Roads: Accidents
Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how many collisions involving cars and HGVs on roads with speed limits of 60mph involved a car overtaking a HGV and colliding with an oncoming vehicle in the last 12 months; and what assessment he has made of the severity of such crashes; [128571]
(2) if he will estimate how many crashes there have been between cars and HGVs on roads with a speed limit of 60mph in the last five years. [128615]
Stephen Hammond: Information is provided in the following table on the reported number of personal injury accidents on single carriageway roads with 60 mph speed limits which involved at least one car and one HGV across each of the last five years.
| Reported number of personal injury accidents on single carriageway roads with 60 mph speed limits involving cars/HGVs: 2007 – 11 | ||
| Number of accidents | ||
| Number of collisions involving at least one car and one HGV | All collisions involving all vehicles | |
|
2007 |
514 |
28,575 |
|
2008 |
443 |
25,288 |
|
2009 |
315 |
23,263 |
|
2010 |
332 |
20,895 |
|
2011 |
267 |
19,855 |
| Source: STATS19 Police Data, Department for Transport | ||
Information on the reported number of personal injury accidents in 2011 on single carriageway roads with 60 mph speed limits which involved at least one car overtaking any moving vehicle is provided in the following table. The table also includes information on the number of people killed or seriously injured as a result of these collisions.
| Reported number of personal injury accidents and subsequent casualties on single carriageway roads with 60 mph limits involving at least one car overtaking a moving vehicle: Great Britain 2011 | |||
| Number of accidents/casualties | |||
| Total number of collisions | Number of casualties killed | Number of casualties seriously injured | |
|
2011 |
998 |
49 |
288 |
| Source: STATS19 Police Data, Department for Transport | |||
Information about what type of vehicle was overtaken is not collected so it is impossible to state how many of these collisions involved a car overtaking an HGV. In addition, it is not possible to determine whether the resulting collision was with an oncoming vehicle.
PACTS comments: Given that one of the arguments for the proposed increasing of speed limits for HGVs on single carriageway roads is that slower lorries cause overtaking accidents, it is worrying that the Department for Transport does not have the required data available to prove this argument either way. PACTS welcomes any move by the government to attempt to tackle the high number of casualties as a result of collisions on single carriageway roads, however there are a range of measures they should be considering, one of which would be the lowering of the speed limit for cars.
Electric Vehicles: Safety
Sir Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what steps his Department is taking to protect road users from the risk of collision with quiet electric and hybrid cars; and if he will make a statement; [129576]
(2) what representations he has received on legislative proposals for the mandatory installation of acoustic vehicle alert systems on electric and hybrid cars; and if he will make a statement. [129577]
Norman Baker: The Department for Transport is working with international bodies to develop recommendations on adding artificial sound to quiet vehicles. These recommendations are expected to specify the characteristic of the sound and the vehicle speed up to which the sound should be generated, so that levels from electric and conventional vehicles are similar. The Department recently published a research report on the audibility of electric vehicles which can be found at the following link:
http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/assessing-the-perceived-safety-risk-from-quiet-electric-and-hybrid-vehicles/PPR525-assessing-the-perceived-safety-risk-from-quiet-electric-and-hybrid-vehicles.pdf
I have met with Guide Dogs and RNIB to discuss adding artificial sound to electric and hybrid electric vehicles. The Department has also received correspondence requesting the mandatory fitment of added sound devices, most recently from Guide Dogs. However, if such systems were mandatory, we will need to ensure that fitment is cost-effective, and that while assisting the visually impaired road users does not add to general sound pollution that is damaging to health.
