ROAD ACCIDENTS, NORTH LANARKSHIRE (Hansard, 28 November 1956)

§ Miss Margaret Herbison (Lanarkshire, North)
The problem I wish to raise tonight is certainly not a political problem; it is a most serious human problem. I want to deal with the shocking accident rate on a part of the Glasgow-Edinburgh Road, A8, which goes through part of my constituency. That part of the road is a veritable death-trap for pedestrians, particularly children and old people.
On 25th January this year a deputation from two villages in my constituency came to London and met the Minister of Transport and his officials. On that same day I presented a Petition in the House. The deputation and the Petition had some measure of success. In the village of Salsburgh we had on part of the road a speed limit of 30 m.p.h. That has made a very great difference to the safety of the people in that village. We were not so fortunate with the representations we made about Eastfield and Harthill.
Tonight I want first to deal with a very short stretch of that road which covers only 550 yards. In December, 1955, a little boy of 8 years was killed on that stretch. On 30th October of this year, an old man, trying to cross that road at just about dusk—about 6.30 p.m.—was killed. A few days later, on 2nd November, on that same short stretch, another old man was killed—just after 5.30 p.m. Then, only one week later, on 9th November, a litle girl of 8 years of age was killed outright when she tried to cross the road. Her little brother, aged 6 years, was very seriously hurt in the same accident. Thank God, that little boy's condition is improving, and we hope that he will live. The parents had only those two children.
Accidents like that are a tragedy and a heartbreak for parents. The parents of those two children have always taken the greatest care of them. I understand that that was the only day on which the mother had not seen them across the road to get the bus for the school. When I called to see the mother, she told me that she 541 heard the great screech of the brakes, and as she went out of the door she uttered a little prayer. The first thing she saw were three children's shoes scattered about the road.
The residents of that hamlet of South Blair, and the residents of the villages of Eastfield and Harthill are outraged at this time. They demand, and I certainly support their demand, that urgent steps must be taken immediately to make this part of the road safer for children and for old people. For a considerable time now the feeling of danger has been constantly present in the homes in those villages and in this hamlet. Parents of young children, and old people, are under a constant strain, and whenever a tragedy such as that to which I have referred occurs, this strain is greatly heightened.
I am quite sure that if the Joint Under-Secretary were to go to any home along that road he would find that the question of road safety, and this constant danger, was continually in the minds of the residents. I am sure that the Minister will not tell me tonight that pedestrians must show greater responsibility.
When I dealt with this matter about this time last year I had a reply from the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport, which was then responsible for the road, and in that reply the Parliamentary Secretary said: For those who have to cross, it should be possible with care and a little patience to cross safely between gaps in the traffic. I know this road very well, and it is very difficult for adults to cross it. Sometimes they have to wait for a long time until there is any gap in the traffic. But for children and old people it is almost impossible. One cannot expect children and old people to be able to judge distances, certainly not on a road with no speed limit, where motor cars go along at 60, 70 and 80 m.p.h., as I have seen for myself. I am certain that it is because of the impossibility of children and old people judging distances that these shocking tragedies happen.
I want to make a few suggestions. I am not asking for this part of 550 yards to have a 30 m.p.h. speed limit, but I am asking first for a roundabout to be built at the junction where the road from South Blair comes out on to the main Glasgow-Edinburgh Road. If that were done, it would make the motorists slow 542 up to get round the roundabout, and it seems to me that it is the only means whereby life can be protected on this part of the Glasgow-Edinburgh road.
The other matter that I am asking for may well have to be decided by the county council. I am sure it would be of considerable help if a light were provided on the part of the road where the residents from South Blair cross the main road to get buses. The two old men whom I have mentioned were both killed about dusk, and had there been a light there, there is the possibility that these two men would be living today.
I want to spend a few minutes dealing with the other part of the road that is dangerous, the part known as Eastfield, on which at one time there was a speed restriction of 30 m.p.h. Then it was derestricted, so that there is no speed limit there today. The Secretary of the Safety Committee, in a letter to me, and I understand to the Secretary of State, said: We cannot agree with what seems to be the official attitude, i.e. that people must be killed before it can be proved that a danger exists. In previous debates I have quoted from the reports of the police of the County of Lanark. They and everybody were opposed to the derestriction of this road.
I am asking that the Joint Under-Secretary should give the most serious consideration to restoring the 30 m.p.h. limit and extending it westwards from Harthill as far as the street lighting in Eastfield. I also ask him to ensure that a pedestrian crossing is made near the bus stop between Breslin Terrace and Church Street. No doubt, because of the shocking toll of life in that street, the Joint Under-Secretary will have considered those places.
There are many other things which I should have liked to say tonight, but I want to give the Joint Under-Secretary plenty of time in which to reply. I am hoping to meet him very soon, with a deputation, and we shall be able at that meeting to expound more fully those matters which we feel can bring about a measure of safety in this area. No Minister, no Member of Parliament, no one who has anything at all to do with safeguarding the life of young people and of old, can be at all satisfied that the present measures are adequate. It 543 seems to me that a public inquiry ought to be conducted into the situation on this part of the road, where, as far as I understand, the toll of life which is taken is greater than that to be found on any comparable stretch in the whole of Scotland.

