§ 10.56 p.m.
§ Mr. David Madel (Bedfordshire, South)I greatly appreciate the opportunity of an Adjournment debate about the recent fatal crashes on the M1 in my constituency on 29th November, between Luton and Dunstable. The accident resulted in the appalling total of nine killed and 40 injured of whom at least nine will be permanently disabled. I pay tribute to the magnificent work of the staff of the Luton and Dunstable Hospital, policemen, firemen, ambulance men, voluntary organisations and many of my constituents who rushed from their homes nearby to help the rescue services on that terrible day.
Miraculously the crash barrier on the central reservation did not break. Newspaper reports say that the Department of the Environment has ordered an inspection of the crash barrier on the M1 in Hertfordshire and an inspection in Bedfordshire would be equally welcome.
The section of the motorway where the accident occurred is low-lying and, therefore, prone to fog. The fog warning light system on the M1 in Bedfordshire is not adequate. I do not agree with those who say that we should close motorways when fog is about. Motorways are on the whole safer than other roads, and in my constituency if the M1 were closed we should soon have an almost total seize-up of traffic in the Luton-Dunstable area as the existing roads could not cope.
As a first step we need to bring the warning light system up to the standard of that on the M4 between Chiswick and London Airport. Second, overhead lighting should be introduced on the whole Bedfordshire section and onwards into London. I read that the estimated cost of this would be £15,000 per mile but 994 that when it was installed on the M4 night and bad weather accidents were reduced by about 50 per cent.
We may have to introduce a winter speed limit of between 50 and 60 m.p.h. on the M1 Bedfordshire section and onward into London. There is nothing particularly startling about this. In America and West Germany similar speed restrictions exist on sections of their motorways which carry a high volume of traffic. We need more police patrols on the southern section of the M1 The mere sight of a police car acts as a magic deterrent to drivers against exceeding the limit.
I wonder whether the Government are satisfied with the adequacy of rear lights on all types of vehicles. Discussions with manufacturers and a very close look at the American and West German standards could well be of benefit.
I hope that the Government will keep under constant review the whole question of information on motorway conditions being broadcast on all four national radio networks of the B.B.C., and, of course, local commercial radio will have a part to play in this. In addition, there is room for the improvement of information services at motorway service shops. We should also remember that the wearing of seat belts is compulsory in some countries. Should not we at least make it compulsory when driving on motorways here?
It is no answer to the problems on the M1 in Bedfordshire and further south simply to say that we should build another motorway. There is no room to do this in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire without the most serious disruption of town, village and agricultural life. The M1 was built 13 years ago, probably too quickly and too much on the cheap. In passing, perhaps I might point out that we still do not have a third lane between Hemel Hempstead and Watford. We have to make the M1 safer now. This is the time for the Government to spend quickly and lavishly to ensure that this is done
§ 11.1 p.m.
§ Mr. Phillip Whitehead (Derby, North)I am grateful to the hon. Member for Bedfordshire, South (Mr. Madel) for allowing me a couple of minutes in which to make three points to the Minister. The 995 hon. Gentleman knows that it is not simply the fact that he and I are lifelong friends that has brought me here to support him.
My first point is that this is a matter of general concern in all the areas through which the M1 and other motorways pass. It is not restricted to Bedfordshire. While there is a fog hazard in the vicinity of Luton, other areas are similarly affected. Looking at the records of road accidents, it becomes clear that the situation is equally serious in a number of areas. There have been serious accidents at Pinxton in Derbyshire and near the service station in Nottinghamshire, again in low-lying areas where fog strikes very quickly.
Secondly, I refer to the Under-Secretary of State's answers to Questions in the House the other day. I feel that the timing of the change-over to automatic and computerised lights is a little unfortunate in view of the delays. This is just the time of the year when the fog warning light system needs to be as efficient as possible. I use the M1 frequently and it is not my experience that the lights are adequate.
Thirdly, although I agree with the hon. Gentleman that we cannot close motorways in fog, I think that we should ask the Minister to recommend to the police the restriction of lane traffic in conditions of fog. If traffic is restricted to the two inner carriageways only, emergency traffic in the shape of ambulances, police cars and so on can use the outer lane in the event of an accident. Having been involved in one of these appalling pileups, it is my experience that what causes the greatest difficulty in getting out the injured is that rescue and police vehicles cannot get through to them.
A directive to the police along these lines would act as a restriction on the speed of vehicles using the motorways besides helping to get the police and ambulance vehicles to the injured in the minimum time. Of course, that will not be practicable on the stretch of motorway through the hon. Gentleman's constituency. It is one stretch which I consider to be profoundly dangerous. The construction of a third carriageway roughly between the A5 and the A41 coming into London should be treated 996 as a matter of priority because of the increasing danger resulting from the heavy use of the road in that area.
