§ Mr. Hockingasked the Minister of Transport what figures he now has to demonstrate the proportion of road accidents throughout last year in the United Kingdom which were attributable to drink.
§ Mr. MarplesSpecial studies, conducted over many years in this country and others, have pointed to the dangers of drinking before driving. But the annual nation-wide statistics cannot show the causes of accidents and therefore they do not provide the information to answer my hon. Friend's Question. As I stated in my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Brentford and Chiswick (Mr. Dudley Smith) on 1st July, we are considering how we can obtain better information, to supplement the national statistics; this is a complex matter involving, amongst other things, the possible application of computers for analysing more deeply and more widely than has hitherto been possible the factors relevant to road safety. In the more immediate future, I hope that investigations which are planned by the Road Research Laboratory will provide further information on the relationship between accident risks and the consumption of alcohol.