HC Deb 23 December 1964 vol 704 cc1210-2
5. Mr. Wall

asked the Minister of Transport if he will impose statutory waiting restrictions outside school entrances in the Metropolitan area as school entrance signs are invariably disregarded.

The Minister of Transport (Mr. Tom Fraser)

I do not accept that school entrance markings are invariably disregarded. Where they are, the usual form of statutory waiting restriction is often not the right answer. I am, therefore, arranging an experiment with a modified form of restriction. This will be facilitated by the new system of marking waiting and loading restrictions.

Mr. Wall

While thanking the right hon. Gentleman for that reply, may I ask whether he is aware that in a recent survey of 250 London schools it was found that the school entrance sign painted on the road was completely ineffective? He has only to walk a few hundred yards from this building to see many cars parked outside school entrances. Will he do his best to expedite the experiment that he talked about?

Mr. Fraser

I am expediting the experiment to the best of my ability. What we have to avoid is preventing spaces outside schools from being used for parking when the children are not attending schools—during school holidays, weekends and those sorts of times. I propose to have this experiment to enable us to judge the restrictions that we can impose on parking outside schools at times when children are likely to be going in and coming out.

Mr. Strauss

Is my right hon. Friend aware that experiments in this matter have been going on for many years and have never led to any satisfactory conclusion? Can he assure us that on this occasion the experiment will really be worth while and that action will follow?

Mr. Fraser

I hope that this experiment will be the exception to the rule.

Mr. Goodhew

Could the right hon. Gentleman make clear what is the object of the experiment? If it is to enable children to cross the road outside their schools, will he bear in mind that this is not always the safest place for them to do so? Very often it is better for them to go to a proper pedestrian crossing nearby.

Mr. Fraser

It is not just a question of children crossing the road outside schools. It is a matter of children running out of school, off the kerb and on to the highway, when vehicles are parked there, and the driver of a moving vehicle having his view obscured with the result that a fatal accident occurs. A good many accidents have occurred as a result of ice-cream vans being parked near school premises and children stepping out from behind them into the road. These matters are worthy of full consideration and I am doing this as quickly as I can.