Written question asked by Barry Sheerman (Labour) on Tuesday, 31 August 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 8 September 2004. It was answered by David Jamieson (Labour) on Wednesday, 8 September 2004 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

Dept for Transport

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the use of speed limiters in lorries has been assessed to determine efficiency in preventing traffic accidents.

Answer: Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the use of speed limiters in lorries has been assessed to determine efficiency in preventing traffic accidents. [187404] Mr. Jamieson: The accident involvement rate on motorways (per hundred million vehicle kms) fell from 6.4 for all HGVs in 1991 (before the mandatory fitting of speed limiters was introduced) to 4.3 in 2002--which is a 34 per cent. decrease. This is significant, particularly as traffic volume increased by 33 per cent. over the same period. The above figures include accidents involving currently non-speed limited HGVs between 3.5 and 7.5 tonnes. However, the reduction in accidents for exclusively speed limited vehicles may be even more significant. Almost all articulated HGVs are speed limited and the accident involvement rate for that class of vehicle fell from 6.7 in 1991 to 3.9 in 2002--a 42 per cent. decrease. Other contributing factors may also have influenced that decline but speed limiters have clearly played a part.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 424 c1247W;424 c1255W; 187404
Session: 2003-04
Subjects: Accidents Driving Large goods vehicles Road traffic Road traffic control Speed limits Speed governors
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk