§ 17. Mr. BarnesTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is his Department's policy concerning car design and pedestrian safety; and if he will make a statement. [30617]
§ Mr. NorrisThe Department strongly supports improvements to car design which reduce the numbers of pedestrians killed or injured in road accidents.
§ Mr. BarnesWhat will be done to get rid of the obscene practice of placing bull bars on cars and vans? Will our Government or the European Union take action? If it is the European Union, the Government need to make it clear that they will not block action under qualified majority voting and that they will not try to form a blocking minority. Is the issue being moved between the Government and the European Union so that nothing gets done?
§ Mr. NorrisNo. We are clear that aggressive bull bars are unnecessary and unacceptable and a potential cause of serious accidents. The answer to the hon. Gentleman's sensible question is that we need to have powers in domestic legislation—those have existed since the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use Regulations) Act 1986—to bring about the necessary changes, but if those powers are to be effective, they have to fall within the scope of the appropriate European directive. The external projections directive can be amended and the Commission has produced a form of words, which we are contemplating. I hope that we shall be able to reach agreement shortly. Once that has happened, it will go a long way to enabling us to get rid of aggressive bull bars. In due course, the draft policy for a directive on pedestrian protection will offer us a final and complete solution, but, in the meanwhile, a perfectly adequate form of words is available under the external projections directive.