Orders of the Day — Road Traffic Bill.

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at on 10 April 1934.

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Photo of Lieut-Colonel Sir Cuthbert Headlam Lieut-Colonel Sir Cuthbert Headlam , Barnard Castle

He was insistent that we should have studs in the roads rather than criss-cross lines. But I would remind my hon. and gallant Friend that we are trying out this method of road crossings and that in a period of trial it is advisable to do the work as cheaply as we can. If the practice proves a success, we shall no doubt eventually adopt the Paris method of studs and outrival Paris in the number of paths. We must, however, go steadily at first. A great many Members have evinced a desire that cyclists should carry lamps rather than reflectors, and there is a great deal to be said for that point of view. But there is also the point of view usually put forward by the cyclists—and after all the cyclists are the people who have to be considered in this matter. Their point is, that if they carry lamps they never can really know whether they are alight or not. The time may come when a cyclist is run into by a motor car and is upset; then if he is carrying a lamp, it is put out and no one can say, that it was alight at the time when the accident occurred. We think that the system which we are proposing in the Bill is well worth trying; we mean to have a uniform and effective reflector to be carried on a white ground, and we shall insist upon no other varieties of reflectors being sold. We hope that the result will be fewer accidents to cyclists, but, if this particular method does not prove successful, we may have to try something else. Some hon. Members have expressed a doubt as to whether the proposed test for drivers is going to be effective. I think that it was the hon. and gallant Member for Wallasey who described with contempt the kind of test to which he was put when driving a car in some foreign country. All I can say is that the intention of this test which we are proposing was explained very fully by the Minister in his opening speech. We are anxious that it should inculcate the road sense into the drivers of motor cars from the earliest moment they go on the roads and, in our opinion, a thorough knowledge of the Highway Code is one of the first points which should be instilled into the minds of drivers. I could not give to-night, even if I were so inclined and even if the House wished to hear it, the form of test that we shall impose, but the Minister is in close communication with the motoring associations and is taking the most infinite pains to devise a test which we consider, and which the House will consider, is the sort of test to be applied to a man who is applying for a motor licence. One cannot be quite certain that even when a man has passed a test he is going to be a perfect driver on the road, but it is equally obvious that if you put a man through a test there is more likelihood of his being found out if he is totally incapable of driving on the roads than would otherwise be the case, and at any rate the passing of a test will be some assurance that he is fitted for his work.

With regard to the administration of the law as it affects motor cars on the road, there is no doubt that it is perfectly futile passing Acts of Parliament if they are not administered properly. I sympathise with hon. Members who have spoken to-night and have called attention to the inadequacy of the administration of the law as regards motor traffic at the present time. I think it was the hon. Member for East Cardiff (Mr. Temple Morris) who suggested that if the existing law were administered effectively there would be no need of further legislation at the present time. I am not prepared to agree or disagree with that point of view, but I am certain that if we do pass this new legislation, it must be enforced, and it is our intention that it shall be enforced. That brings me to the question of the speed limit. There is no intention in the Bill to re-establish a general speed limit for private cars such as existed before the passing of the Road Act, 1930. The general speed limit which we are imposing is confined strictly to what are defined as built-up areas, because it is perfectly clear that the larger number of accidents that take place at the present time take place in such areas. So long as this is the case it is, in my opinion, desirable to do all that we can to reduce these accidents, and this can be done best by fixing a maximum speed limit. The imposition of such a speed limit does not impose a very serious hardship upon motorists. I never have been able to understand why excessive speed on high roads used by the public can, except in the literal interpretation of the word, be described as progressive. We were told by the hon. and gallant Member for Wallasey (Lieut.-Colonel Moore-Brabazon) that this re-imposition of the speed limit in built-up areas was a return to the archaic. We all know that long before the coining of the motor car, men worshipped speed. Lord Byron wrote: Now there is nothing gives a man such spirit,Leavening his blood as Cayenne doth a curry,As going at full speed. It does not matter in areas where there is no danger to the rest of the community if a motorist chooses to go at full speed, but where there is danger to others it is essential in the public interest that the Government should step in and look after the interests of other users of the road. That is the reason why we are reimposing a speed limit in built-up areas. A built-up area is undoubtedly most difficult to define. In France, they have tried to define it as an agglomeration of houses. This is a rough sort of definition, and it is not surprising that it has been found ineffective. We have decided on the particular form of definition in the Bill because it seems clear and simple. Anybody can see where the streets are lighted or where there are means of lighting them, and when once places have been marked off by clear signs which will be similar all over the country it should not be in the least difficult for motorists to know at once when they come to a built-up area. I know the North of England well enough to realise that there are large stretches of roads which would conform to our definition, that is they are street lighted, and at the same time they are roads along which it is perfectly possible to go at a greater speed than 30 miles an hour without doing anybody any harm. Local authorities are not likely to wish to declare such stretches of road as being built-up areas, and it will be possible for motor cars to go at a greater speed than 30 miles on almost all the roads in areas which are not fully developed.

