New Road Legislation Coming Soon
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Minister of Transport Asks Public to Examine New Road Traffic Bill with an Open Mind
rHE Government were tackling with Vigour the question of road legislation and he hoped soon to able to announce their plans, said -. A. T. Lennox-Boyd, Minister of tnsport, on Tuesday. He was open; the National Safety Congress of the yal Society for the Prevention of cidents at the Central Hall,
stminster. '
-le asked that everyone should mine the legislation with a fair mind. had to take into consideration the crests of the motorcyclist, cyclist and iestrian, as well as those of the ,torist.
vir. Lennox-Boyd said that . he was tidy conscious of the need for more I better roads. The approximate t of dealing with one black spot was 000. "Multiply that by the number black spots in the country and you te•some idea of the task with which are faced," he said.
Improve Road Behaviour
kr Howard Roberts, chairman of national executive committee of the iety, said that casualties occurred ause, although the road system mined almost unchanged, the nber of vehicles ever increased. The ension of traffic must . be accomlied by improvements in the road laviour of every individual.
)uring 1952, new low records in idents were achieved. This year, the ition was reversed, for accidents wed a rising trend, During the first it months of the year, road casualwere over 10,000 in excess of the re for the corresponding period for 2. If the rate continued, the total year would be about 225,000.
Is Enforcement Desirable?
he question of "Education or orcement? " in matters of road ty, with particular emphasis on the ng of cycles by children, was procd to the congress by Dr. W. P. sander, secretary of the Association Sducation Committees. He asserted
it was a criminal offence for a .tit to allow a child on the road I a cycle without, first ensuring that ler training had been given,
arents wept when their child was cd up for National Service, because death risk was increased, but did • realize that when they gave a boy /cle, they made him 30 times more
le to be killed? • r. Alexander was a firm believer in value of education, but was that
ash? Should enforcement be intro !d? • , . . . He asked in which aspects enforcement would seem to be appropriate. He thought that the most important matter was in offering training facilities for cyclists.
"I do not believe in enforcement as applied to the individual," he said, "but I am a firm believer in enforcement so far as public authorities are concerned."
To try to force such legislation on the public would at the present time be unwise, but local authorities and othef responsible bodies should secure that if facilities were available, a test should be taken by every cyclist, young and old alike.
The Chief Constable of Leeds, giving a policeman's view, said that the law could be enforced only when it had public support. He pointed out that the Road Traffic Act, 1930, gave the Minister of Transport power to require that cycles should be properly .maintained, and he thought that the time for putting this provision into effect was long overdue.
The chairman, Sir Gilbert Flemming, permanent secretary to the Ministry of Education, said that his own department would be pleased to receive any resolutions on the question.
Safety Forum
On Wednesday, a road-safety forum, under the chairmanship of Lord Latham, discussed proposals submitted by accident-prevention bodies in various parts of the country.
One was a suggestion that the "accident proneness 7 of drivers be investigated. Another maintained that there was still doubt in the minds of road users about their rights at pedestrian crossings
A proposal of particular interest, made by the Scottish Accident Prevention Council, was that legislation be introduced to make it a punishable offence for a pedestrian to act in a Manner resulting in injury to another.
Yesterday a road safety parliament was held under the chairmanship "of Mr. J. Gurney Braithwaite, parliamentary secretary to the Ministry of Transport. Included in the members of the team were the editors of two of our associated journals, Mr. Graham Walker of Motor Cycling, and Mr.• H. H. England of Cycling.