§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, (1) pursuant to his reply of 5 June,Official Report, column 227, if he will detail the investigations that are currently taking place into variable sensing units to be fitted to trailers built before 1982;
(2) how many deaths have been reported in the last 12 months in accidents where one of the vehicles was a trailer with a variable sensing unit built prior to 1982.
§ Mr. ChopeWe are investigating the accident and fatality statistics for trailers manufactured before 1982.
We have no detailed statistics for the last 12 months but police reports for 1988 indicate that there were 570 fatal accidents involving heavy goods vehicles in England and Wales.
To date 490 of these reports have been examined in detail revealing that there were three fatalities involving pre-1982 trailers which were not fitted with variable sensing units.
Discussions are taking place with the major vehicle and equipment manufacturers as well as vehicle operators.