35. Mr. Gresham Cookeasked the Minister of Transport if he will arrange for the Highway Code to be printed in various languages so that it can be handed to motoring visitors to this country on arrival at ports and airports.
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport (Vice-Admiral John Hughes Hallett)I do not think that this is necessary. A free copy of the Highway Code is given to all foreign visitors who arrive with a car. The British Travel and Holidays Association's publication "Come to Britain" which is published in French and German includes a summary of the more important rules.
Mr. Gresham CookeIs my hon. and gallant Friend aware that apart from driving on the left—which is rather different from the practice on the Continent—we have a number of peculiar practices, and will he see that not only the French and the Germans have an opportunity to learn them? Can we not have a summary for the many other foreigners who come here?
§ Vice-Admiral Hughes HallettWindscreen stickers on road signs and the rules of the road are distributed, worded in French and German. But we have no evidence that foreign visitors are involved in accidents as a result of lack of knowledge of the Highway Code, nor that their accident rate is higher than that of British residents.