§ 2.47 p.m.
§ Lord Borthwickasked Her Majesty's Government:
§ How many people die or are injured each year on (a) two-lane and (b) three-lane motorways.
§ Lord Brabazon of TaraMy Lords, in Great Britain in 1987, the latest year for which detailed figures are available, 44 people died in accidents on two-lane motorways, and 1,540 people were injured. The equivalent figures for motorways with three or more lanes were 225 people killed and 6,490 injured.
§ Lord BorthwickMy Lords, in view of that Answer, can we not in future have all motorways with three lanes? That would be safer.
§ Lord Brabazon of TaraMy Lords, obviously the choice of whether to have a new motorway with two or three lanes depends on the expected volume of traffic on that particular stretch of road.
§ Lord TordoffMy Lords, perhaps the Minister can take this opportunity of discussing the number of lanes on bypasses rather than motorways. I recognise that that is slightly wide of the Question. However, is he aware that, for example, in Somerset there is very considerable concern about two roads which have recently been built—that is, the Ilminster bypass and the relief road from Tiverton. They have been built with two lanes. In one case it is an extension of the A.303 which is a dual carriageway up to that point. There has already been a significant number of fatalities on those two roads. Will the department please reconsider its policy on building new bypasses?
§ Lord Brabazon of TaraMy Lords, that is a question rather wide of the one on the Order Paper; but I take note of what the noble Lord said, and I shall draw his remarks to the attention of my honourable friend.
§ Lord Taylor of BlackburnMy Lords, in view of the fact that the Department of Transport's calculations on use of motorways are always wrong, does the Minister not feel that it would be good if all motorways had three lanes instead of two?
§ Lord Brabazon of TaraMy Lords, I believe that most are. We have recently announced that the missing section of the M.40 is to be three-lane. However, in not all cases does the volume of traffic justify three lanes; sometimes only two lanes are justified.
§ Lord Brougham and VauxMy Lords, I thank my noble friend the Minister for the figures given to my noble friend Lord Borthwick. The figures are interesting. Bearing in mind the excellent figures published in Friday's papers showing that English drivers are supposed to be the safest in the EC, does not my noble friend agree that if the recommendations in the North Report, including those on motorway driving, are implemented speedily, the number of casualties and fatal injuries will be dramatically reduced?
§ Lord Brabazon of TaraMy Lords, I do not think I have anything to add to what I said in the recent debate on the North Report. The fatality rate for motorways is about half the rate for other non-built-up roads, while the overall casualty rate is about one-third of that on other non-built-up roads.
§ Lord Stoddart of SwindonMy Lords, does not the noble Lord agree that when his Answer appears in Hansard the figures he gave may appear to be misleading? Would it not be better if we had figures relating to the number of accidents to miles of two-lane and three-lane motorways rather than the straight statistics that he gave?
§ Lord Brabazon of TaraMy Lords, the noble Lord is quite right. I have given an Answer to the Question as it was put down on the Order Paper. The answer to the noble Lord's question is that the total casualty rate for motorways is 19 per 100 million vehicle kilometres; for two-lane motorways the rate is 21 per 100 million vehicle kilometres; and for motorways with three or more lanes the figure is 18 per 100 million vehicle kilometres.