§ 2.35 p.m.
§ LORD CHESHAMMy 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 what are the detailed arrangements for collecting information about, and analysing the results of, the 70 m.p.h. speed limit experiment, and whether they will give an assurance that no decisions will be made to extend the period of the 70 m.p.h. speed limit experiment or to introduce other similar experiments until a report justifying the results of the present experiment has been published and laid before Parliament.]
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF POWER (LORD LINDGREN)My Lords, I have written to the noble Lord, giving him details of the arrangements for assessing the results of the present experiment. In brief, there will be a preliminary assessment by the Road Research Laboratory in March, and additional information will be supplied at the same time by the police. The views of representative bodies will also be sought, including the motoring organisations, which have agreed to give us information based on their patrols' assessment of driver behaviour. A full Road Research Laboratory report will be published later in the summer. My right honourable friend the Minister of Transport and I will announce the results of the preliminary assessment of the 70 m.p.h. speed limit at the earliest practicable date, and, in doing so, we will set out the main factors leading to the decision taken. As I indicated to noble Lords on February 16, this may 88 be to prolong the experiment, change it or drop it altogether, depending upon the evidence available. I can assure noble Lords that there is no question of introducing any general speed limit, other than on an experimental basis, until all the relevant factors, including adequate statistical results, have been completely assembled and published.
§ LORD CHESHAMMy Lords, am I to take it from the noble Lord's Answer that he is not prepared to give the assurance for which the second part of my Question asks?
§ LORD LINDGRENMy Lords, I could, if the noble Lord can tell me when the General Election is to be.
§ LORD CHESHAMMy Lords, is the noble Lord aware that that is not an answer to my Question in any shape or form? Could he please address himself to the second half of my Question?
§ LORD LINDGRENMy Lords, if Parliament is sitting when this experiment finishes, a statement will be made in Parliament. If Parliament is not sitting, the Statement will be made other than in Parliament and will be justified in Parliament afterwards.
§ LORD CHESHAMMy Lords, is the noble Lord aware that I, your Lordships' House and the public will take it that the noble Lord cannot give the assurance for which I have asked? May I ask him, by way of another supplementary, whether he feels that the provisional arrangement he mentioned that the report would be ready by mid-March will be sufficient for his right honourable friend and him to make further decisions about experiments?
§ LORD LINDGRENMy Lords, if it is not, then no decision will be made and the experiment might be carried on. Referring to the noble Lord's previous statement, I do not think that I could have been more explicit than I have been. If Parliament is sitting when the experiment comes to an end, a statement will be made in Parliament. If Parliament is not sitting, then Government has to go on. The noble Lord will know that under two Acts, of 1960 and 1962, for which his Government were responsible, the Minister for the time being has the right to extend the experiment and it 89 can be for a longer or shorter period than the four months of the original experiment.
§ LORD CHESHAMMy Lords, is the noble Lord aware that in a report from the Automobile Association, referred to in the Daily Telegraphof January 17, the Director of the Road Research Laboratory is quoted as saying that he did not think that a proper conclusion could be reached at that time? Therefore, would the noble Lord—since he will not give me any form of assurance—say whether he feels that a decision even to extend the experiment could legitimately be taken in that inconclusive state of affairs?
§ LORD LINDGRENMy Lords, with the greatest respect, I do not see how I can say anything more definite than I have already said.
§ LORD SEGALMy Lords, is my noble friend aware that a notice warning motorists not to exceed 70 m.p.h. has been erected at the Maidenhead end of the M.4 motorway? Would it not be more logical to place it at the beginning or somewhere along the course of the motorway instead of at the end?
§ LORD LINDGRENMy Lord, it is all according to which way you come to it.
§ LORD SEGALMy Lords, if my noble friend would allow me to say so, whichever way he is going that advice is shown to the motorist as he emerges from the M.4 motorway.
§ LORD CHESHAMMy Lords, is the noble Lord aware that I shall have to study his very indeterminate answer and perhaps return to this matter again?
§ LORD LINDGRENMy Lords, I am most grateful because the noble Lord is going to study it. If he does, I am certain that he will then appreciate that many of his questions were pushing at an open door.
§ EARL HOWEMy Lords, would the noble Lord not agree that it would be in the public interest to have a further trial period of four months without speed limits, so that by police observation and statistics a more accurate comparison might be made?
§ LORD LINDGRENMy Lords, that may be so. It all depends on the evidence that is available. After all, the results will be assessed on the basis of evidence which the Road Research Laboratory and the police will submit to my right honourable friend by the middle of March on an experiment of only about six weeks or two months.