§ Mr. Pawseyasked the Secretary of State for Transport if he has any proposals for reducing the number of road casualties in built-up areas.
§ Mrs. ChalkerMy right hon. Friend is contemplating a major trial of methods for reducing road accidents in urban areas, outside the town centres for which known accident reduction treatments already exist. This would involve the systematic and comprehensive application to five such areas of low-cost traffic management and road engineering measures designed to reduce accidents without detriment to traffic flows, and the monitoring of their effectiveness.
The areas are in Bradford, Bristol, Nelson, Reading and Sheffield. I am glad to be able to tell my hon. Friend that the five local authorities are ready to be partners to this project, and that the preliminary operations, of identifying the particular measures appropriate in each test area, are now beginning. The entire trial would take some five years to complete and we hope, indeed believe, that it would lead to the establishment of accident reduction techniques effective in all such areas throughout the country.