§ 18. Mr. Croninasked the Minister of Transport what steps he intends to take to obtain a nationally satisfactory standard of street lighting, bearing in mind the substantially lower accident rates in better lighted roads and the widely varying quality of street lighting used by the 968 3,000 different lighting authorities of England and Wales.
§ Mr. MarplesThere is already a British Standard Code of Practice for Street Lighting which recommends standards for traffic routes and for other roads, widely used by lighting authorities as a guide. In London and one or two other great conurbations, moreover, lighting authorities have formed consultative committees to co-ordinate their work. I have also in hand a survey of present lighting conditions on all trunk and Class I roads, which is almost complete, and this information will have to be studied before any further steps can usefully be considered.
§ Mr. CroninWhile thanking the Minister for that reply, may I ask him whether he fully appreciates that here is a clear-cut method of substantially reducing the toll of road accidents? Will he, therefore, expedite these matters as much as he can?
§ Mr. MarplesI certainly will. I realise that the increase in accidents at night which has taken place is proportionately greater than the increase in accidents during the day. The difficulty is that
a nationally satisfactory standard of street lighting".which is the phrase in the Question, is a phrase not capable of precise application, because the street lighting on any length of road must be considered in relation to that road's characteristics. I hope that some of the information which I mentioned in my Answer will be useful when it is received.