§ 93. Mr. Bossomasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements have been made to introduce an experiment with additional traffic police in a specified area and to investigate the effect on road accidents.
§ Mr. George ThomasSeveral chief officers of police are at present cooperating with the Road Research Laboratory in carrying out a pilot study of the effect upon accident rates of raising the level of enforcement of the speed limit on selected roads. Experiments of this nature must be carried out over a considerable period if the results are to be of value and it will be some months before this study is completed.
§ Mr. Bossomasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in view of the increased number of fatal road accidents, if he will investigate the working of the special motor-cycle police force in France whose primary duty is to enforce road safety and road discipline, with a view to taking steps to establish a similar national traffic force in this country.
§ Mr. George ThomasMotor cycle patrols are already in use in suitable areas as part of the police road traffic organisation in this country, and there is extensive co-operation between police forces. In these circumstances my right hon. Friend is not at present convinced that there are grounds for establishing a national police traffic corps here. But 123W he does, of course, keep in touch with the experience of other countries, from which he is always ready to learn, and he will take note of any features of their schemes which may be relevant.