HC Deb 31 January 1969 vol 776 cc405-6W
Mr. Whitaker

asked the Minister of Transport what action is being taken by British motor manufacturers, with the cooperation of his Department, to standardise bumper heights, as recommended by the Economic Commission for Europe, to reduce road accidents.

Mr. Marsh

The standardisation of car bumper heights would be difficult to

on road programmes in England and Wales for the years 1960–61 onwards.

Mr. Marsh

Public expenditure on new and improved roads since 1960–61 has been as follows:

£ million
Financial Year England Wales England and Wales
1960–61 62.9
1961–62 75.8
1962–63 100.6
1963–64 133.6
1964–65 151.0 12.1 163.1
1965–66 148.3 11.9 160.2
1966–67 164.9 14.3 179.2
1967–68 (provisional) 245.1 13.9 259.0

The above figures include expenditure on local authority roads but before 1967–68 exclude improvements of a minor nature which until that time were combined with the cost of maintaining existing roads. Separate figures for Wales were not available before 1964–65.

Mr. Dobson

asked the Minister of Transport if he will list separately the amount spent from public funds on the roads in the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Dorset, Bristol and Gloucester for the year 1962–63 and the last convenient year to date.

Mr. Marsh

Expenditure in 1962–63 and 1966–67 is shown in the table below.

achieve because of the many different sizes of vehicles in this country. In this field it is for the manufacturers themselves to decide how far they can go in designing new cars to meet the bumper height standard recommended by the Economic Commission for Europe.

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