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Road Safety Bill [HL]

This is an extremely well meant amendment and I am interested in the statistics that the noble Baroness produced. However, it is extremely impractical. If it were to apply to motorways only that might be one thing, but the amendment as drafted would apply to all roads, including urban roads, at all times, including mid-summer days in bright sunlight. It would mean that every single four-seater car in the country would have to carry four garments at all times in case a driver with four passengers ran out of petrol and the driver had to don one to go to the garage and his passengers had to don one each to go to the nearest café or pub. I suggest that theft would be an enormous problem, since the garments would be almost identical and not easily attributable to any one owner. If this requirement were to apply to motorways only, there might be something to be said for it, but not in respect of all roads at all times.