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Road Safety Bill [Lords]

There is a sporting chance that the hon. Gentleman will get on to the Committee, and we can discuss this in some detail. I do not agree with him. I think that holding lorries back to 40 mph is frustrating for car drivers. The figures are pretty dramatic. As I said, 50 per cent. of deaths and injuries occur on main roads, and many of those involve head-on collisions. We are looking to toughen up our amendment on reflective markings. That would be very effective. Forty-five per cent. of all fatalities occur at night. The hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington (Tom Brake) referred to the evidence from the University of Darmstadt that 37 per cent. of all side collisions occur because trucks were seen too late. The cost of reflective markings—about £100 to £150—is trivial compared with that of a new truck, which is worth £100,000 to £150,000. My hon. Friend the Member for Ilford, North (Mr. Scott) mentioned rudimentary first aid training. We are strongly in favour of introducing that in the theory part of the driving test. More than half of all road accident casualties occur before the emergency services arrive, so the actions of bystanders are vital. Research by Hussain and Redmond in 1994 showed that up to 85 per cent. of preventable pre-hospital deaths involve factors such as a blocked airway that could be avoided if people at the scene knew rudimentary first aid. According to the Red Cross, a person with his airway blocked will probably take about four minutes to die. That is far too short a time for an ambulance to arrive. All that one has to do, apparently, is to tilt the person’s head backwards, although I am no medic—I would not wish anyone to find me around at the time of an accident. Drivers under the age of 29 make up more than a third of those involved in accidents, and drivers between the ages of 17 and 20 are six times more likely than a driver over 40 to be involved in a collision that causes injury. It is interesting that some of the new EU countries—Slovakia, Slovenia, Latvia and Estonia—have practical first aid tests as part of the process of learning to drive. We support proposals to make a few simple changes to the theory test that would impart vital life-saving skills and be of real benefit. My hon. Friend the Member for Forest of Dean (Mr. Harper) made some excellent points about young drivers. The hon. Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston (Andrew Miller) touched on the good work that is done by the Institute of Advanced Motorists. We would like to discuss the idea of having different tiers of licence and different tests so that there is, in effect, a graduation process. It is somewhat irrational that we allow young people, who have probably taken a few driving lessons and passed their test having had experience only in towns, to be suddenly let loose on motorways, with no limit on the horsepower of the car. As the institute says, there would be real benefits in people continuing to develop their driving skills after passing the basic test. It is well worth pursuing discussions with the insurance industry to see whether that would have a financial bite. As the Secretary of State said, people might be more inclined to take it up if there is a financial gain. We would therefore like to pursue that in Committee. We are not happy about the way in which the Bill treats training as an alternative to punishment. We believe that that is psychologically wrong. Driving should be perceived as a progression and people should be encouraged to take driving courses voluntarily. The psychology of making it an alternative to punishment is not quite right and we would like to discuss the matter further.