HC Deb 10 May 1972 vol 836 cc1513-22

1.18 a.m.

Mr. William Molloy (Ealing, North)

I realise that in some parts of the country something like a special police highway patrol exists, but I urge that we should take a more rational view of the matter and establish a proper national force, instead of having adequate police patrols on motorways and major trunk roads in certain places but insufficient elsewhere.

There is great national concern every time there is a ghastly vehicle pile-up causing death and serious injury to many. It seems that these disasters are getting worse. Moreover, much of the trouble is exacerbated in fog, and, despite all the advances of science and technology, we still do not know how to get rid of fog.

I pay tribute to the Press generally, and the motor trade Press in particular, for the serious way in which it has given propaganda to this subject and the manner in which it has sought solutions to the problem. From my researches, it is clear to me that it is not simply a matter of arrogant bloody-mindedness on the part of motorists which causes these ghastly pile-ups.

It seems, from my researches, that there are a number of contributory reasons. There is the general condition of the vehicle which I would describe as vehicle fitness or unfitness. Speeding also makes a contribution, as does overloading a vehicle. While we acknowledge that the truck drivers of Britain can be regarded as the knights of the road, there are rumours, which the Minister should investigate, of many truck drivers being put under severe strains to meet schedules. They are tempted to do so, because if they race down the motorway in a certain time they can earn more money, but the tragedy is that they can contribute to accidents. I do not say that this is a known cause, but it is worth examining.

It seems that scientific investigation will show that fog on motorways is a subject which we should investigate in depth. Objects in fog seem twice the distance away that in fact they are and this leads to the motorist travelling too fast for the visibility and making wrong assessments of the distance between him and the next vehicle. Another factor which has emerged from various researches is that we have to have a hard look at whether vehicle lighting is sufficient in these conditions, with a particular look at brake lighting. Another factor which seems to be revealed in the post-mortems on these terrible crashes is that of gross mechanical neglect and yet another is ordinary boredom of the driver. All these have been revealed in pile-up post-mortems.

Remedial measures have been proposed by the Minister's advisory committees, using mechanical and electronic devices, but they are not, by themselves, enough. There are even complaints because sometimes mechanical and electronic devices controlling speeds and giving warnings do not function and ordinary users of motorways are losing confidence in them. We have to look at this quickly.

It is patently true that, with all the mechanical and electronic devices, there is nothing like having a police car in evidence at the time. When I visit my constituency of Ealing, North I see cars rushing down the A40 in a 40 miles per hour controlled area at 60, 70 and even 80 miles per hour, sometimes going through red lights. All the devices will not stop that, but the appearance of one police car will have a magic effect.

We have to have something like a national form of highway patrol on the major highways. The need is for a specialist highway patrol which would have sole responsibility for maintaining and promoting safety on our highways.

The entire road network should be divided into regions. I realise the difficulty and that many chief constables are apprehensive, but they will acknowledge that something has to be done. Should we not find an answer instead of going on killing and maiming people? It should be realised that we have slain more people on the roads since the war than were killed by Hitler's Luftwaffe during the war.

If this suggestion were taken up, there would be a conference of chief constables to work out the details to establish a national highway patrol. I should like to see everyone engaged in it a specialist. They would need to be mechanical specialists and would have a knowledge of first-aid.

The cars would be linked to special locations on motorways so that there could be constant liaison for all sorts of emergencies. I should like to see highway patrols operating from stations and sub-stations along Britain's major networks. They would be so spaced that they would be ever ready to take preventive action.

We should examine anew the country's fog black spots. Such a patrol, if it arrives quickly on the scene of an initial pile-up of, say, two or three cars might well avoid a further 30 or 40 vehicles charging one into the other.

Each highway patrol would have its own warning system operating throughout Britain's road network. This would involve a thorough-going radio link-up to see that the cars were sent where they were needed. It would prevent a car being sent to a robbery or whatever it may be in one area when it may be needed to avoid a dangerous situation on a motorway or ordinary highway and would lead to the proper use of such patrols in a traffic sense. I envisage these highway patrols being relieved of all other responsibilities than traffic duties. I foresee them dividing up the networks, with special conferences of chief constables to lay down the duties of the patrols. Every patrol member would be a specialist in his own right in making his contribution in bringing down the terrible toll on our roads today.

I appreciate that the Minister will seek to argue a case on the basis of the initial cost of establishing these highway patrols. I suggest that the initial cost would be far outweighed by the vast gains which will accrue from the establishment of these patrols on our great motorways. This must result in more efficiency in moving our transport from one end of the country to the other, and it would certainly make a contribution to helping our economy.

