Road Transport Activities
Page 45
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IN PARLIAMENT
By Our Special Parliamentary Correspondent
THE ROAD TRAFFIC BILL IN COMMITTEE.
A'the' third sitting of the Standing Committee on the Road Traffic 13111 an amendment was accepted and carried to exempt motorists from observing the 30-m.p.h. speed limit in built-up areas between midnight and 5 a.m. The amendment was moved by Mr. Anstruther-Gray, who said it would he generally recognized that the 30-imp.h. limit, if applied to the whole 24 hours, would be generally ignored in the early morning hours.
Mr. Stanley said his desire was not to put restrictions upon motorists unless they could be fully justified from the point of view of security. He gave figures showing that fatal accidents which occurred during the early hours of the morning in built-up areas numbered only 65, as compared With 77 in non-built-up areas ; 21 pedestrians were involved in the 65 accidents.
Another amendment was moved by Mr. Anstruther-Gray, requiring the lighting in the built-up areas to be " by means of lamps placed not more than 200 yards apart." Mr. Stanley accepted the amendment.
INDICATING BUILT-UP AREAS.
AT the next sitting of the committee Mr. Stanley intimated the lines upon which he proposed to proceed in indicating entrances to built-up areas. The committee, he said, had agreed that the only practicable method was that of street lighting. There would be no difficulty in sign-posting the entrance to a non-built-up area to which the speed limit applied, whilst on lighted roads, which were excluded from control, he proposed that every lamppost should be marked.
The difficulty would arise, mainly, on the outskirts of the controlled areas. The mark should be made at their entrances. Where the lamps were extinguished at tertain hours of the night, the motorist was entitled to some definite mark, Accordingly, local authorities would be given the alternative of keeping their lamps lit or marking them with a reflector sign.
In the large built-up areas he proposed that the first three, five or six lamps should be marked with a distinctive colour, and he would not ignore the possibility of making use of signposts. The marking could. be extended to cover junctions, but he hoped that before long these would be marked by the major-road signs. He hoped also to see a largely iffcreased use of name plates on roads leading into towns, which would be an additional guide. The Minister agreed that the signs should he uniform.
PRIVATELY OWNED AIRC1 AFT.
IT was stated by Sir P. Sassr' that !the numbers of privately ir ned aircraft registered in the Uni_ed Kingdom on December 31, 1931, 1932 and 1933 were 385, 402, and 408 respectively. These figures were exclusive of aircraft used for transport, taxi work, training and club work. The numbers of registered civil aircraft other than those owned by regular air-transport companies were on December 31 last :—France 1,435, Germany, 874, Italy 325, U.S.A. 8,780 and Great Britain 995. There were some 22 gliding clubs in the United Kingdom, although not all were active.
STRENGTHENING WEAK BRIDGES.
14R. STANLEY has stated that 27 1Y1priority lists have. now been received as a result of the County Conferences so far held concerning weak bridges, and negotiations for the strengthening or rebuilding of weak bridges, included in these lists, were actively proceeding between the highway authorities and bridge owners.
EVASION BY INSURANCE COMPANIES.
UR. HALL-CAINE, having pointed Mout the facility with which some insurance companies can evade meeting charges in respect of motor insurance, and having asked the Minister to consider the adoption of a standard form of contract, Mr. Stanley drew attention to clauses 7 to 12 of the Road Traffic Bill which were designed to prevent such evasions. He would take into consideration any particular points in connection with these clauses that were brought to his attention.
NO BRITISH OILFIELD DISCOVERED.
'UPON being asked whether there had %di been a discovery of any new oilfield in this country, Mr. E. Brown, Secretary for Mines, replied in the nega tive, and added that renewed interest in the possibility of finding oil had led to the introduction of the Bill which had passed its Second Reading in the House of Lords.' He pointed out that an oilfield was only regarded as having been discovered when it had been tested with the drill and the existence of oil in commercial quantitieshad been determined. CIVIL AVIATION AND FOREIGN COMPETITION.
HAVING been asked whether he was !satisfied that the existing civil aviation policy of this country would enable British commercial air-services to meet the increasing competition from foreign forces Sir P. Sassoon pointed out that such competition depended on comparative safety, comfort, regularity, speed, cost, etc. The results achieved to date established that in the combination of these factors our commercial air services were at present holding their own against foreign competition.
For example, they carried a larger number of passengers, to and from the Continent in 1933 than all their foreign competitorS combined; and their operations as a whole were more nearly on a self-supporting financial basis than those of any other European country. Civil aviation policy however, was, and would continue to be kept under constant review.
BY-ROADS CLOSED TO HEAVY TRAFFIC.
LORD APSLEY asked the Minister of Transport, whether, where byroads were closed by county councils to through traffic of commercial vehicles, with the exception of local buses, milk lorries, agricultural machinery, and road-material lorries it was intended that the last named, travelling long distances, should be permitted or 'not.
Mr. Stanley replied that orders prohibiting or restricting the use of vehicles on specified roads varied according to the circumstances of the cases. If he were furnisbed with sufficient particulars to identify the roads referred to he would make some inquiry.
ROAD AND RAIL CO-ORDINATION IN TANGANYIKA.
AQUESTION was put by Mr. HallCaine to the Secretary of State for the Colonies as to whether he was aware that Tanganyika proposed to prohibit the carriage of goods by motor vehicle over roads in the territory which ran parallel with the railway; whether this was a policy which was being adopted generally in the British Colonies, and what was its justification.
Sir P. Cunliffe-Lister stated that the Tanganyika government had been advised that existing legislation had not eliminated uneconomic motor competition and the question of amending the existing legislation was under consideration. It was the policy to effect a co-ordination between road and rail transport.