HC Deb 28 November 1956 vol 561 cc395-7
40. Sir W. Anstruther-Gray

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation whether his attention has been drawn to the large number of fatal accidents attributable to stationary lorries drawn up on the highway the rear lights of which are insufficient to illuminate the vehicle although complying with the letter of the law; and whether he will consider action in the matter.

may I ask the Minister to request it, as a matter of great urgency, to make recommendations to him with a view to introducing staggering during the present emergency? Does he appreciate that with the great increase there will be in the use of the public services, the staggering of working hours is essential today?

Mr. Watkinson

I do realise that, and I have already asked the Committee to deal with that as its first task.

Mr. Ellis Smith

Will the Minister give an undertaking that in all cases where operations are proposed which affect industrial workers, who have already suffered enough, the local trade union representatives will be consulted?

Mr. Watkinson

Perhaps the hon. Gentleman will look at the members of the Committee and see the eminent trade unionists who are serving on it.

Mr. Ellis Smith

I asked about local representatives.

Following is the list of members:

Mr. Molson

Official statistics show that during the year 1955 27 accidents involving personal injury were attributed by the police wholly or partly to inadequate rear lighting on goods vehicles. In the near future, we propose to circulate for the comments of interested organisations a draft regulation which would require new vehicles of all types to be equipped with rear lights which comply with the British Standards Institution specification for tail lamps.

Mr. Nicholson

Why not the old vehicles, too? Is the Minister aware that I remember bringing this question to the Ministry of Transport nearly twenty years ago? The Ministry is very slow.

Mr. Molson

My hon. Friend may have brought the matter up twenty years ago, but on 7th April, 1954, my right hon. Friend the present Secretary of State for the Colonies, when he was Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation, introduced some new regulations. They required that the tail lights shall be not less than 2 in. in diameter and not less than 6 watts in power, and fitted in a prescribed position on the vehicle. At the time when my right hon. Friend introduced the new regulations, he gave an undertaking that if more detailed specifications were subsequently introduced, the Government would not require people to remove the lamps which had been put on to comply with the regulations which he was then making.

Mr. Benn

Can the Minister explain why it is that no buses in the London area require to have two lights at the back, and why they should be the single exception in this matter?

Mr. Molson

Because, in normal circumstances buses are illuminated and it is not considered necessary to require that they should carry two rear lamps.