Warning On British Roads

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27675, 3 June 1955, Page 13

Warning On British Roads

LONDON, June 1. A British road expert warned today that domestic motoring will become impossible in Britain soon unless a progressive road policy is provided immediately. He is the chairman of Britain’s Royal Automobile Club (Mr Wilfred Andrews). Mr Andrews, who has just returned from a visit to the United States, described Britain’s roads as “wretched and hopelessly inadequate.” He likened them to “a man who has suffered 30 years of creeping paralysis •and is resigned to his fate.” Mr Andrews told a press conference today: "The chaotic mess around London this morning will be an everyday feature of our life in a very few years—possibly by 1960.” He praised the American drive and energy in dealing with road problems, and contrasted President Eisenhower’s call for ton priority for transport with Britain’s “smug pride” in a plan that does not nearly catch up with the problem. “The British Government could pay for a proper road system five times over from the £400.000.000 a year it raises in road taxation,” he said.