Debate contribution: A20 Portaferry Road, Newtownards: Road Safety Improvements
Debate contribution by Mr John O'Dowd on .
- MLA
- Mr John O'Dowd
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 12 March 2024
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Adjournment
- Heading
- A20 Portaferry Road, Newtownards: Road Safety Improvements
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4267256
Read the official Assembly record
Text
First, I thank Michelle McIlveen for instigating this important debate on road safety on the A20 Portaferry Road. As has been pointed out, every life lost is a tragedy for those involved, and that is why road safety is one of my highest priorities as Infrastructure Minister. I have listened intently to the comments on the issues raised by Members and have heard their concerns about road safety along that stretch of the A20. Road safety is an issue that impacts on us all in our everyday lives. We all have a personal responsibility to travel in a way that keeps ourselves safe. We also appreciate our shared responsibility towards other road users. My Department's role in contributing to that responsibility is very important to me. As Members will know, unfortunately, road safety statistics across the North have been following a worrying trend. Last year, 71 people died on our roads. That is the highest figure in the past eight years and is significantly higher than in 2022, when 55 people lost their lives, and in 2021, when 50 people lost their lives. As of 7 March this year, a further 10 people had lost their lives on our roads. Each of those deaths is a tragedy for the families and communities impacted. It can never be acceptable that people are seriously injured or killed on our roads. That principle underpins my approach to road safety and is a daily focus for my officials as they seek to discern the right response. I turn specifically to the A20. As representatives of the area will know, the A20 is a central feature of life for those living on the Ards peninsula and the many thousands of people who use it daily. I am aware that the A20 is a popular local tourist drive, and volumes can be much higher during holiday periods and summer weekends. I have travelled it a number of times during those periods. As we all know, the road runs parallel to the shoreline of Strangford lough for a significant length. While that gives it a rich and beautiful character, the resulting alignment sharpens the focus on safety issues such as sight lines and safe overtaking opportunities. I am very aware of the number of collisions that have occurred on that stretch of road from 2020 to 2023. There were 48 collisions reported, and, sadly, five of those resulted in fatalities. Again, each of those deaths is a tragedy, especially for the friends and families of the people who lost their lives. My Department has a range of policies, and I want to explain briefly what is behind those. As an elected representative, it can be an affront when an official turns round and says, "That does not meet the policy". Of course, we have to assure ourselves that the policy is up to date and that it is based on evidence and best practice. As for the skill sets of our well-experienced team of officials, be they in my Department directly or in the DFI Roads division that covers that area, in interpreting policy, I can assure you that, when I look at such matters, I quiz my officials on how they have interpreted a policy and what the outcome of that is. Before we had this debate, I engaged with my officials. They have offered to sit down with elected representatives — it might be useful to start this in Strangford — and go through why they have come to some of their conclusions and to further take on board comments from local representatives. That would be a very useful exercise. In fairness to my officials — you will appreciate this — road safety is of deep concern to them as well. They are members of the public. They are road users, and their families use roads. They, therefore, want to make sure that we get it right at all times. Officials continually develop specific programmes of work, known as collision site remedial measures, to reduce the number and severity of collisions at sites where there has been a cluster of collisions.
Development of those programmes has informed our review of collision data from the PSNI, which includes detailed analysis of the factors deemed to have caused an accident, as best as they can be identified. A review of the collisions that have occurred along the A20 highlights that there are two locations where there are small concentrations of collisions, tragic though those are. First, in the vicinity of Teal Rocks, which has been mentioned many times during the debate, there have been six injury collisions. Secondly, at Finlay's Road junction, there have been five injury collisions. The data — it does not seem appropriate to talk about "data" when we are talking about people's lives. The research indicates that there were different reasons for each collision at those two locations, which makes identifying one intervention or even a group of interventions that would have made a difference to those collisions a lot more challenging. Away from those two locations, the collisions that have occurred on the A20 have generally been spread out along the 18-mile stretch. Again, there is no common cause, and a wide range of factors were recorded. As some Members have said, any investment that we make needs to be effective in improving road safety along that stretch of road. The varied picture of causes and location makes that extremely challenging. That said, my officials do not simply stop at that. In fact, over the past number of years, they have introduced a number of road safety measures along the entire A20 from Newtownards to Portaferry. They continue to examine what more can be done to make a causative difference. For example, the Department has enhanced signing and road markings at the Finlay's Road junction to make the presence of the junction more apparent to motorists who may not be familiar with the area. In an effort to further improve driver awareness, warning signage, verge marking posts and white lines along the route have been upgraded. I am pleased to inform Members that my officials are preparing a rolling 10-year resurfacing programme of stretches of the A20 Portaferry Road between Newtownards and Portaferry. I hope that the first project of 750 metres of resurfacing, which will extend from the Teal Rocks junction, will happen in 2024-25, subject to confirmation of my budget. That programme of resurfacing will address any defects in the road, creating an improved surface that will enhance the safety of our road network. Other planned works on the A20 include a bus lay-by and hard stand at Strangford filling station beside Teal Rocks and footway near Cunningburn Road junction, which will complete the footway from Newtownards to Greyabbey and make the area safer for pedestrians. Just to check with Miss McIlveen, is that the same location as the rolling planning permission?
That is a different location; OK. The draft road safety strategy to 2030, which was published in October 2021, is being revisited. I hope to present it to the Executive in the coming weeks. The strategy will set out my Department's approach to road safety in line with the internationally recognised Safe System approach, which accepts that collisions will happen but should never result in death or serious injury. The prevention of death and serious injury is focused under three key pillars: safe vehicles, safe roads and safe people. The debate calls into question whether significant sections of the A20 are safe. I commit to Members here that I will continue to engage with my officials in that regard. I again thank Michelle for bringing the Adjournment debate and the Members who contributed to it. As I said, I will continue to engage with my officials on road safety along the A20. However — this is not a comment on any individual accident that has happened on the A20 or elsewhere — the best way to ensure the safety of our roads and to fulfil our long-term goal of eliminating death and serious injury on the roads by 2050 is by changing driver behaviour. No matter how much my Department spends on improving roads, if all of us drivers do not change their attitude towards speeding and careless driving, our death toll, which has increased in the past year, will continue to increase. I will turn to a number of specific matters. Michelle, I do not have the full details of flooding along the road in front of me.
The road surface has been reported as being slippy in various areas. My officials are looking at that and examining ways in which we can improve the situation. That may result in resurfacing. I will also ask my officials to look at the matter of lighting at junctions.
On the matter of coastal erosion, my Department is responsible for the road and a point just beyond the road. We have had to install a number of flood defences against that wall. If there are further weaknesses, I will ask my officials to look into them. If any Members have particular points that they would like examined, please inform my office, and we will follow up on them. I think that there is one way in which we can ensure the regular maintenance of the footway. I will ask my officials to follow up on that to ensure that there is engagement with landowners along the route to ensure that they are aware of their statutory obligations. The speed limit is one of the policy decisions that we have talked about. It is currently based on best practice. I will ask officials to review it, but the issue goes back to personal responsibility and driver responsibility. If drivers ignore a 60 mph sign, will they ignore a 40 mph sign? That is the balance that has to be struck. I can, however, assure Members that the safety issues along that road are under active consideration in their entirety.
1,668 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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