§ 56. Mr. Bruce-Gardyneasked the Minister of Transport what evidence he has to date of a reduction in road accidents to schoolchildren resulting from the passage of the British Standard Time Act.
§ Mr. Bruce-GardyneIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that this outrageous Measure, imposed upon the people of Scotland and Northern England by the callousness of the Government, can be justified only by immediate evidence of a rapid reduction in the number of road accidents? As all the evidence points in the opposite direction, will the right hon. Gentleman go back to his colleagues and get them to remove this Measure from the Statute Book forthwith?
§ Mr. MarshThere are many issues out of which one makes political capital. Accidents to children is not the most attractive of them. Unfortunately, a tragic number of people suffer accidents, and suffered them before there was a change to B.S.T. We are now seeing what the figures are. There is no justification for the sort of comment which the hon. Gentleman has made, nor is it particularly attractive that he should have raised it in that way.
Mr. J. T. PriceIs my right hon. Friend aware that we on this side of the House are extremely indignant that such a disgraceful effort should have been made from that side of the House to make political capital out of this most unfortunate situation, bearing in mind that the leaders of Her Majesty's Opposition, and many of their supporters behind them, supported the Bill for which the hon. Gentleman is now claiming the Government are responsible?
§ Mr. MarshWe are looking at this problem because clearly we want to see 10 the effect of this Measure. One of the things which should be borne in mind in considering recent events is that it is highly dangerous for children of five and six years' old to be out on busy roads, whether B.S.T. is in operation or not.
§ Sir R. CaryDoes the right hon. Gentleman agree, at least, that the House of Commons has made a mistake in introducing this Act, and therefore there should be an opportunity for the House to have an early look again at this problem?
§ Mr. MarshAccident figures take some time to process. I hope to have some early in the new year. On the last information that was provided on this from the Road Research Laboratory it was felt that, while more people would be travelling in the dark in the morning, a greater number would be travelling in daylight in the evening. It is this sort of thing which is difficult to assess.
The problem of accidents to children, is, unfortunately, one which has been with us for a long time. I repeat, without offence to anyone, that allowing small children to be free on busy roads, with or without changes in summer time, is a very dangerous practice indeed.
§ Mr. ManuelIs my right hon. Friend aware that there is a great need for more parental responsibility for children going to school in the morning, and coming home in the evening? Whether or not there are crossing keepers, parental responsibility should be accepted in this matter.
Earl of DalkeithWill the Minister give an undertaking that he will study what happens during the course of the next month or two before he decides, with his colleagues, to keep this absurd experiment in force for one year longer?
§ Mr. MarshI think that the House having decided upon this change, it would be absurd for the House to change its mind before it has any evidence upon which to do so. The present plan is for three years, but the Government are not rigidly wedded to that. We shall look carefully at the evidence during this winter, and if there is conclusive evidence that the experiment was a mistake, 11 obviously we shall take action. A lot of publicity has been given to some of the regrettable accidents, but, tragically enough, similar accidents could have happened—and did happen on a large scale—without any change in the time.
§ Mr. William HamiltonHas my right hon. Friend any statistics for previous years showing the number of accidents which occurred between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., and 4 p.m. and 5 p.m.?
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. We have passed Question Time.
§ Mr. Bruce-GardyneOn a point of order. Mr. Speaker, as the Minister chose to make a personal and unjustified attack on me of trying to make political capital out of this issue—[Interruption.]
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. I want to hear the point of order.
§ Mr. Bruce-Gardyne—which neither I nor my hon. Friends have attempted to do at any time, may I be given an opportunity to set the record straight?
§ Mr. SpeakerI think that the hon. Member has attempted to set the record straight. It is a point of argument; not a point of order.