HC Deb 13 February 1957 vol 564 c1252
12. Mr. Brockway

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation what have been the results of the road safety experiments inaugurated by his Department in the Borough of Slough.

Mr. Watkinson

The Slough experiment, which will end on 31st March next, has produced encouraging results. I am most grateful to all those who have worked so hard in the borough to make a success of this scheme. I am circulating fuller details in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Mr. Brockway

While thanking the right hon. Gentleman for his appreciation of the people of Slough, the Council of Slough and particularly the Road Safety Committee; may I ask him whether the recent thinning of traffic in Slough High Street and other main roads, because of petrol rationing, has not shown, by the reduction in accidents, that what is really wanted is more roads rather than incidental devices? Will he press ahead with the by-pass for Slough?

Mr. Watkinson

That is quite another question, and if the hon. Member will put it down, I will try to give him an answer.

Following are the details: The Slough experiment will end on 31st March next and full results will not be available until some time later. A full report will be published in due course. The results must be considered not only in the light of changes in the accident rate in Slough, but also as regards the changes brought about in the behaviour of road users and in traffic flow, the success of the individual measures and engineering work tried out and the experience gained of intensive propaganda and police campaigns. Studies are being made on all these aspects of the experiment but only on the first of them is full information available at present. Up to the end of last December, the total number of casualties, including slight casualties, had increased in Slough almost as much as elsewhere; there had, however, been a marked reduction in the number of fatal and serious casualties, which since the experiment started has been 10 per cent. lower than in the period April, 1953—December, 1954, as against an increase of 10 per cent. in Great Britain as a whole. The present picture is, therefore, an encouraging one.