§ The Joint Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr. J. Henderson Stewart)
The problem raised by the hon. Lady the Member for Lanarkshire, North (Miss Herbison) is not a new one in the House, either in regard to the particular case which she quotes or in a general sense. As she knows, there was a debate last night on the Adjournment on a similar problem in Derbyshire, and the hon. Lady raised this matter a year ago.
The problem is simple enough. How are we most effectively to prevent accidents on trunk roads which pass through country villages? The authorities, that is to say the local authority, the Government, the Minister concerned, and, indeed, all who are in responsible positions, have a double purpose to serve in these matters. Certainly, we have to do our utmost to protect human life. I would put that first. But we have also to ensure the passage of through traffic.
Road transport in our day and generation is of ever-growing importance. As a nation, we are spending, and have spent, vast sums of money upon making our roads broad and, so far as possible, safe; and no doubt we shall in the future spend still more. Clearly, we must not clutter up—if I may use that expression—our great trunk roads by too many restrictions.
I say that because we have had advice upon the matter from the most authoritative bodies, as the hon. Lady knows. We have had committees set up in her time by the responsible Minister. Two committees were set up by the Minister of Transport which reported on this precise problem of where, when, and in what circumstances, one should impose restrictions upon main trunk roads. I have the Reports here. I can quote from them, but I need not do so because the hon. Lady is, I am sure, well aware of them. The right hon. Member for Derby, South (Mr. P. Noel-Baker) was last night reminded that he himself was responsible for one 544 of those Reports, and the hon. Member for Cardiff, South-East (Mr. Callaghan) was responsible for another. Both these Reports said that we must really be very careful about imposing these restrictions.
In the case mentioned by the hon. Lady the Member for Lanarkshire, North, we are concerned with the Glasgow—Edinburgh trunk road, which, as we all know, is a very busy one carrying an enormous amount of traffic. We should like to make it a bigger and broader road than it is. There is a very good argument for having two roads, for building a new trunk road altogether, and one day, no doubt, we shall have to do that. But it is not in the immediate programme, and I do not think it is possible for it to be. We have, therefore, this road with an enormous amount of traffic flowing backwards and forwards upon it.
In the stretch to which the hon. Lady refers, which is, I think, in her constituency, there are the two villages of Harthill and Eastfield. West of those two villages, the road has scarcely any houses upon it, except for a cottage here and there. I have a map with me. It is upon that westernmost stretch to which I have referred, west of both Harthill and Eastfield, that the recent unfortunate tragic accidents to which the hon. Lady referred took place—that is to say, not in the area where she wants restrictions reimposed.
The hon. Lady did not ask for speed restrictions in that area but asked for a roundabout. One sees the point of that suggestion. A roundabout is an obstruction and is bound to slow down the traffic. The hon. Lady was quite right about the section at Eastfield—it was derestricted a year ago—and she would like it to be again restricted to 30 m.p.h.
May I turn for a moment to the accidents. Of course, the whole House must feel, with the hon. Lady, that these are terribly tragic affairs, but we might as well face the fact that not all accidents, either of old people or of young people, are always the fault of the motorist; I am sure that the hon. Lady would never say that.

§ Miss Herbison
I did not say it.

§ Mr. Stewart
I agree, the hon. Lady did not say that.
545 In the particular case of the two men, however, who were 65 and 73 years of age, according to the police report, which the hon. Lady no doubt has seen, these two unfortunate old men were killed in circumstances where the police ascribed the cause of the accident to the pedestrians' carelessness. I was not there and have not seen the evidence; I am only reporting. In the case of the third death, of the child, the police have not yet produced a report. The matter is now being examined. When the hon. Lady tells us that the parents of that poor girl are distraught, because she and her brother were their only children, all our hearts bleed to think of that terrible loss.
The question is, are the suggestions made by the hon. Lady the right ones? As she has said, she is bringing a deputation from her local safety committee to meet me quite soon. I am very much looking forward to that meeting, when I hope that with my advisers I will be able to go into the problem in great detail with the hon. Lady. We will have the maps and charts available and the experts present. We will examine each of the individual suggestions she has made, and which are very much in my mind.
I would like to be able to do something to meet the hon. Lady's wishes. I hope that we shall be able to do something, although I am not able tonight to indicate what it might be. As the hon. Lady knows, we have to take into account the views of other people. There is the county council, the chief constable, the motor organisations and others. Quite clearly, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State could not be committed tonight to any one particular proposal.
Therefore, if the hon. Lady would not mind, I would rather leave the matter 546 there tonight, without occupying the five minutes that remain, with the assurance that I look forward to meeting her and her constituents and that I hope we shall then have a real examination of the problem; and whatever further evidence the hon. Lady can bring, or whatever further suggestions she can make, will be most anxiously examined. I should like the hon. Lady to believe that I share with her entirely the shock of the accidents that took place there, and the desire, if humanly possible, to prevent them in the future.

§ Miss Herbison
The hon. Gentleman gave a report on the deaths of the two old men, and said that they were due to their carelessness, but will he have that point examined and see whether they were not due to their inability to judge distances? That seems to me very different from carelessness. I should also like him to have a very careful look at the short stretch of road which I want restricted, and where the difference between a speed of 60 m.p.h. and 30 m.p.h. is represented by only three seconds.

§ Mr. Stewart
I undertook to do that.
I will certainly look into the report on the two men. It may be that the street lighting is inadequate, as the hon. Lady suggests. I believe that that was put forward by somebody as one of the contributory causes of the accident. If so, it may well be that there ought to be a light there. That is a matter for the lighting authority, and if the authority puts forward a suggestion to us it is something which might be considered and acted upon quickly.