HC Deb 19 April 1993 vol 223 cc9-10
6. Mr. Booth

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proposals his Department has to make the wearing of safety equipment by cyclists compulsory.

Mr. Kenneth Carlisle

Cyclists are encouraged to wear cycle helmets and conspicuous clothing, and that message was reinforced in our recent "cycle safe" campaign.

Mr. Booth

I shall resist the temptation to ask again about airbags, but in the light of numerous allegations that, following cycling accidents, cranial and other head injuries are the principal anxieties of the medical community, will my hon. Friend give the House an assurance that he will continue his fine record in safety matters and that proper medical research will be undertaken into all such injuries so that we may reach an adequate decision?

Mr. Carlisle

I can advise my hon. Friend that the Transport Research Laboratory is carrying out research. It is important, however, that before making anything compulsory we ask ourselves where regulation stops and good sense begins. I believe that as a country we are in danger of over-regulating, with all the problems of bureaucracy and enforcement that that entails. I am convinced that in this instance persuasion is the right way forward. I believe that our recent cycle safe campaign was effective and got the message across.

Ms Walley

But what is the Minister doing to promote cycling and safer cycling? Is it not the case that his Department does not recognise the role of cycling in reducing congestions, and is it not time that he gave far more support to those throughout the country who wish to cycle?

Mr. Carlisle

I welcome the fact that people should bicycle safely if that is their choice. However, the hon. Lady has not listened to what I told her some months ago. I suggested then that she should go away and read our traffic advisory leaflets and local transport notes which offer advice in that area, the most recent of which was entitled "Making Way for Cyclists". That showed local authorities how to engineer routes to encourage cycling and make it safer.