§ Mr. ClaphamTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimates his Department has made of the impact of motorway charges on serious injuries and fatalities to vehicle occupants, cyclists and pedestrians.
§ Mr. KeyMotorways are among our safest roads. A key objective of motorway charging is to provide another218W source of finance to expand the network more quickly. This will reduce the diversion to other roads which would otherwise occur as the motorway network became more congested.
The Green Paper "Paying For Better Motorways"—Cm. 2200—considered in some detail the extent to which charging might of itself cause diversion to other roads. The research summarised in the document suggested that charging at levels well below those used in other countries —as was suggested in the Green Paper—would cause only modest diversion.
The overall effects of charging on road safety would depend on a number of factors. These include the timing of introduction; the overall charge levels and any variations in charging between different roads and at different times of day; and the practical effects of charging in terms of facilitating quicker expansion of the motorway network. Such issues require further exploration. In the meantime, there is no basis for assessing in detail the likely effects of charging on road safety.