§ 29. Mr. Emeryasked the Minister of Transport when he will send an answer to the hon. Member for Reading to a letter dated 24th November, 1959, dealing with the need for push button pedestrian crossing lights to be installed in the Oxford Road, Reading.
§ Mr. HayI have written to my hon. Friend explaining the difficulties we have met in trying to reach a satisfactory answer to this problem.
§ Mr. EmeryWhile realising that the letter received from my hon. Friend was stimulated by this Question, may I ask if he realises that there have been 196 accidents on this stretch of road in eighteen months and that in the six months since I wrote to him the number of accidents has increased and is increasing? Will he show some greater speed in dealing with this problem than we have seen during the last six months?
§ Mr. HayWe are very well aware of the difficult conditions of this stretch of road. To make the necessary progress in the matter, to which my hon. Friend rightly draws attention, we felt it necessary to obtain some up-to-date figures of the numbers of vehicles and pedestrians. That information has only just been received from the local authority. We are examining it now as a matter of urgency.