause accidents are not the ones who obey the speed limit restrictions on roads.

However, the proposed measures will be used to inform the statutory process - to develop the Belfast metropolitan area plan, which is being led by the Department of the Environment. The draft area plan is due for publication at the end of the year. I hope that I have demonstrated the Department's promotion of improvements on the Belfast to Bangor road, particularly over the past year or so. I assure Members that I will continue to give high priority to road safety engineering in the future, on that route and on others, as far as is practical and affordable.

I want to deal with some of the specific issues that were raised during the debate. Ms Morrice made reference to erecting what she described as a "crash barrier" - which, I believe, departmental officials refer to as a "central safety fence". She may not be aware that any type of central safety fence or barrier must be set back from passing traffic by a certain minimum distance. The width of the barrier, together with the minimum distance required on both sides, amounts to a significant part of the central reserve - normally an absolute minimum of two metres.

That would require the removal of one of the four existing lanes, which would result in a catastrophic loss of capacity and severe congestion. Alternatively, the carriageway could be widened by the width of one lane, but reference has been made to the likely cost and disruption that would be caused by the acquisition process.

What about the cost of the deaths?

If the hon Lady would allow me to address the issue, I could then deal with the other matters that follow from it.

Apart from the cost, and the disruption that it will cause to her constituents in that area, the installation of a safety fence will impede private access along that part of the route. Unlike modern dual carriageways, there is insufficient space in which to do a U-turn at the next available public road junction.

Even if we were to contribute to the cost involved, using such a proposal to resolve some of the issues would give rise to a further safety hazard at another point along the road. Road engineers and safety experts must take account of the overall capacity of the road and the likely result of any measures they take.

Right turns were mentioned. One of the hon Lady's Colleagues has been exercised about a right turn into the Culloden Hotel. My officials were willing to accompany her to speak to the hotel proprietors about the issue. From the Department's point of view, having no right turn would encourage people to use the traffic lights a little further down the road. My officials are still willing to talk about it, but the hotel owners will have a strong view on it. If a right turn were banned, the hotel owners would appeal against it. The issue is not as simple as it might first appear.

A new road was suggested, and the cost difficulties of such a road were discussed. We are dealing with the regional transportation strategy and the area plans. Ultimately, the Assembly would have to fund such a route. If we looked for a track for such a road in the Craigavad/ Cultra area, there might be an objection or two, thereby prolonging the process. I hope that the rail network would have new trains running by the time that process would be completed.

Having given an off-the-cuff response to many of the issues that the hon Lady raised, I will consider them in more detail. I sympathise with the need to control speed. My personal belief is that it is an issue of enforcement. I told her Assembly Colleague so when she and my Colleague, the Member for South Belfast, discussed the Saintfield Road area with me.

One permanent speed camera will do more to reduce speed than many rumble strips and other features that my Department could implement. Ultimately, whether people feel that they can get away with breaking the speed limit determines how hard their foot goes on the pedal. I must agree with the Member for South Antrim that enforcement becomes a key issue. As a result of political exercises, the police do not have the manpower to put a car on the road to slow traffic on the Belfast to Bangor road, or on any other roads around the country.

I have driven many times in other parts of the United Kingdom. One difference in areas where there are great problems in enforcing speed limits, is that there are constant reminders of speed limits that drivers cannot ignore. Drivers may look at the road in front and not see the signs beside them, but large circles on the road reinforce the speed limit. I have asked my Department to consider that measure. While I think such measures might be useful in reinforcing the message, road and safety engineers might have other reasons to suggest that they are not advantageous and might do violence to the overall principle of road safety.

The House would be doing a grave disservice to the people of Northern Ireland, particularly those touched by tragedy of road accidents, if it perpetuated the myth that road accidents can be eliminated only by better roads. Any road safety professional, whether among traffic police, road safety educators, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) or highway safety engineers, will say that the best way of cutting accident numbers is for each road user - particularly drivers - to take a personal responsibility for using roads safely. Road users can do that by keeping to an appropriate speed, driving with due care and attention, using seat belts and following the adage "Don't drink and drive".

Of course, my Department will do what it can to improve the sites where there are accident clusters and where steps can be taken to control drivers. It is right to do that, but it is not realistic to expect that highway engineering alone is the answer to the scourge of road accidents.

In conclusion, I am sure that the House will join me in supporting the police, who must enforce the road traffic laws, and in exhorting all road users to take personal responsibility for road safety.

Adjourned at 2.50 pm.

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