Mr. John Golding (Newcastle-under-Lyme)

My hon. Friend knows that the M6 runs through my constituency and that I, too, have been concerned with the problems he mentioned. But is he not perhaps overstating the separation that he would like to see between highway patrols and crime prevention and detection work? In Staffordshire we have excellent highway patrols which are very successful in terms of crime detection. Many criminals are arrested on the motorways. Priority should be given to accident work, but I feel that the two functions should not be entirely separated.

Mr. Molloy

I take my hon. Friend's point. However, I must say to him that I know of no greater criminal activity than which involves a pile-up of 20 or 30 or more cars, with all the resultant misery in terms of people being killed or maimed.

We must also think of what will happen over the years with the increasing numbers of cars coming on to our roads, with all the possible future snarl-ups that will occur. We must do something urgently about the situation. The patrols will benefit industry and the ordinary private motorist. Not only will such patrols bring safety to Britain's roads but they will bring peace of mind.

1.30 a.m.

The Minister of State, Home Office (Mr. Mark Carlisle)

I am grateful to the hon. Member for Ealing, North (Mr. Molloy) for raising what is an important subject. The tragic multiple accidents in fog which occur from time to time on our motorways are matters of great concern to the Government and all members of society. We welcome any suggestions for improving road safety. The police attach great importance to road safety and the enforcement of traffic laws. About 10 per cent. of the total strength of the police service is devoted to road traffic work. In 1970 proceedings were taken by the police against more than 1 million people involving more than 1½ million alleged road traffic offences.

Every police force has a specialist traffic department whose members concentrate on traffic work. However—and here I take up the point mentioned in an interjection by the hon. Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Mr. Golding)—police officers engaged in road traffic patrol work do not confine their attention to road traffic matters alone. They exercise full police powers, and a surprising amount of ordinary crime is detected and dealt with by means of such patrols. As the hon. Member for Ealing, North said, it is well recognised that the mere presence of the police on a road has a salutary effect on the standard of driving, on conformity with the law and road safety generally. It is important that police traffic patrols should not only be busy but should be manifestly seen to be about their business.

In deciding how his available resources should be allocated, a chief officer of police must bear in mind all the various policy requirements of his area, including, obviously, the maintenance of public order and the investigation of crime.

I turn to the policy of motorways, with which the hon. Member was mainly concerned—

Mr. Molloy

With the best will in the world, I cannot accept that if there were a police squad controlling traffic under difficult circumstances it should pop off to investigate some burglary, with the result, perhaps, that 20 foolish people were killed or maimed.

Mr. Carlisle

I did not say that. I know the hon. Gentleman's concern about this. What I said was that within the total resources of police forces the chief officers of police have the difficult task of allocating such resources.

Turning to the policy of motorways, almost 30 forces in the country have stretches of motorway in their areas and each force provides patrols to police them. They are composed of men with special training, many of them with years of experience in motorway work, and they use conspicuously marked and specially equipped vehicles.

The presence of a police car, easily recognisable, on a motorway is a major factor to good motorway or road behaviour. There is, I am glad to say, excellent liaison between the various forces responsible for continuous stretches of motorway. Patrol cars of different forces are in touch with each other by radio at all times and with their various headquarters, and in some cases control centres are shared and messages are passed as necessary between the forces on such matters as breakdowns and accidents.

Today there are about 900 miles of motorway in use. Therefore, more and more police forces are getting experience of motorway patrol work, and that experience, I am glad to say, is being pooled between the various forces. Conferences of heads of traffic departments are held at which motorway problems are discussed and views and experiences are exchanged.

It has been suggested from time to time, as the hon. Gentleman suggested just now, that motorway patrols should be organised and commanded separately from the police forces through whose area the motorway runs. One idea which I think the hon. Gentleman mentioned and which, I think, the committee on which he served recommended was that the motorway police might be organised in regional units. But we must face the fact that an organisation of that kind, transcending existing force boundaries, would not fit easily into the existing pattern of policing. This places on the chief officer of police in each area the responsibility for policing the whole of his area, including the motorways which run through it.

Thus, under the law as it stands, any separate system of control for motorway police would involve—and the hon. Gentleman accepted this—some surrender of sovereignty by each of the chief officers of police concerned, which is quite distinct from the co-operation and support which the forces are now always ready to give each other. But in the end this is a matter entirely within the discretion of chief officers of police, and I assure the hon. Gentleman that at the request of the Home Office those concerned with motorways have gone into this possibility from time to time in recent years.

