§ Mr. HammondTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what benefits have arisen from the imposition of a 40 mph speed limit on the elevated section of the M4 in West London. [146954]
§ Mr. HillThere has been a reduction in personal injury accidents on the elevated section of the M4 in West London since the introduction of a 40 mph speed limit.
This is an encouraging and welcome trend, but is too early to say it is a long term benefit.
§ Mr. HammondTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what benefits have arisen from the imposition of a 50 mph speed limit on the M4 eastbound section between Heathrow Airport and the elevated section. [146953]
§ Mr. HillThe introduction of a 50 mph speed limit on the eastbound M4 between Heathrow and the elevated section has led to a decrease in personal injury accidents.
This is an encouraging and welcome trend, but is too early to say if it is a long term benefit.
In addition, the independent Transport Research Laboratory's (TRL) report of their monitoring of the M4 bus lane during the first year calculates that during off peak periods, noise levels are one dBA lower, CO, 738W emissions have reduced by 16 per cent. and fuel consumption of vehicles using the road has improved by 16 per cent.
§ Mr. HammondTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions for what policy reason taxi-cabs are(a) permitted to use the bus lane on the M4 and (b) not permitted to use the bus lane on the Heathrow Airport spur road. [146965]
§ Mr. HillThere are no policy reasons for taxi-cabs being permitted to use the M4 bus lane but not the one on the Heathrow Airport spur road. The decisions were based on the need to obtain the best traffic flows in each situation. Allowing taxis to use the spur road bus lane would overload the traffic signals at the end of the spur and delay traffic. The end of the M4 bus lane has sufficient capacity to allow excluded traffic to merge easily with bus lane traffic.