HC Deb 03 February 1969 vol 777 cc9-11
41. Mr. William Price

asked the Minister of Transport whether he will take steps to introduce an automatic speed limit on motorways when fog lights are operating.

Mr. Marsh

The operation of these lights already indicates an advisory maximum limit of 30 m.p.h. It would not be possible to enforce a mandatory speed limit in fog.

Mr. Price

Is not it apparent that some maniacs are prepared to drive at 70 and 80 miles an hour, however thick the fog? We ask simply, appreciating the difficulty my right hon. Friend has, "What can he do about it?".

Mr. Marsh

What my hon. Friend said is true. There is a very small but very dangerous minority who just drive badly on these roads. The problem with a mandatory speed limit would be that it would be even more dangerous to have police cars tearing up and down the roads as well in thick fog. If my hon. Friend asks me how I am to convince the small minority not to drive at 70 miles an hour in thick fog, I am bound to confess to the House that I really do not know.

Mr. Gresham Cooke

Will the Minister go on reiterating the age-old rule that it is best to drive in such a manner that one can pull up in the distance one sees ahead? Will he further consider that it might be desirable even to make the breach of that rule a specific offence in the future?

Mr. Marsh

For reasons which hon. Members on both sides will understand, I do not want at this stage to say much about specific offences in relation to accidents in fog on motorways, because a lot is happening in that direction. But I am grateful for the opportunity, because one cannot do it too often, to beg people to use their common sense when driving. Driving at 70 miles an hour in thick fog is incredibly stupid.

Mr. Dudley Smith

Is the Minister aware that each fog light on the M1 must be put on independently, which takes about 4½ hours for 70 miles of motorway? Is not it time that we brought ourselves up to date?

Mr. Marsh

We are doing this. The lights are put on remotely by police passing by them. We are putting the new signs in now. The first is already in use on the Severn Bridge and the second is now being installed on the M4 between Chiswick and Langley, and should be ready by March this year. The whole motorway network should be equipped with the new system by the mid-1970s. It will be a system as sophisticated as anything anywhere else in the world.