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Road Safety Bill [HL]

I rise to support my noble friend’s amendment, but suggest that it is too modest. There is a strong case where there are bus lanes for confining motorcycles to them. Motorcycles cause danger by weaving in and out of the general traffic and not infrequently, indeed almost invariably, pulling out in front of cars at traffic lights, putting their feet under the front wheels of the cars and so on. If we were to confine motorcycles to staying in bus lanes where they exist, as my noble friend has just pointed out, it would be likely to reduce the number of road accidents. It might also do something to slow down the speed of motorcycles, which as far as I can see, driving in London almost every day, seems totally out of control. For example, the Blackwall tunnel in the rush hour—I see that I have support on the Benches opposite and I am glad—seems to be a motorcycle race track. I am sorry that the noble Lord, Lord Harrison, who declared an interest in the Metropolitan Police Authority, is not in his place, because restrictions there are totally unenforced. There are motorcycles in the rush hour going through the Blackwall tunnel at what seems to be 70 miles per hour or more. Confining them generally to bus lanes where they exist would do a great deal to reduce accidents.