§ MR. ALDEN (Middlesex, Tottenham)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he can state the number of accidents, fatal or otherwise, due to motor-buses during the last two months in London and the surrounding districts; in what portion of greater London have these accidents been most frequent; and what steps he proposes to take to remedy the evil.
§ MR. GLADSTONEThe number of accidents in the Metropolitan Police District, caused by motor-buses, including both those which did and those which did not cause personal injuries, was 334 in April, and 483 in May. Five persons were fatally injured by such accidents in April, and 12 in May. The figures for June are not yet available. Such accidents have been most frequent in Oxford Street, where 67 occurred; in Barking Road with 30; and in the King's Road, Chelsea, with 33, during the time mentioned. As I have often said, the police do their very best, under the existing law, to put a stop to dangerous driving, but I am considering whether it would not be possible, and, if so, whether it might not be desirable, to reduce the speed limit of motor-omnibuses to ten miles an hour as a condition of their licence.