---

Road Safety Bill [Lords]

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker; I do beg your pardon. I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention. I will cover the point that she raised later in my speech, as well as outlining what I would like to see in the Bill. As I was saying, awareness of sleep disorders among members of the public, drivers and employers of professional drivers is unacceptably low, given the associated risks. Indeed, the Department is well aware of that. In 2004, an expert workshop convened by the Department for Transport on driving and medical aspects of excessive daytime sleepiness concluded:"““The key issue was how to address the undiagnosed, but potentially high-risk, driver with a sleep disorder . . . The major focus should be on identifying and treating unrecognised patients rather than just addressing the issue of driving in those already known to have OSA””." I am concerned that from the answers to parliamentary questions that I tabled in the autumn, it would appear that the DFT has not undertaken research into the medical status of individuals involved in sleep-related traffic accidents, nor kept a record of the number of accidents where a sleep disorder was a contributory factor. That suggests a fundamental gap.