A REPORT which ruled out full dualling of the A66 trans-Pennine route has been condemned by a man whose family was almost wiped out in an horrific accident on the road.

Mr Rod Hall claimed consultants commissioned by the Highways Agency had placed a monetary value on human life by dismissing as too expensive full dualling of the Scotch Corner to Penrith road.

Mr Hall, of Reeth, in Swaledale, his wife, and their four children narrowly escaped death when their Land Rover was hit by a car overtaking in the opposite direction on a single carriageway stretch.

Following the accident near Temple Sowerby, Cumbria, in June, a police officer who saw the wrecked vehicle was unsure how even one person had escaped alive.

"I went forward and smashed my face on the middle of the steering wheel and still have three metal plates in my jaw, my wife, Lorraine, almost severed her thumb and was losing arterial blood," said Mr Hall.

"Twelve-year-old Matthew was thrown out through the back door, the three-year-old twins were flung through the air, one of them, we think, through the window, and the baby's car seat came loose and was thrown around. The children were screaming and traumatised and there was blood everywhere."

The family, who were travelling to the Lake District for a holiday, believe the sturdy structure of their ageing Land Rover, which was travelling at its top speed of about 45mph, saved them.

Their luck held out when two people in a following car turned out to be paramedics and another witness, a surgeon.

"This car coming in the opposite direction just overtook, doing about 70, and hit us head-on," said Mr Hall. "These traffic consultants say full dualling won't save many more lives but if this section had been dual carriageway we wouldn't have had the accident. If we had been in our Metro, the whole family would have been obliterated.

"If that road was in the south of England, the authorities would have sorted it out by now. If the government wants money for something, it will find it. The A66 is a busy, main east-west route and it is about time that human life was seen as more important than money."

A draft study, commissioned by the Highways Agency, concluded partial dualling, 50mph limits on some sections and junction improvements were the best way to improve safety on the A66.

Consultants Maunsell Transport Planning, of Leeds, forecast this would prevent 25 accidents in the first year of opening, 2005.

Their report, published a week before Christmas, said full dualling of the 79-mile route would mean only another four fewer accidents. While this would be "the most effective method of reducing the accident rate", the consultants said such a scheme would damage the environment and be too expensive.

Complete dualling would cost an estimated £42.8m, while the preferred option would be £25.1m