They have, to my knowledge, decided, for example, to set up in one place a unified control of pooled resources where there is a special need for it. This is in the Midland Links area, with the M6, M5 and Ml which within the next fortnight or so will join together, and it is situated in parts of five separate police areas. Here the police cover is provided by a composite motorway patrol group comprising officers from each of those five forces. The group operates from a purpose-built control centre where computer-controlled signal and surveillance systems are installed to help in operational control. Extensive use is made of closed circuit television.

Similar arrangements may eventually be made elsewhere to meet special operational needs. But, in general, chief constables do not favour any separation of control over their motorway patrols. They think that it would have no advantage over the present system and might have the disadvantage of separating the traffic and crime aspects of police duties and might militate against the mobilisation of the whole of the resources of a force in a time of emergency. They consider that the present system allows for more flexibility in the use of police resources, whether the need is to deploy those resources on or off a motorway in a specially urgent situation. When it comes to a serious accident or other emergency on a motorway, it must be remembered that serious repercussions are felt on other primary routes in the police area, especially if the motorway must be closed.

The chief constables think it is best to deal with their traffic problems as a whole and not to look upon a motorway passing through an area as distinct and separate from the other road systems. But, I repeat, the concept of motorway policing is still evolving. Chief constables will continue to review their organisation of both patrols and operational techniques in the light of their experience of the developing motorway network.

I will say a brief word about the new computer-controlled signalling system which we are bringing into existence on motorways and which is being installed on all those motorways for which my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment has responsibility. This system is now replacing the manually operated hazard warning signs. It is designed to give warnings of all hazards not only fog, and tells motorists about lane closures and safe maximum speeds for the prevailing conditions. The signals are controlled by the police from remote control centres on the basis of information provided by police patrols on the road.

The system is already in operation over 180 miles of motorway, and I understand that this total should rise to about 500 miles by the end of this year. Once installed, we believe that the system should make our motorways even safer than they are now and should greatly assist the police patrols in carrying out their duties, particularly in conditions of poor visibility, by enabling them to advise reduced speed limits at any time on any particular stretch of motorway.

Foggy conditions create special difficulties. Drivers feel more isolated from their surroundings than they do on other roads, and they may find it difficult to judge speed. I concede the point made by the hon. Gentleman that they may also find it difficult to judge distance on a motorway. I am sure the hon. Gentleman will be interested to know what is happening in West Yorkshire. There, the constabulary have been employing, with considerable success, a system under which, in foggy conditions, as many police patrol cars as are available are injected into the existing traffic flow. They travel, straddling the motorway lanes, at speeds which they feel are the safe maximum speeds for other drivers. By doing this they control the speed at which other motorway traffic is moving. Some other forces are now operating a similar system. Whether they do so is an operational matter for the decision of the chief officer of police of each force.

It is easy to see that measures of this kind make heavy demands on police resources. Its operation can be effective only if as many officers and vehicles as possible are diverted from other duties—usually at short notice—and that may leave other important roads short of adequate police surveillance.

Equally, as the hon. Gentleman said, the sudden descent of thick fog without warning may result in an accident occurring before the patrol system can be put into operation. Nevertheless, in areas such as West Yorkshire it has proved to be a valuable aid to motorway safety. But we must not overlook the fact that problems of fog and accidents arising from fog are not confined to motorways, and the chief constable has to keep in mind at all times the need for the police to cover the roads in the whole of the force area.

Motorways can at times be very dangerous places. Effective police patrolling makes them less dangerous. It is going on day and night throughout the year. Expertise is being built up and new ideas and methods are being studied. Motorways are, after all, comparatively new and police methods of traffic control must be based on experience. Both the police and the Government are determined to benefit from those lessons.

As I said, there are close operational links and regular discussions between forces, and there is close contact between the Department of the Environment, the Home Office and the police, for example, in the development of the national motorway network and its signalling system.

Finally, I want to emphasise two factors. First, despite the terrible accidents which occur from time to time on the motorways, the fact remains that the accident statistics show that the motorways are still our safest roads. Secondly, and, I suppose, most important of all, even with the most efficient police patrolling system, in the end it is the human element that counts, and accidents will still happen if drivers on the motorways, despite the efforts of the police, do not drive sensibly, matching speed with the conditions prevailing and showing through their driving adequate consideration to other users of the road.

Question put and agreed to.

Adjourned accordingly at fifteen minutes to Two o'clock.