§ 11.4 p.m.
§ Mr. J. R. Kinsey (Birmingham, Perry Barr)I. too, am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Bedfordshire, South (Mr. Madel) for giving us an opportunity to take part in the debate. Hon. Members will know that I tried to get a debate on the subject a week ago. Unfortunately, time prevented it.
I want to draw attention to several of the matters which have been touched upon already and, in addition, to raise one or two other possible safety factors. I am certain that the safety barrier down the M1 has been a great success. I am pleased that it proved so efficient in the crashes which have been referred to but, equally, I urge that it be examined with a view to seeing how much more efficient it can be made at other points.
I refer also to the computer-controlled automatic signals which we need so badly. It cannot be considerations of cost which are stopping their installation. In the crash which occurred about three weeks ago the diversions which were necessary following it must have cost the country thousands, if not millions, of £s in terms of wasted time alone.
Another factor is vehicular fitness. This is a matter of individual care but I think that we need to get tough with garages to encourage a universal standard throughout the country. There are insufficient skilled mechanics. Perhaps the Minister will see what can be done to encourage the training of more mechanics.
One thing which scared me on my first venture on a motorway was when I ran over a piece of metal debris on the road. It is frightening to see such debris about. I am also concerned when I pass what appear to me to be patently unsafe loads. They can be extremely dangerous. However, there is no doubt that fog is the worst enemy. When one is, so to speak, leading the field in foggy conditions and gets that isolated feeling, with pressure building up behind, anything helps.
I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Bedfordshire, South for what he has said. I agree that general lighting needs to be brought in to give a sense of direction, of speed and other factors. Is it possible for a method to be devised 997 for reflecting an indication of speed on to the windscreen of a car? This is done in aircraft. A driver's glance at his speedometer might be his last. It is a sobering thought.
In fog the careful driver often turns out to be the dangerous driver because he is, so to speak, the oncoming vehicle to someone approaching what, from the rear, look like two cigarette ends. We need much better rear lighting on the vehicles. American cars have very unattractive rears but they are life-savers. I hope that we can do something to persuade English manufacturers to follow the American example.
The statutory application of a safe Teed limit in fog is absolutely necessary. I support what the hon. Member for Derby, North (Mr. Whitehead) said about segregated lanes. It is a good idea to keep two lanes only in operation.
What concerns me more than anything is the need to do something about the point of impact in those few fatal seconds after a crash has occurred. That is the most important time. No amount of computerised signalling can help. It has to be something instantly set off by the crash itself. I think that we might look to the electronics industry for a cheap warning system which emits a signal between cars at the danger point.
Good Samaritans are often killed on motorways when they go to help because there are no signals to warn anyone that a crash has occurred. Good Samaritans are being killed because they are being Good Samaritans. I urge the Minister to do what he can to save our lives. It is our lives we are talking about, because such accidents could happen to any of us.
§ 11.9 a.m.
§ The Under-Secretary of State for the Environment (Mr. Eldon Griffiths)We have, at this late hour, had a mini-debate on a major subject. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Bedfordshire, South (Mr. Made]) on inaugurating it.
We have all come to the House tonight with our minds full of the horrific pictures in the newspapers of the recent tragic accident on the M.1. I do not propose tonight to dwell on the details of particular accidents, other than to express my personal sympathy and, I am sure, that of the House as a whole for the victims and their relatives.
998 The police are still going about their melancholy but necessary task of trying to establish what really happened, and whether the remedies of the law, such as they are, should be applied. I understand that 84 notices of intended prosecution have already been issued in respect of the Bedfordshire accident and another 31 such notices in respect of the Nottinghamshire accident. It is not for me at this stage to comment on the causes of these tragedies, nor to try to lay the blame on any one class of driver. Indeed, the more I study these accidents the more convinced I am that no single class of driver is particularly to blame.
But I should like to say something on the generality of motorway fog accidents. One thing that I should make clear at the outset is that the Government share to the full the strong public concern, and that is why my right hon. Friend and I called a special meeting last Friday of representatives of the whole spectrum of motorway users and the police. At this useful meeting I was particularly impressed by the way in which all the various interests represented were ready to pool their experience in a constructive way so that we could take new steps to reduce these hazards if possible.
