§ 3.21 p.m.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will summarise the information they have received about casualties and road accidents in the United States of America since the national speed limit was reduced to 55 miles per hour; how these figures compare with the previous three full years; and what conclusions they have reached in the context of growing pressures to increase the speed limit on United Kingdom motorways to 80 miles per hour.
§ Lord Lucas of ChilworthMy Lords, a national maximum speed limit of 55 miles per hour was introduced in the United States in January 1974. The number of road fatalities and injuries fell in 1974 by 17 per cent. and 7 per cent. respectively. On inter-state rural roads, the reduction in fatalities and injuries was 30 per cent. A large part of these reductions could be associated with the 55 miles per hour limit. United States' casualty figures have been creeping up steadily since then. It is extremely difficult to assess the benefit of the 55 miles per hour limit because many other factors are known to have an effect.
Differences between the United States and the United Kingdom on such matters as speed distributions, road design, driving behaviour and levels of enforcement make the United States' experience of 404 little relevance in deciding what limits should be imposed here. Noble Lords will be aware that my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Transport recently decided that the speed limit on motorways should remain at 70 miles per hour.
Lord ChelwoodMy Lords, I am most grateful to my noble friend. In spite of the somewhat hostile press reaction to the decision to keep the speed limit at 70, is my noble friend aware that a great many people regard 70 miles per hour, which often means 75 or 80, as quite fast enough? The decision will therefore he very widely welcomed, as I say, in spite of the remarkably hostile press reaction. Now that the Government have made up their minds about the matter of the speed limit, which will presumably last a number of years, may I ask whether they have open minds about the possibility of introducing a minimum speed limit on dual carriageways, which has worked very successfully and is regarded as having brought down the number of road accidents considerably in many other countries?
§ Lord Lucas of ChilworthMy Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for his remarks with regard to the decision my right honourable friend announced on 3rd July so far as the 70 miles an hour limit is concerned. As regards minimum speed limits, we have no current proposals to investigate this matter further. This was done some years ago and did not find favour, particularly for two reasons. One was that it could in fact encourage higher speeds than would be safe in particularly bad conditions. Secondly, there is no evidence that it would have a road safety benefit by producing a reduction in speed differentials over a shorter speed band.
§ Lord UnderhillMy Lords, does the noble Lord recall that when the House was discussing the variation of the speed limit orders on 8th March reference was made to the national speed survey conducted in 1983? On that occasion the noble Lord himself said that it had been received in the department only two or three weeks before, and the matter was being studied. Do I understand from his answers that the study says that there should be no change, or is the matter still under consideration?
§ Lord Lucas of ChilworthMy Lords, if I have understood the noble Lord, Lord Underhill, correctly, my right honourable friend has made a decision that the limit for motor cars on motorways should remain at 70 miles an hour. As far as that answer is concerned, there is no more to say on the matter.
§ Lord Mowbray and StourtonMy Lords, would my noble friend agree that, quite apart from whether we should or should not raise our speed limits on motorways or trunk roads, the American connection has little relevance because, apart from the list he read out, the citizens in the United States of America, from what I have seen, regard any journey over 100 miles as having to be travelled by air, and therefore they do not use the roads. Therefore, there is not the same sort of feeling that they want to go faster on roads.
§ Lord Lucas of ChilworthMy Lords, that may well be a factor. Certainly, conditions in the United States of America vary so considerably from our own that, as I suggested in my original Answer, their conditions have little relevance to our own.
§ Lord BottomleyMy Lords, would the noble Lord the Minister not agree that the 50 miles per hour limit in the United States means nothing at all? When I was in that country last week, all the cars were going at far in excess of that speed. Can the Minister give an assurance that he will continue to resist the pressure in this country to raise the speed limit to 80 miles per hour?
§ Lord Lucas of ChiworthMy Lords, how the Americans arrange their road traffic affairs is, of course, their business. I do not think I could possibly agree with what the noble Lord, Lord Bottomley, said. I was in America last year and I noticed a great deal of observance of the limits. He will also know that in different states different levels of enforcement apply. Again, I do not think there is a relevance between what happens there and what happens in the United Kingdom, where distances are so very different.
§ Lord MottistoneMy Lords, has my noble friend any explanations as to why large lorries and transporters seem to have increased their speeds to up to 70 miles an hour in the last months in a way that is rather surprising? Is there a new dispensation for them, or are they still restricted to 50 miles an hour?
§ Lord Lucas of ChilworthMy Lords, I had known that there was this noticeable difference to which my noble friend refers.
§ Lord Jenkins of PutneyMy Lords, would the noble Lord agree that, while there is no exact correlation, international comparisons show that the lower the speed limit the lower the number of road deaths?
§ Lord Lucas of ChilworthMy Lords, no, that is not so. On their own, speed limits are only a contributory factor towards accidents and, as I suggested again in my original answer, very many different factors have to be brought into account when assessing the relativity of road deaths and casualties.
§ Lord MottistoneMy Lords, could my noble friend answer my question as to whether there has been a dispensation for heavy goods vehicles to go faster than 50 miles and hour?
§ Lord Lucas of ChilworthMy Lords, there is no dispensation. The speed limits for some commercial vehicles were altered by way of regulation during March of this year.
§ Lord MottistoneAltered to what, my Lords?
§ Lord Lucas of ChilworthMy Lords, to 60 miles and hour.