Road Safety Bill [HL]

Before my noble friend responds on his amendment, perhaps I may pick up on something that the Minister said. As I understand Clause 14, which is the clause I was talking about, it allows an experimental period in which the alcohol lock may be tested. The Minister equated that with the drink-driving situation. He went on to say that, once it was understood that the drink-driving course had been effective, it would be rolled out. I do read the clause as allowing the Government to do that. Clause 14 refers to an ““experimental period””. My argument was that an experimental period of five years is surely long enough. Clause 17(7)(b) would enable an experimental period to be extended, even though no decision had been made about whether the alcohol lock was working. The Government could extend it for another 10 years if they so wished. All they would need to do is bring a statutory instrument before both Houses. If we are talking about experimental periods going on for longer than five years, the Government should consider carefully whether another experimental period is what they should introduce. They should be either abandoning it or rolling it out. There is a bit more to the provision than our initial probing drew out, and I should be grateful if the Minister would comment.