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Road Safety Bill [HL]

I support the amendment standing in the name of my noble friend Lady Thornton. It is moving towards the questions that came up in the debates we had during the previous Parliament on the   School Transport Bill, which did not get through. Last week, I participated in a debate with some local authority people about the problems of school transport. The noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, is quite right. In less deprived areas people bring their little children to school in large Chelsea tractors, as I call them, and there is no problem. But those people are usually very vociferous in asking for whatever money there is for road safety improvements, school improvements or whatever. It is not just that fewer children go to school by car in areas of high deprivation and more of them walk, but that there is less likely to be restrictions on speeds and access for cars and I hope we will discuss those matters later in this Committee. Everything conspires against schools in deprived areas getting the facilities and safety features on the roads that are necessary to reduce the terribly high level of child casualties. I support my noble friend’s amendment and I look forward to hearing what the Minister has to say.