§ 2.50 p.m.
§ LORD LUCAS OF CHILWORTHMy Lards, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have made any inquiry as to the cause of road accidents of a "pile-up" nature during the last two weeks; and, if such cause is due to ice-covered roads and the failure of highway authorities to carry out the elementary precaution of adequately gritting such roads, whether they will draw the attention of highway authorities to their responsibilities in this regard.]
§ LORD CHESHAMMy Lords, particulars of accidents during the past two weeks are not yet available, but my right honourable friend knows of no reason to suppose that highway authorities generally fail to take precautions. On roads for which be is the highway authority much has been done to improve the speed and efficiency of preventive measures, and this is showing good results. On motorways in particular, salt is spread on receipt of frost warnings to prevent the formation of ice. Experience gained with new materials, appliances and techniques is made available to local highway authorities, who can adopt on 540 their own roads those which prove successful. Local highway authorities are alive to the importance of timely and effective action, especially on the busiest and fastest traffic routes, and the continuing exchange of information Which goes on seems more likely to bear fruit than mere exhortation. If the noble Lord has any particular accident in mind and will communicate with me, I will make further inquiries into the circumstances.
§ LORD LUCAS OF CHILWORTHIs the noble Lord aware that a number of these very serious accidents, involving anything up to twenty vehicles, were caused by the culpable negligence of some highway authorities in not even gritting their roads at all, not even after the thaw? Would he not agree with me that the accident statistics of this country are high enough without their being added to by the culpable negligence of some of these highway authorities? May I further ask him this? As in the ordinary course of events we can unfortunately look forward to another bout of ice and snow covering the roads in the month of January, will he alert all the highway authorities to see that they are fully seized of the necessity for taking remedial action before the event, not after it?
§ LORD CHESHAMMy Lords, the noble Lord will, of course, appreciate that in all circumstances it is not possible to spread grit on slippery roads until the roads have become slippery, but I will certainly see to it that authorities are alerted in this way. I do not know of any cases of culpable negligence, to which the noble Lord refers, which have been the cause of multiple accidents. A preliminary line of thought would seem to suggest that in recent circumstances fog had quite likely been as much the contributory factor as anything else; but before very long we shall probably know more about it. My right honourable friend and I have been particularly seized of this problem, and as recently as September advice and reminders were sent out to local authorities.
§ LORD LUCAS OF CHILWORTHI should like the noble Lord to know that I am not blaming the Minister. In my view the Ministry have done nearly 541 all they can do. But this responsibility rests firmly on the local highway authorities, and when the noble Lord receives the reports of his local divisional road engineers—perhaps these are early days for him to receive them—he will find out that some of the most serious accidents have been caused by a total absence of any gritting on the roads by these local authorities.
§ LORD CHESHAMI shall be pleased to look at the reports, as and when they come, to see whether there is anything such as the noble Lord says. I certainly agree with him that effective, quick action is in the circumstances most important.