§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Transport what is the actual or estimated national expenditure on road safety for a recent convenient period; what was the number of deaths and casualties on the roads during that period; and to what extent he estimates road safety expenditure contributed to saving life and limb on the roads during that period.
§ Mr. William RodgersMuch money, both public and private, is spent on road construction or vehicle maintenance which produce a whole range of benefits. It would be difficult to quantify the part of such expenditure which should be attributed to road safety. Some smaller items of expenditure are wholly attributable to road safety. These include central Government expenditure on road safety research and publicity, which amounted in 1977–78 to £2 million and £4.5 million respectively. It is not possible to estimate the numbers of casualties saved by the total expenditure on road safety.