§ Mr. Peter BottomleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will estimate the net extra numbers and categories, of people who would avoid injury due to road 359W accidents if Scotland adopted common European time; and if he will summarise the considerations that will influence his policy on Scotland's time zone.
§ Lord James Douglas-Hamilton[holding answer 1 March 1993]: Estimates based on figures for Strathclyde published by the Transport Research Laboratory in 1989, updated to take account of 1991 casualty data and extended to the whole of Scotland using the results from the study of the BST experiment in 1969–70 indicate an estimated saving of five fatalities, 23 serious and 256 slight injury casualties. No breakdown of these figures by road user category is available but it is thought that pedestrians would be the largest group to benefit. These estimates do not take into account any possible increase in casualties which might result from additional activity in lighter evenings.
Given Scotland's particular geographical position, we wish to give the most careful consideration to the views of various sectors of the community and public generally on any proposals to change the present summer time arrangements.