§ Mr. Dudley Smithasked the Secretary of State for Transport to what main reasons he ascribes the reduction in road accident fatalities in the figures just released; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. FowlerThe road accident casualty figures for Great Britain which I published in a written reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Peterborough (Dr. Mawhinney) on 14 July 1981 show that numbers killed—6,010—and seriously injured—79,000—were the lowest since 1958, although motor traffic has trebled since then. They show a continuation of the reduction in
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Table1 Taxalion Revenue and Public Road Costs 1981–82—United Kingdom (Revised July 1981) Vehicle category Vehicles numbers (thousands) Estimated taxation revenue Costs attributed Revenue to cost ratios VED Fuel tax† Total Car tax Total (including car tax) Excluding car tax Including car tax £ million £ million £ million £ million £ million £ million Cars and Taxis: Non-business 15,683 790 2,460 3,250 390 3,640 1,120 2.9:1 3.2:1 Business 290 910 1,200 150 1,350 420 2.9:1 3.2:1 Buses and coaches 76 4 135* 139 — 139 80 1.7:1 1.7:1 Light vans (not over 30 cwt unladen) 1,248 100 300 400 — 400 100 4.0:1 4.0:1 Goods Vehicles (over 30 cwt unladen): Not over 3.5 tonnes gvw 74 10 17 27 — 27 8 3.4:1 3.4:1 Over 3.5 tonnes 495 310 600 910 — 910 822 1.1:1 1.1:1 All Vehicles 17,576 1,504 4,422 5,926 540 6,466 2,550 2.3:1 2.5:1 * Fuel tax rebate on stage services—(£100 million)—not deducted † Diesel + road fuel duty applied at a rate of 13.82p per litre for the period 6 April to 2 July and at a rate of 11.91p per litre for the remainder of the financial year 1981–82. casualties achieved in 1979. There is no single cause. Road casualties can be brought down in this way only by continuous attention from all those responsible for safety standards of roads and of vehicles and, above all, by the actions of road users themselves. The improvement is encouraging. But the number of deaths and injuries remain too high. We must aim to reduce casualties much further and the road safety proposals in the present Transport Bill are designed to play an important part in helping to achieve this.