THIS week I am hosting a debate in Parliament on safety on the A34. The road is not fit for purpose. Over the past five years, more than 50 accidents have occurred resulting in death or serious injury. The entire carriageway has had to be closed 56 times. The most recent accident claimed the lives of four, including three children. The poor quality of the road is also having a greater and greater impact on the economic productivity of our area. Action is long overdue.

Richard Benyon, Nicola Blackwood, and I have joined with the A34 Action Group to press the Government to undertake works to improve this stretch of road, and to prevent any future avoidable deaths and injuries from taking place. There are already some improvement works planned, such as a Road Traffic Management System that is being implemented throughout Oxfordshire to improve several pinch-points, and other technology improvements planned for 2019/20. However, there is more that can be done.

A feasibility study would be the obvious first step: if it was focused on traffic calming measures, coupled with safe stopping places and improved slip roads, I believe that safety could be significantly increased.

Immediate safety improvements would be strongly supported by thousands of local residents and would be relatively quick to establish. One rapidly effective measure would be the installation of chevrons along the length of the A34: these could be quickly added to the A-road and would be an immediate guide to drivers of how far they should be away from each other to avoid serious accidents.

Enforcement should also be a top priority, and some improvements on the road should allow Thames Valley Police to carry out their duties with increased efficiency. Speed cameras could be very useful in areas where speed is an issue. However, static cameras cause rapid breaking and can increase risk. Average speed cameras would be better in certain sections of the A-road where speeding has been a known issue.

Flow of traffic is also a problem, as people are being held up by sheer weight of traffic. "Crawler lanes" in certain areas that allow slower vehicles such as lorries to have a lane of their own, but still allow overtaking, could also assist in this area.

There are a number of junctions that where improvements could greatly help the entry and exit onto the road. Pear Tree, Hinksey, Botley, East Ilsley North and Southbound and Beedon Northbound are the ones that immediately spring to mind. The road lacks a hard shoulder in many places and adding them to more areas along the route would assist in preventing the carriageways being blocked by breakdowns or minor accidents, and aid enforcement by giving the police somewhere to stop.

The A34 is a critical link between the M4 and the M40, and allows for key strategic link for trips around Oxford. Securing a funding stream to support the investment to make the highway safer would provide great economic benefits to the wider area. I know that Oxfordshire County Council have recently written to Chris Grayling, the Secretary of State for Transport to raise this mater, and I look forward to seeing his response, as well as hearing the minister’s response to the debate I will hold today.