§ 51. Sir PERCY HARRISasked the Minister of Transport whether he will now consider requiring all public service vehicles to have mechanical direction signals worked by the driver to indicate when they are turning right or left?
§ Mr. HORE-BELISHAThe Departmental Committee on Traffic Signs, which considered the question of direction indicators on motor vehicles, did not recommend that their use should be made compulsory on any type of vehicle.
§ Sir P. HARRISHas the Minister considered, in the light of the experience of his Department, whether it would not be advisable to make these signals compulsory in the case of omnibuses and tramcars?
§ Mr. HORE-BELISHAYes, Sir, I have considered it, but nothing new has arisen since the investigation was recently concluded.
§ Mr. WHITESIDEHas not this been pointed out to the Minister for the last 18 months on several occasions; and when does he propose to take any action?
§ Mr. HORE-BELISHAWhen I think action can be effectively taken.
§ 53. Sir P. HARRISasked the Minister of Transport whether he will endeavour to secure for the safety of the public, as 1146 a warning to other users of the roads, that all public service vehicles, including tramcars, have a stop light worked automatically by the brake, as are now generally fitted on private cars?
§ Mr. HORE-BELISHAThe use of stop lights is not compulsory on any type of motor vehicle, and as at present advised I am not satisfied that there is any special necessity for fitting them to public service vehicles, which every driver knows to be liable to stop at any time for the purpose of picking up or setting down passengers. I am advised that there are technical difficulties in fitting stop lights to some types of tramcar.