HC Deb 25 January 1967 vol 739 c263W
56. Mr. Shinwell

asked the Minister of Transport what is the nature of inquiry into every road accident which involves loss of life or serious injury; and if she will make a statement.

Mrs. Castle

Comprehensive standard reports on the salient features of all such accidents are made by police forces to my Department. Coroners' inquests are held on fatal accidents. The Road Research Laboratory and my Area Road Safety Units also intensively investigate large samples of fatal and serious accidents. This work brings out the main contributory factors.

75. Sir Knox Cunningham

asked the Minister of Transport if she will state the number of accidents, during the last convenient period of 12 months, on roads without footpaths which involved pedestrians walking on the side facing oncoming traffic and on the side with traffic overtaking them, respectively.

Mr. John Morris

No comprehensive record is kept, but sample analyses show that accidents of this sort account for three to four per cent. of all the fatal and serious accidents involving pedestrians. Of the pedestrians injured in this way, those walking with their back to the traffic numbered four to five times as many as those facing it