HC Deb 03 June 1959 vol 606 cc184-7
21. Mr. Lipton

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation how many people were killed and injured in road accidents during the Whitsun holiday weekend; and what was the corresponding figure for 1958.

25. Captain Pilkington

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation whether he will make a statement on the traffic congestion on the roads during the Whitsun holiday.

28. Mr. Dodds

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation what conclusions he has drawn from the extent of traffic congestion on the roads during the Whitsun holiday; what action is contemplated to improve the situation for forthcoming holiday periods; and what advice he will give to those of the motoring public who wish to co-operate in dealing with an unsatisfactory situation.

Mr. Watkinson

During the four days of the Whitsun holiday weekend 73 persons were killed and 4,147 injured in road accidents in England and Wales. The corresponding figures for 1958 were 68 and 3,767. The number of vehicles licensed was about half a million more than last year.

There was generally a heavier volume of holiday traffic. Alternative routes were used extensively and serious delays were confined to a comparatively few troublesome bottlenecks. To help to speed traffic, I intend soon to experiment with the banning of parking on stretches of a number of through routes.

Mr. Lipton

Do not these appalling figures indicate that, notwithstanding all our road safety propaganda, the more vehicles that are brought on to the roads the more people are being killed and injured? When will the Government take positive action to reduce this steadily increasing slaughter on the roads?

Mr. Watkinson

On the contrary, these figures indicate a great measure of success for those dedicated people who up and down the country work in the cause of road safety. I should have thought that the hon. Member would have preferred to congratulate them on a very good job.

Captain Pilkington

In view of the congestion and of the facts brought forward in answer to Questions this afternoon, does my right hon. Friend realise that there would be general support and indeed a general demand for a yet more ambitious programme of road improvements, even on top of what the Government have already done, which is a great devil?

Mr. Watkinson

No Minister of Transport would ever be satisfied with the size of the road programme, but I think the House recognises that we have made a very good start after losing many wasted years after the war, which we have to make up. I hope that we shall soon be in a position at least to have the facilities, machinery and plant ready for a still further expansion.

Mr. Strauss

In view of the frequent references by the Minister and his Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the wasted years after the war, may I ask the Minister whether he is aware that during those years after the war no European country was able to start a road programme and that the criticism by his hon. Friends of the Labour Government at the time was that in capital expenditure we were doing too much too quickly?

Mr. Watkinson

The criticisms are not mine. They are taken from a very able booklet produced by the Fabian Society which regrets the way in which the Barnes plan disappeared and congratulates the present Government on getting on with the job.

Mr. Dodds

Does not the right hon. Gentleman agree that, despite the road proposals he has in mind, the lessons of the weekend show that Britain, and particularly the south of England, is rapidly choking itself to death with cars? In view of the minor massacre of the weekend, has not the right hon. Gentleman something more to suggest to motorists? What has he to say about the last part of my Question: what advice will he give to those members of the motoring public who wish to co-operate in dealing with an unsatisfactory situation. Does the right hon. Gentleman suggest that they stay at home? Many of them could not get to the coast during the weekend?

Mr. Watkinson

I should like to give them one piece of advice right away. I hope that every motorist who is interested in becoming a better driver will take the advanced driving test and see if he can pass it. In the process of trying to pass it he will greatly increase his standard of driving. I hope that the hon. Gentleman has passed the advanced driving test.

Mr. Bevan

Does the right hon. Gentleman entirely dissociate himself and his party from the record before the war? What about the wasted years then when there were 2 million unemployed in Great Britain all the time and when he and his party could have solved the road problem?

Mr. Watkinson

If the right hon. Gentleman wants to carry out the general practice of his party of always looking backwards, I cannot help it.

Mr. Bevan

That is the silliest answer we have had for years.