HL Deb 19 March 1964 vol 256 cc951-2
LORD WAKEFIELD OF KENDAL

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Second Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

[The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps, in the interests of road safety, are being taken for learner drivers and others to obtain practice and instruction in equipment able to simulate difficult or dangerous road conditions and darkness, in the same way that air crew can obtain practice and be tested in flight simulators on the ground instead of in the air.]

LORD CHESHAM

My Lords, Her Majesty's Government do not consider on present evidence that the provision of simulators, as a requirement for driver training for the purpose which the noble Lord has in mind, would be justified.

LORD WAKEFIELD OF KENDAL

My Lords, in thanking my noble friend for that Answer, may I ask whether it would not be a good idea for those drivers who have been convicted of dangerous or careless driving to have to go on to a simulator, at an appropriate fee, to show that they are able to behave themselves on the road? In this connection, might it not be a good idea to have this kind of simulator provided for this purpose, and maybe extended to learner drivers and others at a later time?

LORD CHESHAM

My Lords, it sounds as if my noble friend wishes to use the simulator as a form of stocks. But the difficulty about simulators on the road is that the situation of those simulated is quite different from the real effects of driving on the road, where it seems to me that the requirements are flexibility of approach and readiness for anything to happen, and this is very different from simulated circumstances.

THE EARL OF GOSFORD

My Lords, is my noble friend not aware that we have aircraft simulators which can introduce a high degree of realism, including unexpected circumstances being presented to the pilot, which takes him to a high degree of pilotage without having to use petrol for one hour's flying? I cannot understand why it is not possible to adopt a similar practice in the much simpler medium of the motor car. It would take a large number of learner drivers off the road at a time when they are dangerous to themselves and to the general public, and would give a degree of instruction up to a point at which they can go on the road without too much danger.

LORD CHESHAM

My Lords, my noble friend, from his experience, knows as well as I do the essential difference between the motor car and the aeroplane in this respect, in that major use of the simulator is for teaching precise and well-laid-down training procedures for blind flying and approaches, and I do not think one could hope to get the same kind of successful results when the simulator is applied to the ever-changing circumstances on the roads.

THE EARL OF GOSFORD

My Lords, perhaps my noble friend will allow me to write him on the subject.

LORD CHESHAM

My Lords, I should be delighted.