Bull Bars (Prohibition) (Hansard, 14 February 1996)

§ Mr. Paul Flynn (Newport, West)

I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to provide for the prohibition of the use on roads of motor vehicles fitted with bull bars; and for other related purposes. A year ago there was a terrible accident on the M4, in which a coach crashed and nine people died. The House was shocked and we sought solutions. The Bill is concerned with not nine deaths but—probably—70 deaths, according to figures calculated by the Royal Automobile Club. Those deaths were as a result of not accidents but avoidable tragedies. People are killed because of the special nature of bull bars—rigid objects on the front of cars at the level of a child's head or vital organs, which concentrate and multiply the force of accidents

I am reminded of the way in which the stiletto heel syndrome surprised us in the early 1950s, when holes suddenly appeared in dance halls that had withstood the rigours of dancing for many years. It was discovered that seven-stone ladies pirouetting on stiletto heels became the weight of a fully grown elephant.

The same thing happens when the tiny circumference of a bull bar hits a child's head. Researchers in Germany have proved that if a bull bar on a vehicle travelling as slowly as 12 miles an hour hits a child, the child will certainly die.

Practically every authority—the Automobile Association, the RAC, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, the Pedestrians Association, the Association of Chief Police Officers, the Child Accident Prevention Trust—and anyone with an independent view has condemned bull bars. Some insurance organisations are refusing to insure vehicles with bull bars and others are loading the premiums. All the research scientists who have studied bull bars in Australia, New Zealand, Britain—the most prestigious of all—and Germany have all come out with the same cry of alarm, that bull bars and the solid fronts of vehicles have set the cause of safety back 20 years.

One of the main reasons why the accident rate has been reduced is that crumple zones that absorb the shock of an impact have been developed for cars. It is a myth to believe, as many seem to, that those sitting in cars fitted with bull bars are somehow better protected. They are not. They are, in fact, at greater risk because they themselves are subjected to the force of a collision. They are not cushioned from it by the crumple zone. The only research done on that was in Australia and it shows that if the bars deform in an accident, the driver and any pedestrian involved often suffer serious upper-body injuries.

Progress has been made in the past year. A lady whose name I cannot mention because it is forbidden under our Standing Orders has ordered the removal of bars from all the vehicles in the royal parks. Rather less prestigious but influential people such as Anneka Rice and Roger Cook, who set a bad example in their programmes, have vowed that they will never be filmed again with bull bars on their cars. Hon. Members have reacted splendidly. We can now say with pride that a year ago 20 vehicles in our car park were fitted with bull bars, but in the past six weeks we have become an entirely bull bar-free zone.

1014 There are apologists for bull bars. The manufacturers we can understand. They are speaking on behalf of their products and on behalf of jobs. But they are in a market that is in an inevitable decline and they should diversify into products that increase rather than reduce safety.

Owners of vans often claim that they need such bars because the design of the front of the vehicle leaves them exposed. If that were so, such vehicles would be dangerous and should not be on the roads. However, van drivers have few accidents as a result of such design features. But even if they did, to destroy the crumple zone that absorbs the shock adds to their own dangers. It is not acceptable for drivers to reduce a perceived risk to themselves by increasing the risk to others.

Along with other members of the Select Committee on Transport, I met members of the European Commission yesterday. They were emphatic about their determination to provide a solution. Progress is being delayed because of objections from Finland and Sweden similar to those put forward in Australia. The reason is odd. Australia was worried about kangaroos and Finland and Sweden are worried about reindeer. They call them moose bars. Australia's solution was to have what is called, believe it or not, a shoo-roo—a sound device. The nordic areas need a shoo-moose. There are solutions. In country areas where bull bars are necessary, it is a simple matter to make them demountable.

Our job today is to propel the issue to the top of the agenda. We know how the country and the House react to avoidable tragedies. It is a matter of grief to us that a year ago when the House discussed the matter, all agreed—the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, the hon. Member for Epping Forest (Mr. Norris), who is on the Front Bench and every speaker—that bull bars are a fashion accessory, serve no practical purpose and are responsible for at least 70 deaths a year and many hundreds of casualties.

Tragically, nothing has happened since. We can see the issue better, not in terms of physics or statistics, but in terms of human tragedies. The worst tragedy that can affect any of us is the loss of a child. In Melksham, on the last day of term in July, Helen Bags was excited as she ran home from school, and she ran across a road and in front of a Land Rover. According to the doctors and the coroner who examined Helen, her death was attributable to the bull bar attached to the car. Her injuries were on her upper body and lungs. She lived for a number of days after the accident but, tragically, she died. The life of the 10-year-old was destroyed because someone chose to have a bull bar on his car.

Mrs. Ann Bags, Helen's mother—who has energetically campaigned against bull bars since her death—does not blame the driver of the car. However, she blames those of us in this place who have reacted rapidly to introduce legislation after other deaths, such as that of Leah Betts, and to incidents involving children who were attacked by dogs.

Hon. Members have had a great deal of time to consider this legislation. There are at least three ways in which the House can act and use existing legislation to institute a ban on bull bars. If we had acted last year, Helen Bags would still be alive. When one drives, one does not expect to be involved in a collision or to hit a child. However, it can happen to any of us at any time.

1015 If a bull bar is fitted to a car, it is more likely that a trivial accident will become a serious accident, and that a serious accident will become a death. Bull bars change ordinary vehicles into child-killing machines. They serve no purpose—they are silly, macho, fashion accessories. People are being killed in the name of fashion.