§ Mr. Iain Millsasked the Secretary of State for Transport if a full study has now been made of the effects of the dimmed beam of dim-dip lighting systems on reflective aids used by motor cyclists and pedal cyclists.
§ Mrs. ChalkerThese reflective aids have most value on unlit and poorly lit roads where drivers will need—and continue to be required by the regulations—to use normal headlamps in order to see ahead. In areas of good street lighting, reflective aids very often show up under the ambient light, and experiments have shown that in these areas the use of normal headlamps—especially in wet weather—worsens the conspicuity of other road users, including motor cyclists and pedal cyclists.
§ Mr. Iain Millsasked the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if he is now able to quantify the potential for accident reduction resulting from the use of dim-clip lighting systems in cars;
(2) what he estimates will be the reduction in accidents in well lit, poorly lit and unlit streets as a result of dim-clip lighting.
§ Mrs. ChalkerIt is not possible to quantify the number of accidents that will be saved by the introduction of dim-dip vehicle lighting systems. Accidents generally have number of causes and lighting may or may not be one. This is seldom possible to establish. However, the improvement of only one contributory factory may result in the avoidance of an accident, or the lessening of its severity.
One third of all injury accidents, 80,000 a year, occur in the dark. Over 70 per cent. of these—57,000 occur on lit roads with a speed limit of 30 or 40 miles per hour. Nearly half of these occur in wet weather., a disproportionately large number, bearing in mind that it is 91W wet for much less than half the time. Increased stopping distances in wet weather apply equally during day or night. But the number occurring on wet roads at night, around 25,000 accidents, is much greater than one would expect and it is not unreasonable to assume that some of these accidents would be avoided by the use of dim-dipped headlights.
Dim-dip lighting will make vehicles which today are driven on side lights more visible. It will also lead to a reduction in dazzle by allowing drivers to use dim-dip in well lit streets in place of normal dipped headlights. Obviously the potential savings in accidents, as well as the improvement in comfort, could be very significant.
§ Mr. Iain Millsasked the Secretary of State for Transport if he has received representations from the car components and car manufacturing industry on the cost involved in equipping cars with dim-dip lighting.
§ Mrs. ChalkerBritish component manufacturers have told us that the cost of a dim-dip device using the existing headlamps will be about £1 to £1.50 supplied in quantity to vehicle manufacturers and £3 to £5 when offered to motorists through accessory shops for fitting to existing vehicles.
A leading vehicle manufacturer has supplied an estimate of £1.50 for additional production costs for meeting the requirements. Much higher estimates that have been quoted assume that additional lamps or sophisticated equipment is fitted, but this is not required by the regulations which incorporate a lead time of nearly three years to allow for the development of inexpensive and reliable systems.