§ 3.2 p.m.
§ LORD BOSSOMMy Lords, 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 there is any reason why drivers who have never passed, or been asked to pass, a high-speed driving test in Great Britain should be allowed to drive at very high speeds on any motorways or highways to the risk of their own life and that of others riding or walking on such a thoroughfare.]
EARL FERRERSMy Lords, the noble Lord is really asking for an arbitrary speed limit lo be imposed on all drivers until they have passed some special driving test. This would raise 934 considerable difficulties in enforcement and administration, and I do not think the results would justify it. So far as motorway driving is concerned, the Highway Code gives very clear advice on the safe way to use these roads.
§ LORD BOSSOMMy Lords, I thank my noble friend for that Answer. Should I be accurate in attributing half of all the accidents and deaths on the roads to people driving at an undue speed, which they are not entitled to do?
§ LORD BOOTHBYMy Lords, may I ask whether the noble Earl would not agree that the advice given in the Highway Code about how to make safe use of motorways was not very effective yesterday?
EARL FERRERSI think that what happened on the motorways yesterday is rather a long way removed from the question of whether people are entitled to drive at fast speeds.
§ LORD MORRISON OF LAMBETHMy Lords, is it not the case that the Minister of Transport, in building the motorways, has deliberately encouraged high speeds rather than otherwise? I understand that in the ordinary way there are no speed limits, and drivers have been encouraged to speed. That is why he built them—partly because of his desire to stimulate road transport at the expense of the railways.
EARL FERRERSI assume that the reply of the noble Lord opposite to that would be to suggest to the Minister of Transport that we had better have twisting roads.
§ LORD BOOTHBYMy Lords, I apologise for intervening again, but surely the noble Earl is aware that there are fixed speed limits on motorways in the United States, as there ought to be in this country.
EARL FERRERSMy Lords, the Question on the Order Paper is whether it would not be possible to restrict in their driving people who have not passed a special driving test. That is not the same thing as having a fixed speed limit.
THE EARL OF ARRANMy Lords, may I remind the noble Earl of what a 935 learned Judge said some thirty years ago, to the effect that speed in itself does not constitute a danger?
§ LORD CONESFORDMy Lords, is not driving at 30 miles an hour in fog, when you cannot see anything ahead, rather dangerous?
§ LORD BOSSOMMy Lords, can my noble friend suggest any way in which we can stop a number of these accidents which are entirely due to excess speed in the wrong place?
EARL FERRERSMy Lords, Her Majesty's Government, as the noble Lord knows only too well, are as anxious as anyone to reduce the number of accidents, and the only way they will be reduced in the last analysis is by people taking more care when they are driving.
§ LORD STONHAMMy Lords, will the noble Earl consider suggesting to his right honourable friend that it would be better in thick fog to close the motorways before the cars are piled up on each other, rather than afterwards?
§ LORD LINDGRENMy Lords, if the Government are to encourage high speeds, is it not essential that the physical fitness of an individual in charge of a vehicle should be ensured? At the moment, any individual, irrespective of his physical fitness, can drive a motor car, provided that at some long distant date he has passed a test. That is not taking into account aspects in regard to public safety.
EARL FERRERSMy Lords, with respect to the noble Lord, I think the physical fitness of a driver is rather far removed from the original Question, which is to ask whether or not a person should pass a special driving test.
§ LORD BOSSOMMy Lords, is my noble friend aware that much of the danger is caused by, or is due to, people not respecting the regulation as to speed? Would he do something about it and ask his noble friend to say whether he cannot stop it?
EARL FERRERSMy Lords, all the driving test does is to prove that a person is capable of handling a car when 936 he is tested. It does not prove that he will always handle the car with the same amount of consideration as at the time when he takes his examination.