HC Deb 11 April 1962 vol 657 cc1315-7
18. Mr. Cleaver

asked the Minister of Transport whether he is aware of the successful outcome of the experiment carried out in Birmingham of asking motorists during darkness to drive with headlights dipped; and, in view of the substantial reduction in casualties during this fortnight, what further action he is proposing to take.

Mr. Marples

I have not yet received a full report on this experiment, on which I should like to congratulate the Birmingham City Council and its Chief Constable. I will certainly take its results into account in any regulations about the use of headlamps which I may propose if Parliament gives me the powers for which I am asking in the Road Traffic Bill.

Mr. Cleaver

Is my right hon. Friend aware that I am very pleased to hear that? Will he also bear in mind the fact that the public have co-operated to a great extent in this matter and that 30 per cent. of the motorists are still driving with dipped headlights? As his Ministry is represented on the Brussels Working Party, in which the International Standards Organisation and the Commission on Illumination is interested, will my right hon. Friend implement any recommendations in regard to headlights which that body makes?

Mr. Marples

No. I think that what is wanted is a proper evaluation of what has happened in Birmingham. The number of accidents during the hours of darkness in that fortnight was 104, compared with 142 in the corresponding fortnight of the previous year, but a great deal of information is wanted about what the weather was like, and so on. I ask my hon. Friend to be patient so that we can evaluate on a scientific basis what has happened.

Sir W. Wakefield

Will my right hon. Friend consider having yellow lights on headlights, as is done in France, because that reduces the glare and the liability to accidents?

Mr. Marples

I have given consideration to that inasmuch as in Clause 13 of the Road Traffic Bill—which is now before Parliament, and which I hope every hon. Member will support in Committee—we have asked for control over the design and use of headlamps. I hope that the House will support me in those regulations. Of course, that would include the yellow lights to which my hon. Friend has referred.

Mr. Wainwright

Will the Minister look into the question of the intensity of the lights and the illumination of roads to make certain that dipped headlights are used where there is inferior street lighting and consider whether if there is good street lighting it is not necessary to have dipped headlights?

Mr. Marples

I am grateful to the hon. Member for that supplementary question because two years ago I asked the Road Research Laboratory to look into that matter. It made two clear points. The first was that the use of headlights was necessary where street lighting was non-existent or not very good and, secondly, that it was undesirable where the street lighting was first-class. I shall certainly consider the hon. Member's supplementary question.

Mr. G. Wilson

Does my right hon. Friend recollect that the Road Research Laboratory has already said that it did not think that amber headlights made any difference?

Mr. Marples

My hon. Friend will have heard another of his hon. Friends say that the Road Research Laboratory is wrong. The curious thing about traffic is that every individual has his own ideas and rejects the ideas of other people.