Being driven to distraction? Motorways will improve view

TRANSPORT bosses believe they have a completely natural antidote to the tedium of a lengthy stint behind the wheel: the Great British countryside.

Highways England (HE) has announced new motorways will offer panoramic views of rolling hills and fields in a bid to stop driver fatigue and to reduce crashes.

It has unveiled 10 principles to be followed during the design of forthcoming schemes, including making them innovative, environmentally sustainable and long-lasting.

But its ambition is also to create roads that will be “appreciated for its usefulness but also its elegance, reflecting in its design the beauty of the natural, built and historic environment through which it passes, and enhancing it where possible”.

HE will seek to ensure scenic landscapes are visible to motorists as it designs £15 billion of improvements to motorways and major A-roads by 2021.

Mike Wilson, the HE chief engineer, said: “Creating different vistas, different environments to consider, is a way of stimulating the road user. You might argue they’re safer because of it.”

He said he did not believe that drivers would be distracted by the scenery. Interesting views, he added, could “help them stay awake”.

Driver fatigue is a major problem on Britain’s roads. Some 67 people were killed and 479 seriously injured in crashes in 2016 when driver fatigue was recorded as a contributory factor.

Jack Cousens, of the AA, said: “Britain has some of the best landscapes in the world, so it’s good to see Highways England showcasing the nation’s natural beauty.”