who pays for the crash barrier repairs ?

[timmo]

In Germany I believe if you have an accident and damage the central reservation barriers you have to pay for them
Is this the case in the UK ?
Ive seen so many of these damaged barriers but have often wondered whether the Insurance or Councils pay for them

[Burgmeister]

Your insurance co pays i think.

[JustinP1]

If you smash it, you pay for it!

Or your insurance company does...

[Chrisgr31]

Yes, when I hit the Central Reservation on the M25 I was able to get to the hard shoulder. One of the first things the police did, having being assured I had no passengers which is another story, went to see how much damage I had done to the barrier as my insurance company would need to pay for it.

Mind you this was around 12 years ago and as far as I can recall I was never asked for my insurance details.

[mark69sheer]

About seven years ago I was forced into a central reservation barier by a driver who pulled out to overtake without looking.

I would have had a barrier to pay for because even though the police caught the other driver he denied anything and since I swerved to avaiod him only my car was damaged.

However I didn't have to pay for the damage because the week previously the test driver for Jaguar had stuffed a prototype S class into the same barrier and they were allready being chased for the costs...

[Mg6b]

Crash barrier repairs stand at around £1000 per meter damaged on motorways!

[Dwight VanDriver]

Generally its the person that caused the damage who will be invoiced to pay, most probably through Insurance for the vehicle. Plod used to supply LA/HA with such details, presumably they still do.

Otherwise if it is a shunt and run LA/HA will have to foot the bill.

dvd

[goskins17]

Generally, the HATO's/Highways Agency are given details of the driver to contact them for reclaiming the costs, the going rate is about £1000 a lamp post, and about the same for 3 lengths of barrier.

[ChrisKKK]

I think its the same for street furniture. I always wondered what you are supposed to do if you say hit a sign post - do you let the insurance company deal or contact the Local Authority or the Police.

I seam to remember that there is a law that if you cannot establish the owner you have to call the Police but i guess if its street furniture its pretty obvious who owns it.

[Sgt Bilko]

From the Highways Agency's Annual Report

In 2006-07 the full cost of infrastructure damage [from collisions/falling debris etc] was £13,030,000 with £12,717,000 recovered, leaving only a deficit of £313,000 [unrecoverable].

[flemke]

Mg6b said:

Crash barrier repairs stand at around £1000 per meter damaged on motorways!

If we're talking about barrier with two strips of armco, that's a mere 16 times the charge for barrier replacement at the Nurburgring.

Barrier replacement on a motorway will be more dangerous and more complex, but 16 times as much?

Let's see - private contractor does the work and calculates the charges, but is separated by a government agency from the person who pays.
Person who pays has no choice, cannot look around for a more competitive offer.

And who says there's such a thing as rip-off Britain?

[wolf1]

flemke said:

Mg6b said:

Crash barrier repairs stand at around £1000 per meter damaged on motorways!

If we're talking about barrier with two strips of armco, that's a mere 16 times the charge for barrier replacement at the Nurburgring.

Barrier replacement on a motorway will be more dangerous and more complex, but 16 times as much?

Let's see - private contractor does the work and calculates the charges, but is separated by a government agency from the person who pays.
Person who pays has no choice, cannot look around for a more competitive offer.

And who says there's such a thing as rip-off Britain?

I think it's because of the logistics behind closing the motorway and all the extra gear they have to use.
I'm probably wrong but it's just a thought.

[Sgt Bilko]

Pretty much so. Plus the barrier on the motorway will be to a higher specification (to withstand artics going at it 56mph at a 10 degree angle etc etc). Also the cost is average. Take into account lampposts, emergency phone's, drainage channels, signals, signs, gantries etc.

[flemke]

wolf1 said:

flemke said:

Mg6b said:

Crash barrier repairs stand at around £1000 per meter damaged on motorways!

If we're talking about barrier with two strips of armco, that's a mere 16 times the charge for barrier replacement at the Nurburgring.

Barrier replacement on a motorway will be more dangerous and more complex, but 16 times as much?

Let's see - private contractor does the work and calculates the charges, but is separated by a government agency from the person who pays.
Person who pays has no choice, cannot look around for a more competitive offer.

And who says there's such a thing as rip-off Britain?

I think it's because of the logistics behind closing the motorway and all the extra gear they have to use.
I'm probably wrong but it's just a thought.

How often is the motorway actually closed? I would not have thought it was very often.
Is it not usually a case of coning off a lane?

Wrt the additional cost of lamp posts and phones, I took Mg6b to mean that the cost of the armco replacement alone was a grand a metre.

I must admit, when I wrote my post I was thinking of a tv show last year in which investigative reporters tried to analyse the operations of private contractors who have a deal with the LA to look after roads.
They followed one crew for a day. IIRC, after the lads had clocked in, changed into their working gear, had a cup of coffee, got into the van, stopped at a news agent's, stopped at a bookie's, etc, etc, in the course of a "full" day they had actually spent a total of 57 minutes repairing the road.