§ 7. Mr. Pageasked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation what action he proposes to take as a result of a recent report upon an investigation by the Road Research Laboratory to the effect that accidents tend to increase in frequency following normal re-surfacing of a road.
§ Mr. NugentWhilst the report in question shows that at some sites the frequency of accidents rose after the road had been re-surfaced, I do not think that any general conclusions are justified without further investigation. This is now being undertaken by the Road Research Laboratory and our Department.
§ Mr. PageDoes my hon. Friend think that the non-skid surface for the roads is being used sufficiently? Can his Department do anything to encourage its use?
§ Mr. NugentYes, I think it is. I suggest to my hon. Friend that we wait to see the result of this further investigation before reaching any conclusion on the matter.
§ 8. Mr. Pageasked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation if he will cause to be printed and displayed a poster showing, preferably in graph form, the results of an investigation by the Road Research Laboratory which showed accidents risk rate per mile driven for all hours of the day.
§ Mr. NugentNo, Sir, I think it is usually better that posters should be used for presenting the lessons to be learnt from the statistics.
§ Mr. PageWould my hon. Friend agree that if such a graph were drawn it would merely show the connection between driving accidents and drinking? When is Professor Drew's report to be published?
§ Mr. NugentI do not agree with my hon. Friend. Unless posters are limited to the very minimum of wording they are just not taken in by people who see them. It is best to present posters with a very simple message.