§ Mr. Stan Thorneasked the Secretary of State for Transport (1) whether there is any evidence of a reduction in road accidents consequent upon the fitting of indicators to motor cycles;
(2) whether the provision of indicators on motor cycles is dealt with in any regulations made by him; and whether any changes are being considered.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeThe Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations govern the installation of direction indicators on motor cycles. The provision of indicators is optional, although when fitted they must meet specified requirements for their position and performance. Clear direction indicators are much more visible than hand signals and hand signals can be quite ineffective at night. Commonsense would suggest that indicators reduce the risks to motor cyclists when they are turning but there is no statistical evidence to prove the point.
Some motor cycles are sold without indicators at all or with an inadequate electrical supply. I recently circulated proposals to deal with this problem and I am considering what changes in the regulations may be needed in the light 377W of comments received. I have already decided that any new requirements would exempt machines competing in authorised trials.