New clause 7 - National speed limit for villages
Road Safety Bill
3:11 pm
Viscount John Thurso (Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland (And Transport), Scotland; Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, Liberal Democrat)
I beg to move, that the clause be read a Second time.
The new clause stands in my name and that of my hon. Friend the Member for Teignbridge (Richard Younger-Ross). It seeks to make a 30 mph speed limit for villages and settlements statutory. I will give a brief explanation of the clause. Subsection (1) says:
''The Secretary of State shall by regulations made by statutory instrument establish a national speed limit of 30 m.p.h for motor vehicles in villages.''
Subsection (2) gives a time scale of
''not later than twelve months'',
and subsection (3) sets out a definition of a village as
''a settlement of 20 or more dwellings situated along not less than 600 metres of any highway.''
At the outset, I say that I am grateful to the Campaign to Protect Rural England for having brought the matter to my attention and giving me a brief. I see the new clause as a part of an overall road strategy, and particularly as a strategy for developing a clearer road hierarchy. I have often spoken during our debates about the difference between those of our roads that are clearly engineered and designed for use by the motor car at speed—the obvious examples of that are the motorway and the dual carriageway—and those roads that are not so engineered.
Many villages have narrow roads with mixed use, where pedestrians and other road users are in potential conflict with the motorist. As a principle, I have always sought not necessarily to slow traffic down or say to the motorist, ''Do not go fast unless the road is properly engineered'', but to focus on those areas where we can legislate in a way that has regard to that mixed use of the road. That is why I believe passionately that enforcement in 20, 30 and 40 mph zones is so important.
The Government could and should consider this matter, and they are already committed to do so because the road safety strategy published in 2000 included two specific commitments for rural areas. First, it stated that 30 mph should be the normal speed limit for villages, and secondly, it included a commitment to develop a road hierarchy that would update the current road classification. I think that it was the Prime Minister who, in launching the strategy in March 2000, made the commitment, welcomed at the time, that 30 mph should be the normal speed limit for villages.
The three-year review of the road safety strategy concluded that those commitments were being successfully delivered, and its conclusions established the policy that 30 mph should be the norm for villages. Although that has been restated, I am not sure that the necessary progress has taken place, and no deadline has been set for achievement of the Government's aspiration.
Although there is clearly some difficulty with regard to the definition of ''village'', the definition included in the new clause is satisfactory. We know that 60 per cent. of road accidents take place in rural areas—many fatalities occur on rural roads—and over 50 per cent. of accidents take place in areas where there is a 30 or 40 mph speed limit; those two points are juxtaposed. It would be sensible for us to consider a 30 mph limit for villages.
The new clause cannot be considered in any way to be anti-motorist. I think that it is pro-motorist because, as a motorist myself, when travelling in rural areas in my constituency I find a number of villages with no speed limit, as well as some that have a limit of 40 mph and some with a limit of 30 mph. It would be useful to know that every village had a clearly defined 30 mph speed limit; it would be a reassuring measure for drivers, rather than an anti-motorist one. I commend the new clause to the Committee and I hope, albeit without too much optimism, that the Government will look favourably on it.
Sitting suspended for a Division in the House.
On resuming—