§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the use of speed limiters in lorries has been assessed to determine efficiency in preventing traffic accidents. [187404]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe accident involvement rate on motorways (per hundred million vehicle kms) fell from 6.4 for all HGVs in 1991 (before the mandatory fitting of speed limiters was introduced) to 4.3 in 2002—which is a 34 per cent. decrease. This is significant, particularly as traffic volume increased by 33 per cent. over the same period.
The above figures include accidents involving currently non-speed limited HGVs between 3.5 and 7.5 tonnes. However, the reduction in accidents for exclusively speed limited vehicles may be even more significant. Almost all articulated HGVs are speed limited and the accident involvement rate for that class of vehicle fell from 6.7 in 1991 to 3.9 in 2002—a 42 per cent. decrease.
Other contributing factors may also have influenced that decline but speed limiters have clearly played a part.
§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many lorries are fitted with speed limiters. [187405]
§ Mr. JamiesonAll goods vehicles over 7.5 tonnes are required to have speed limiters fitted. As at 31 December 2003 there were 276,000 such vehicles licensed.
§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many accidents involving lorries occurred during overtaking manoeuvres in each of the last 10 years; and how many of these involved lorries fitted with speed limiters. [187406]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe number of accidents occurring during overtaking manoeuvres involving HGVs on motorways for the last 10 years is set out as follows:
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Accidents Fatal Serious Slight All 1994 6 34 236 276 1995 9 25 214 248 1996 7 38 233 278 1997 7 37 255 299 1998 9 29 259 297 1999 7 40 280 327 2000 11 38 338 387 2001 7 28 291 326 2002 5 35 298 338 2003 8 42 305 355 Although it has been a requirement to fit speed limiters to vehicles over 7.5 tonnes since 1992, we have only been recording HGVs over 7.5 tonnes on our database as a separate category of vehicles since 1999. All of the accidents from 1999 onwards quoted above involved HGVs fitted with a speed limiter.
The rise in the number of accidents involving HGVs can largely be attributed to the increase in traffic—indeed, the number of accidents involving all categories of vehicle has increased over the last 10 years. However, the accident rate per vehicle kilometres has changed little during the same time period and, in the case of HGVs, the accident rate per vehicle kilometres has actually fallen quite substantially since the introduction of speed limiters (a decrease of 34 per cent. between 1991 and 2002).
§ Mr. Greg KnightTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport how mans people are employed by the Humberside Safety Camera Partnership. [186205]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe Humberside Safety Camera Partnership employs a complement of 49.6 full time equivalent posts. Eight of these posts are filled by police officers, the rest civilians.
§ Mr. Greg KnightTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he proposes to take to raise public awareness of the guidelines that are in place for Safety Camera Partnerships. [186206]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe Department for Transport website contains information on the rules of the safety camera programme on the deployment, signing and visibility of safety cameras, as does the website of the National Safety Camera Liaison, which provides information on Safety Camera Partnerships' activities. The Handbook of Rules and Guidelines for the next year's operation of the programme is currently being prepared. When it is issued, we will publicise it, and make it available through the Department's website.
§ Mr. Greg KnightTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what measures he intends to implement to make Safety Camera Partnerships more responsive to complaints received from member s of the public. [186207]
§ Mr. JamiesonMembers of the public who have a complaint about an alleged offence caught on a safety camera can challenge it in a Magistrates Court. Partnerships are made up of police, local and magistrates courts authorities, each of which will have a complaint procedure. Partnerships consider, investigate and respond to complaints in line with those. Partnerships also pro vide extensive information on their activities, including information on camera sites, through their websites and local media.