RECENT calls for central crash barriers to be installed on the A31 were repeated last week, after yet another road accident involving a vehicle crossing the central reservation.

The accident happened last Friday around 9-45 am, on the A31 at Froyle approximately quarter of a mile east of the Hen and Chicken public house.

The accident occurred at exactly the same location at which three people were killed in a similar incident last September.

According to local police, a Vauxhall Vectra, being driven by a man in his 20s from the Portsmouth area was travelling towards Farnham on the A31, when he lost control of his vehicle.

As the car crossed the central reservation, it began to roll a number of times. Fortunately, it managed to avoid traffic coming in the other direction. The car ended up on its side, leaning up against trees at the side of the Alton-bound carriageway.

The man suffered extensive bruising and suspected spinal damage, and was taken to the Royal Hampshire County Hospital at Winchester. Though his injuries are serious, they are not considered to be life threatening.

Hampshire County Council is already in the process of conducting a feasibility study into installing crash barriers at four locations along the road, following a recent succession of incidents involving crossovers.

Mr Andy Perks (21), a general assistant at the nearby Hen and Chicken pub, said: ÒIf the council puts crash barriers along that road, it would be the best thing they ever did. I donÕt really understand why they havenÕt done it already.

ÒI didnÕt see this particular accident but I have been here for about two-and-a-half years now, and I have seen so many accidents along this stretch of dual carriageway. It usually averages out to about once a fortnight, and I have even had to call an ambulance myself in the past.

ÒI understand that it will be a very expensive thing to do, but you canÕt put a price on peopleÕs lives and it would probably work out cheaper than ferrying all those people to hospital all the time.Ó

East Hampshire District Council member for Froyle and Bentley, and vice chairman of the East Hampshire Road Safety Council, Chris Butler, said: ÒI brought the issue up at the last meeting of the Road Safety Council back in November, and I will be bringing it up again at the next meeting. I am expecting feedback on the procedure so far.

ÒI want to see central barriers along the entire length of the road, but I donÕt think for a minute that it will be done. You cannot predict where an accident is going to happen. There are those sites that are more likely to see an accident, but these accidents can happen anywhere.

ÒThere are places where the existing trees are a sufficient barrier, but there are also places where there is no kind of barrier at all and the central reservation is only a couple of metres wide.

ÒEven if the county council does install crash barriers at all of the four sites it has highlighted, I would not be satisfied with this.

ÒCurrent legislation says that all new dual carriageways have to have central barriers, so why donÕt the old ones? They carry the same traffic at the same speeds.

ÒI understand the cost implications involved, but what is the cost of a life, or indeed lives? Crossover accidents often involve more than one person.Ó

Pc Eric Martin of Whitehill traffic police, said: ÒAs with the vast majority of road accidents, this crash seems to have been caused by driver error rather than a fault in the road system. Because of the circumstances involved with this particular incident, we are not 100 per cent sure that crash barriers would have stopped the car anyway.

ÒI have conducted a feasibility study for crash barriers on the A31, along with officers from the road safety department of Hampshire County Council, and we have identified four points on the road that we think should possibly have barriers. I can confirm that one of these points is the location of this crash.

ÒThe county council has been informed of the incident, so that it can be taken into account during their decision-making process, should it be deemed appropriate to do so.

ÒIn conducting the study, we had to look at why a vehicle on a certain stretch of road might lose control; if there is a particularly fast bend or if there is a junction or something like that.

ÒThe A31 does seem to have a lot of accidents, the vast majority of which are caused by excessive speed for the road and its conditions.

ÒI would hope that any action taken as a result of this feasibility study will be taken within the next financial year, but I stress that this is only an estimate.Ó

ÒThe proposals have been taken away by the county council and the next step is that they will consider the financial issues and the practicality issues involved. Barriers have to be placed a certain distance away from the carriageway, so it is possible that their installation in some locations may not be practical.

ÒIt is easy to say that a road needs crash barriers, but the process is not as easy as that. At the end of the day, it is Hampshire County CouncilÕs decision as to whether or not barriers are installed, I am merely here to advise.Ó

Carol Longman, a spokesman for Hampshire County Council, said: ÒCrossover accidents are random, rare, multi-factor events that can happen anywhere, and spending taxpayers money on barriers along the whole of the A31 is not a viable option. However, we are trying to pin down the specific points which would benefit from barriers.

ÒThe four areas of the A31 under scrutiny are; the county boundary with Surrey, the scene of this accident between the Hen and Chicken and the Bentley turnoff, the section of dual carriageway south of Four Marks and a section 800 metres north of the Avington crossroads.

ÒThe feasibility study is very much in its preliminary stages at the moment, and we are nowhere near reaching a conclusion at present. But we do hope that any action taken will be carried out within the next financial year.Ó