Clause 40 - Motorway picnic areas etc.
Road Safety Bill
5:45 pm
Mr Christopher Chope (Shadow Minister, Environment and Transport; Christchurch, Conservative)
I do not often call the Minister complacent because I think that he takes the issue of road safety seriously, as do most members of the Committee. However, on this issue he has a bit of a blind spot. I do not know whether he received the letter from RoadChef that all other members of the Committee received. On 7 January 2005, RoadChef said,
''We are concerned that this legislation has been put forward without any consultation or notification to motorway service area operators.''
I do not know whether that was a figment of RoadChef's imagination, but that was what it said on 7 January. RoadChef is the third largest motorway service area operator in the country, trading from 20 sites and representing about one quarter of the market. It is its view that the establishment of unmanned picnic sites is unlikely to help reduce the number of deaths associated with fatigue on journeys at night, as drivers will be reluctant to stop at sites where refreshments such as coffee are unavailable. The Minister has not addressed that issue.
The Minister has also not addressed the issue as to why, if there is an obligation on motorway service area providers to provide existing rest areas for no charge on their existing sites, it is impossible to give them an option. We could say to them, ''We need to build some smaller picnic areas in the vicinity of your motorway service area and we will give you the first option to develop those areas. We will have a competitive tender to see which bid will result in the least cost to the taxpayer.''
We are talking about people who have built up an enormous amount of expertise and experience in providing and looking after motorway service areas and all the Government are talking about is having a few picnic areas on sites that unspecified at the moment and on which people will not be doing any selling or providing any refreshments. That is different even from the sites on trunk roads, to which the Minister referred earlier, where there are often facilities—perhaps a caravan—where somebody can sell people a cup of coffee.
In the light of the research from the Institute of Advanced Motorists, clause 40 is not an answer to the serious problem of road safety. We hope that following this debate the Minister will consult the motorway services operators and come up with a better solution to this real problem.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 40, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 41 ordered to stand part of the Bill.