Road Transport Activities
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IN PARLIAMENT
By Our Special Parliamentary Correspondent
An Absurd Bill.
MHE Bill introduced by Lord Buck
master, in the House of Lords, to amend the Road Traffic Act, has been Put down for the second reading to-day (April 26th). As reported in last week's issue, it is a short Bill, mainly designed to stiffen the penalties for negligent driving, resulting in death or injury, and to limit to 5 m.p.h. the speed of any goods vehicle exceeding 5 tons gross weight in cities, towns or villages.
Regulation of Traffic.
iurrt. HUTCHINSON wished to _IY_Lknow whether there was any bylaw compelling vehicles intending to stop at the side of a road to do so only when following the appropriate stream of traffic, and whether, in any case, legislation would be introduced to compel traffic wishing to stop to draw up only if it were in the appropriate stream of traffic.
Mr. Pybus said that he was not aware 3f the existence of any"by-law on this subject. The Road Traffic Act made it an offence for any person in charge of a vehicle to permit it to remain at rest on a road in such a position as to bs likely to cause danger.
Experience of Inspectors.
INFORMATION was desired by Mr. Groves regarding the experience In craftsmanship, either in woodwork or engineering, possessed by the section of the Metropolitan Police responsible for issuing licences to buses, tramcars and taxicabs.
The Home Secretary stated that about 80 per cent, of the police officers engaged in inspecting the vehicles referred to were, before they joined the service, craftsmen with practical experience of mechanical and automobile engineering, or of bodybuilding and woodwork generally. The remainder had shown a special aptitude for the work since they joined, and police officers were not promoted to the rank of inspector in this section. unless they had successfully passed a course of two years' study at a school of engineering.
Refusing Police Warnings. NVITH reference to the revised procedure regarding warnings by police officers at the time of an alleged offence, Capt. H. Balfour asked whether the motorist would have the option of refusing the warning and asking for a police prosecution.
The Home Secretary said that a verbal warning was given by a police officer only in trivial cases which would not ordinarily be regarded as calling for report with a view to possible prosecution. The circumstances would, however, be specially reported if the person Concerned took exception to the warning.
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Suspended By-pass Work. it/ER. RHYS DAVIES, having asked .1.V.Ifor particulars of the estimate for the Blackrod by-pass road, suggested that, as the stoppage of the work would render that already completed subject to deterioration by exposure, some temporary surface should be authorized to preserve the work already done and to enable the road to be used during the summer.
Mr. Pybus stated that the estimate originally approved for the by-pass was £129,895. Subsequently, the county council agreed that the scheme should be curtailed to a cost estimated at £72,895, and the expenditure incurred to date was approximately 157,000. He -was unable, at present, to permit an extension of the work already agreed.
Position of Small Bus Operators.
MHE position of the small bus operaI_ tor was raised by Mr. Mallalieu, who wished the Minister of Transport to state what measures he had taken, or -was prepared to take, to ensure that -small proprietors should not be at a disadvantage as compared with the large operating companies with regard to the expenses of appeal to the Minister against decisions of the Traffic Commissioners.
Mr. Pybus said it was a matter for the individual operator to decide whether he would be legally represented or appear in person at an appeal inquiry. Ministry representatives holding those inquiries always tried to help operators who appeared in person. Under the Act he had power to make such order as he might think just as to the payment of the Ministry's costs. Transport and Planning.
TN the course of the debate on the 1Board of Trade vote in Committee of Supply, Mr. Attlee, Labour Member, after arguing that, at present, there was no collective control by the National Government, made the suggestion that Mr. Runeiman might consider, with the Minister of Transport, the condition of transport facilities and that he might investigate, with the Minister of Health (who already had the amenity planning control),, the industrial planning control, and bring the two together. He emphasized that thought must be taken for the economic future of the country.
Railway Address to M.P.s.
Ai-EMBERS of the Transport Com4iLmittee of the House of Commons were addressed last Wednesday by Sir Ralph Wedgwood, chief general manager of the London and North Eastern Railway Co. He elihorated in some detail the conclusion of the railways that their road competitors were enjoying an unduly favoured position, which should be examined and, if admitted, adjusted.
Locked Vehicles in Parks.
Pitreplyto a question as to whether had been decided to permit owners to lock their motors at London parking places, the Minister of Transport has announced that he proposes to try, provisionally, as an experiment, the effect of amending the'Regulations, so as to meet the general request of motor users, by the deletion of the requirement that a vehicle should be so left at a parking place that it could be moved from one position to another by manual power.
He hopes and believes that the motoring public will co-operate with the Commissioner of Police and himself by seeing that where vehicles are parked head to tail, two or three feet are left between the front and the back of each.
With regard to places outside the London Traffic Area, there is no regulation in existence issued by him which would prevent local authorities from adopting a similar practice.
Obsolete Taxicabs.
it . WEST RUSSJILL wished to ,LVlknow if a record was kept of how many taxicabs licensed by the Metropolitan authorities incorporated chassis made more than nine years ago, and what steps were taken to reduce the number of cabs with out-of-date chassis or bodies at present licensed for hire in the Metropolitan Area.
The Home Secretary pointed out that fitness, and not age, of chassis and body was the determining factor when cabs were submitted annually for relicensing. No record was, he said, kept of the age of the chassis.