§ 58. Sir W. Smithersasked the Minister of Transport if he will introduce legislation to compel all public road vehicles to be provided with speedometers.
§ Mr. BarnesAll public service vehicles other than those registered before 1st October, 1937, and used only as stage or contract carriages are required by the existing regulations to be fitted with a speed indicator. It would not in my view be reasonable at the present time to impose a regulation that vehicles registered before 1st October, 1937, should be so fitted.
§ Sir W. SmithersIn the event of a motor driver not being able to get a speedometer, is it fair to prosecute him for exceeding the speed limit? Will the Minister do his best to secure the provision of speedometers with reflectors on the back of the car so that the speed can be read by the people following?
§ Mr. BarnesIt is not a question of the availability of speedometers; it is the age of the car. It is fairly obvious that in a year or two this problem will solve itself. It might have done so before now, if there had been more vehicles available for the home market.