§ 47. Mr. Jannerasked the Lord President of the Council to what extent the Road Research Laboratory is engaged on research into questions of safety on the roads; how the expenditure on this research is borne; and whether, in view of the encouraging results to date, steps are to be taken to expand and increase this work at the earliest opportunity.
§ The Lord President of the Council (Mr. Herbert Morrison)The scope of the Road Research Laboratory has included road safety only since December, 1945. Separate Committees of the Road Research Board are now active in the study of the three main divisions of the subject—the vehicle, the road and the road user—and a fourth committee is considering accident statistics. The Committee on Road Users has been appointed jointly by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and the Medical Research Council, the latter body being concerned with the investigation of the human factors. Research work is already in hand on a number of problems, including those associated with the production of suitable road surfaces, with the design of road junctions, and with headlamp dazzle and vehicle performance tests. The cost of road research is largely 599 borne on the vote of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, but the cost of full scale experiments on the public highway is borne by the Road Fund, and the Medical Research Council will bear the cost of investigations that they undertake. Subject to the severe restrictions at present imposed by the shortage of scientific manpower, everything possible is being done to expand the work of the Road Research Organisation on questions of road safety.
§ Sir W. SmithersCould the right hon. Gentleman also appoint a committee to inquire into the extent to which this Government is leading this country down the road to serfdom?