§ Mr. Gareth Wardellasked the Secretary of State for Transport what conclusions were reached by the recent gathering of behavioural scientists in Oxford for determining priorities for research into road user behaviour; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyAfter the meeting the chaiman, Dr. D. E. Broadbent, FRS, reported his conclusion that recent advances in psychological knowledge, which had 277W been applied to fields other than road safety would enable research to hold out the prospect of new policies and actions which could reduce road accidents by the end of the 1990s. There was some supportive detail.
Accordingly, a behavioural studies unit has been set up within the transport and road research laboratory. It is drawing up plans for a research programme internally, at United Kingdom universities and elsewhere of the kind envisaged at the meeting in question.