Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Tanlaw (Crossbench). It was answered on Thursday, 14 December 2006.

Roads: Cyclists

Question: My Lords, can the Minister say why his Government do not apparently listen to or act on representations made by responsible bodies such as RoSPA, Age Concern, the motoring organisations and the Police Federation, which maintain that a switch to SDST and lighter evenings could reduce all categories of road accidents and street crime? Can the Government or the noble Lord’s office produce one single statistic to show that the present regime of darker evenings reduces road casualties or street crime involving motorists, motorcyclists, cyclists, pedestrians, joggers, school children and pensioners? If no such statistics are forthcoming from the Minister, or elsewhere, will the Government and the Opposition agree to support the Second Reading of the Lighter Evenings (Experiment) Bill, scheduled for 26 January in the other place?

Answer: My Lords, like all noble Lords in the House today seeing the noble Lord, Lord Tanlaw, in his place, I was able to anticipate his question. I am able to give him a slightly stronger answer than I have been able to do in the past. He stresses the advantages of double summer time for road safety, and his case is substantiated. The Department for Transport has been aware of these figures for some time, and as far as the department is concerned the case on road safety grounds is made. There are other considerations regarding double summer time beyond the Department for Transport, and that is why I cannot give him a more positive answer than the one that I have given.

Secondary information