§ Mr. Muddasked the Secretary of State for Transport if he is satisfied with the development and implementation of the road safety programmes required of local authorities under the terms of the Road Traffic Act 1974: and if he intends to recommend any additional programmes or activities to combat the increasing level of fatalities in non-built-up areas.
§ Mr. HoramExpenditure on road safety is necessarily limited by the present constraints on public expenditure, but my right hon. Friend looks to local authorities to make adequate provision for their responsibilities under Section 8 of the Act, within the total resources available to them. He has no plans in present circumstances to recommend new activities.
§ Mr. Muddasked the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he now proposes to take to implement the recent road safety recommendations in the 1976 annual report of the Transport and Road Research Laboratory to the effect that engineering might be more influential in aiding the road user than education or enforced legislation.
§ Mr. HoramThe context of this remark was that about a quarter of all road accidents are caused by drivers errors in association with the deficiency in the road environment. Successive Governments have emphasised to highway authorities the scope for improving the safety of the roads by small engineering schemes, carefully researched and designed, which often yield marked benefits in reducing accidents and which are both more durable than other solutions and less easy to ignore.