I do not think that hon. Members need fear that there will be any great difficulty in deciding what is or is not a built-up area. But, in any case, my hon. Friend has retained the power to settle this matter himself if he is not satisfied that the local authority has settled it satisfactorily. It is always easy to suggest that the definitions in a Bill are absurd or difficult of interpretation, but, as a rule, when they are fully considered these difficulties disappear, and in the case of this particular definition I think that some hon. Members have exaggerated the difficulty of defining what is a built-up area.

Another point upon which some hon. Members have laid a good deal of stress is the necessity for having, so far as possible, uniformity in matters respecting motor traffic speeds. It has been asked why we have decided upon a 30-mile speed limit. The answer is that it is a reasonable speed limit. When hon. Members suggest that it will give motorists a sense of false security to say that they can go at 30 miles an hour in a particular area, they are really over-rating the stupidity of motorists. In certain parts of such an area it may be perfectly safe to go at 30 miles an hour, but in other parts it may be dangerous to go more than 10 miles an hour. There is no reason why motorists, because there is a speed limit of 30 miles an hour, should want to go faster than what is a reasonably safe speed under the conditions which exist. Therefore I do not think we need anticipate any danger of motorists going at high speeds where it is unsafe for them to do so.

The real point of this Bill is, as my hon. Friend pointed out, not that we hope by it to do away with all accidents and troubles on the road, but that we hope its effect will be to reduce the number of accidents and to inculcate into the minds of people in this country the necessity for care and precaution on the roads. I remember years ago when I went to Switzerland we used to engage in what was a most enjoyable form of sport. We used to go in what were called bob-sleighs down the roads of the various places at which we were staying, going round hairpin corners at considerable risk to ourselves and everybody else who came on those roads. It was the most exhilarating sport imaginable but I understand, now that there is more traffic on these roads and that accidents are liable to occur the authorities have stopped that form of sport. That must always be the case. Where motoring or anything else becomes a public danger it has to be regulated under speed limits and in other ways. We believe that if the example of Oxford is a serious criterion the imposition of the speed limit will have the effect of reducing accidents in the built-up areas, and we hold that the experiment has been justified so far. The chief constable of Oxford writes: My opinion is that the standard of driving has improved in the city since the limit was imposed, and there appears to be less cutting-in and jockeying for position, less impatient hooting and, generally, less dangerous and careless driving. It seems to me that in those circumstances we can regard the imposition of the speed limit in built-up areas without trepidation. Various hon. Members have raised points with regard to other matters dealt with in the Bill, and I wish at once to make it clear that my hon. Friend is ready to consider any suggestions made by hon. Members in Committee upstairs with the object of improving the Bill. Questions such as the position of hospitals and doctors and points which have been raised by other Members concerning the administration of the law, can be considered in Committee. I had forgotten one point which I wished particularly to mention, and that is the question of stage carriages and express carriages. It was found in practice that the definition in the Act of 1930 was proving impracticable and this is the reason why we have made this alteration. It is also a matter which can be more fully explained in Committee.

The Bill we are asking the House to give a Second Beading to to-night is a serious attempt by the Government to cope with a very alarming state of things on the road, and we hold that the time has come when something must be done to make the motorist realise the fact that "more haste than good speed makes many fare worse." Let us have speed by all means, in parts of the country where speed is not dangerous to the public, but let us, as the poet said who first sang of a motorcar, have "speed in the fear of the Lord". The time has come when we must realise that, in the interests of the whole country, we cannot sacrifice life with impunity. We cannot run the risks that have been run in the past. There are cases such as that which was cited by the hon. Member for East Cardiff, where a drunken chauffeur in charge of a car injured various people who have been unable to get compensation. Questions of insurance of that description will, I think, be covered by the Bill as it stands at the present time; if they are not, we will look into the matter in Commitee and do all that we can to put the insured person in a sound position. I ask the House to give a Second Beading to this Bill in the full confidence that it is designed in the public interest and that it will be effective in the service for which it is designed.