§ Mr. Hannamasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if she will publish in the Official Report the incidence of drivers injured in accidents involving invalid tricycles with manual gearbox, automatic transmission and electrically-propelled models, respectively, in England for the years ended 30th September 1973, 1974 and 1975, respectively, under each appropriate type;
(2) if she will list the number of injury accidents per 1,000 disabled drivers and the accident involvement rate resulting in injury to drivers per 100 million miles. on 633W the same basis as set out in the Ombudsman's Report, invalid tricycles, four-wheeled vehicles issued by her Department and normal cars, respectively, for the year
INVALID 3-WHEELERS—INJURIES TO DRIVERS REPORTED IN YEAR ENDED 30TH SEPTEMBER Type of Injury Automatic transmission Manual Gearbox Electrically propelled 1973 1974 1975 1973 1974 1975 1973 1974 1975 Minor cuts and bruises 121 166 240 234 127 128 7 5 6 Severe cuts and bruises 25 57 42 34 0 1 Broken ribs etc. necessitating admission to hospital. 20 35 28 21 0 0 Multiple injuries 2 3 3 0 1
INJURY ACCIDENT—ALL TYPES REPORTED IN THE YEAR ENDED 30TH SEPTEMBER 3-Wheelers DHSS Cars 1973 1974 1975 1973 1974 1975 Per 1,000 drivers* 20 23 28 8 10 11 Per 100 million miles (including reserve vehicles). 644 740 857 140 161 181 * These are net figures indicating the numbers of drivers at risk at the year end, which is smaller than the total number of drivers at risk at any time during the period. The injury accident figures for DHSS vehicles are compiled from accident reports prepared for insurance purposes. Some of the injuries included are of a kind that might not normally be reported to the police. The Department of the Environment's statistics for all passenger cars and taxis are all based on police reports. Since the beginning of 1974 the Department of the Environment has separately identified, from the police reports sent to it, injury accidents involving three wheelers. These give a somewhat better basis for comparison, and I would refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister of Transport to my hon. Friends the Members for Walsall, South (Mr. George) and Eccles (Mr. Carter-Jones) on 29th October.—[Vol. 898, c. 514.]
§ Mr. Hannamasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she will list all wind gust tests, swerve tests and any other handling tests carried out by her Department, the Department of the Environment or any other body, to the Model 70 tricycle, listing the dates they were carried out; and if she will place any relevant reports in the Library after the deletion of commercially confidential information as appropriate.
§ Mr. Alfred MorrisIt is not practicable to produce an exhaustive list, or to prepare in a form suitable for publication reports of the numerous handling and634W ended 30th September 1973, 1974 and 1975, respectively.
§ Mr. Alfred MorrisFollowing is the available information for England:
other tests on the Model 70 that have been carried out by the Department as part of the ongoing development programme related to this vehicle over a period of more than six years during the pre- and post-production stages. The only additional handling tests commissioned by the Department have been carried out at MIRA and concerned the effects of cross winds. As the hon. Member will know, the formal report of these, with appropriate deletions to preserve commercial confidentiality, has been placed in the Library of the House. The Department of the Environment commissioned cross wind response experiments on rear-engined vehicles, including the Model 70 tricycle, at MIRA in June 1974. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment is considering with the Director of MIRA whether a suitably abridged version of the report can be published. Tests have been carried out independently by various bodies, including the Consumer Association and the Cranfield Institute of Technology, which will, no doubt, be willing to supply copies of their reports on request to interested parties.