HC Deb 17 October 1994 vol 248 cc101-2W
Mr. Peter Bottomley

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to publish the results of research into the effects on pedestrians of bull bars fixed to the fronts of vehicles.

Mr. Norris

Current research is concentrating on identifying accidents involving vehicles with bull bars to determine whether they are causing increased injuries. The results of this exercise are not expected until early next year.

Mr. Peter Bottomley

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will arrange for television recordings of tests of vehicle injury bars striking models of child pedestrians.

Mr. Norris

A video of impact tests on a bull bar using an instrumented child-size headform was made by the Transport Research Laboratory and shown on BBC breakfast television on 16 June 1994.

Mr. Flynn

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to fund Transport Research Laboratory research into the dangers of bull bars.

Mr. Norris

[holding answer 21 July 1994]: The Department has already funded impact tests at the Transport Research Laboratory using an instrumented child-size headform and other instrumented impactors on a bull bar. Some have shown that the severity of an impact on a bull bar appears significantly more severe than on a flexible bonnet. The Department has also taken steps to identify accidents where a pedestrian has been struck by a vehicle fitted with a bull bar. We shall be letting a contract to determine, on the basis of this data, whether bull bars are causing increased injuries.