The meeting was held against a background of headlines speaking of motorway madness, and yet the fact of the matter, as my hon. Friend rightly said, is that the motorways are by far our safest roads. Moreover, and I stress this, fog accidents represent only about 3 per cent. of all the accidents that there are on the motorways, and, therefore, in considering what can be done. I think the House must retain a sense of perspective. Road safety, like everything else, is a question of resources. We have to judge not only the effectiveness but the cost of the measures we use to improve safety.
Many people have asked, in the Press and elsewhere, what the Government are doing to prevent motorway accidents. That is not, in my judgment, the most important question. The key question is: what are the drivers doing to prevent a recurrence? But the Government, quite clearly, have a major responsibility, and I assure the House that a great deal has been, is being, and is going to be done in the short term as well as the long term.
999 Perhaps I can identify the four main elements in the problem—the road, the vehicle, the management of traffic and, most important, driver behaviour. I start with the road. We are introducing as fast as we can what all hon. Members tonight have suggested; namely, the new and highly sophisticated automatic motorway speed signals. These are designed to help not only in fog but at all times of danger—for example, when a lane ahead is closed because of roadworks or because of an accident. We have not been able to introduce these new signals as fast as many people would have liked. There have been a number of technical difficulties, but I hope that by the end of this year about 80 miles of the most vulnerable motorway will be covered by such signals and that by the middle of next year about 400 miles will be covered, including much of our busiest motorway mileage, and, in particular, the southern end of the M1, though I regret to say that this will not be the whole of the length in my hon. Friend's constituency. The rest will follow as quickly as possible.
But I must tell the House that it is only in urban or semi-urban areas that we can justify the high cost and the environmental damage of the gantries like those at the London end of the M4. Safety is vital, but I ask the House to remember that there are environmental considerations to be taken into account as well. I assure the House that the normal type of automatic signals mounted on the reserve and able to show speed limits and lane closures have been designed specifically for the main motorway network, and they are entirely adequate for it, assuming that drivers will follow the advice that is so clearly provided.
We are making good progress with the installation of crash barriers on more than 1.000 miles of motorway, and the site of the recent tragic accidents in Bedfordshire, as my hon. Friend rightly said, proved that the barriers, where they were installed, did the job, and did it well.
Hon. Members have referred to the reports in a Sunday newspaper about faulty installation of barriers on the M1. These are most serious allegations, and my right hon. Friend is asking the county surveyor, as the engineer to the contract in the area, to look into them very carefully, but I can reassure the House that, 1000 judging by the way these same barriers have successfully withstood impacts already, we believe them to be effective and unlikely to give rise to the danger of whiplash, as suggested in the newspaper.
I have talked already of signals and of crash barriers, but we are carefully examining whether there are any further physical measures that we can take to help; for example, installing more reflective studs on the fog-prone stretches of motorway. This is a simple point, but I believe this might be a great help to the driver trying to place or orient himself in fog.
We are looking urgently into the possibility of lighting fog-prone stretches of motorway. Much more is involved here than the question of fog accidents, tragic as they are, because we have to remember that there is a much greater number of night time accidents when there is no fog. Lighting is now being installed on considerable lengths of the M62 over the Pennines, which, of course, has a great deal of fog, and we shall be studying experience there carefully in order to apply it and the information it yields elsewhere where it is needed.
I turn now from the road to the vehicle. Here also there is room for improvement. My hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Perry Barr (Mr. Kinsey) in a striking phrase referred to rear lights looking like a pair of cigarette ends. That expresses very well the problem where lights are inadequately cleaned. I remind him that since 1964 all obligatory red rear lamps have had to comply with the highest British Standard Specification and drivers may also now fit special high intensity rear fog lamps if they wish. It may be that many who drive on motorways will choose to do so.
My right hon. Friend is seeking powers to require the daytime use of lights in poor visibility, and already heavy goods vehicles are required to bear special reflective rear markings, and I think this may have helped.
Following our meetings with users' organisations last week, my right hon. Friend and I will be reviewing all vehicle lighting to see whether there is any more that can or should be done by way of regions. But, here again, I believe that 1001 regions are not the whole story. It really is up to the driver to check that all his car lights are working every time he goes on a motorway, and especially in wintry and foggy weather.
A recent survey showed that one vehicle in eight has defective lights, that is to say, more than 12 per cent. It really is up to the motorist to keep his lights clean. Up to half their power can be lost through dirt and filth covering them. My hon. Friend made a good point when he suggested that better facilities at some of the service areas might help drivers to keep their lights clean.
We have also been looking to the future. The Road Research Laboratory has made good progress with a device to enable a vehicle's speed on the speedometer to be seen ahead of the driver through the windscreen. That is the point my hon. Friend made. Already a prototype is being tested. A new system of radio-transmitted verbal warnings is also under study. Yet another device, a station-keeping indicator, to tell drivers by a visible optical-focussing arrangement when they are getting too close to the vehicle ahead of them, is being developed. The radio-transmitted verbal warnings are showing promise.
My hon. Friend suggested that it should be made compulsory to wear one's seat belt on motorways. I understand why he suggests that because there is no doubt that wearing a seat belt saves life, but after much reflection I prefer persuasion to compulsion. Recently in a special campaign on seat belts in the North-East we were able to achieve a substantial improvement in the number of people voluntarily adopting this elementary precaution, and we intend to keep up our efforts. The seat belt is unquestionably the biggest life-saver available.
Thirdly, there is the problem of controlling traffic. Many hon. Members from time to time have urged that we should do more by traffic regulation to make the motorway safer in fog, and the public, to their credit, have in recent weeks and months sent in hundreds of ideas to my Department. We welcome suggestions; we are always glad to look at them. Many have suggested making separation distances mandatory or that we should make new advisory speed limits compulsory. My hon. Friend has sug- 1002 gested that there should be a 50 m.p.h. speed limit on the M1 in winter, but I do not think this is a problem for the law. The difficulty of enforcement of any of these measures would be immense, and I am not sure that it would not be tackling the problem from the wrong end. We may have to fall back on more use of the law, but what we are after is better behaviour and not more prosecutions.
Other people, including I think the hon. and learned Member for Northampton (Mr. Paget), the other day suggested mounting cameras on bridges. There are practical problems about using them as an aid to enforcement but we are examining the idea and will be making the first practical test next week.
Others have suggested segregating traffic into separate lanes in fog. I took note of the suggestion of the hon. Member for Derby, North (Mr. Whitehead). This, too, raises questions of enforcement and definition, but it is an interesting suggestion and one which my right hon. Friend will consider carefully.
A more drastic suggestion is the one to close motorways, but all who have spoken tonight have agreed that the net result would be to create more, and not fewer, difficulties.
The West Riding police have introduced an intensive patrolling system, especially in fog, which has operated with great success despite the heavy demands it imposes on police manpower. Perhaps the House would join me in a tribute to the sterling work of the police on the motorways and would accept the comment of the hon. Member who suggested that the police might need more resources if they were to do this task adequately. I shall be pleased to pass that suggestion on to the Home Secretary.
I should also like to pay a brief tribute to the B.B.C., whose radio warnings are already most helpful to people intending to drive on motorways. I shall be meeting the B.B.C. with the police and the motoring organisations shortly to see whether there are further ways in which radio bulletins can be helpful in giving warnings in had weather conditions.
Finally, there is driver behaviour. I have mentioned some of the mechanical efforts being made by the Government, but all such measures are secondary to 1003 what the ordinary driver is prepared to do.
Anyone who takes the wheel of a car assumes a fearful responsibility for himself, his family, and hundreds of unknown strangers, and no one, least of all this House, should try to remove any responsibility from the ordinary driver. There are many aspects of driver behaviour in fog—fear, the sense of isolation, and the lack of reference points on either side—but by common sense and giving an extra margin of safety, the ordinary motorist is perfectly capable of overcoming these psychological inhibitions which can arise in fog. That is the heart of the matter.
No matter how many safety devices we may build into our vehicles or on our highways, the roads in the end are as safe or as dangerous as those who drive on them make them. The Government are doing, and will continue to do, their full part in improving the condition of the motorways and in providing anti-fog warnings. But it is to the driver—the citizen—that we must look for the major contribution towards saving life and limb.
I therefore ask my hon. Friends to convey to their constituents who drive on the M1 these simple points of advice. First, on motorways the driver should 1004 drive within his limits—within the limits of the road, the weather, the vehicle, the traffic and, above all, his reaction time. Secondly, people should fasten their safety belts. Thirdly, they should keep a safe distance. Fourthly, they should keep down speed, for there is no doubt that excessive speed on the roads is an executioner more fearsome than many a modern war. Finally, having assessed the safe limits of speed, distance, weather conditions and the characteristics of the road and traffic, all drivers on motorways should give themselves an extra margin of safety, because it is that extra margin which, more often than not, can make all the difference between survival and suicide.
My hon. Friend the Member for Bedfordshire, South has done a service to his constituents, to the House and to the country by raising a matter which concerns all of us as citizens and drivers. If we can give a lead and wise advice to motorists, and if we can set an example, we may make a beginning on reducing a toll on the road which is as unnecessary as it is fearsome.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Adjourned accordingly at twenty-six minutes past Eleven o'clock.