Road Safety Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 50:"After Clause 14, insert the following new clause—"    ““WEARING OF PROTECTIVE CLOTHING    After section 16 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (c. 52) (wearing of protective headgear) insert— ““16A   WEARING OF PROTECTIVE CLOTHING    The Secretary of State shall make regulations requiring, subject to such exceptions as may be specified in the regulations, persons driving or riding in motor vehicles of any class specified in the regulations to wear EN471 compliant reflective garments when leaving the vehicle at a roadside, except where the vehicle is parked.”””” The noble Baroness said: Amendment No. 50 would introduce a requirement for car occupants to wear retro-reflective jackets if they leave their car at the roadside; for example, in the event of a breakdown or accident. We discussed this issue at some length at Second Reading so it is only proper that we return to it today in Committee. The essence of this proposed new section is that it is   designed to tackle the fatality and casualty rate among pedestrians involved in road accidents. By ““pedestrians””, I mean someone who gets out of a car and thereby becomes a pedestrian as they are on their feet on the road. Some 774 pedestrians were killed in road accidents in 2003, representing some 22 per cent of the total number of persons killed. In 2001, the last year for which figures are available, 44 people were killed or seriously injured as a result of   vehicles being parked on the hard shoulder of motorways. It is estimated that 28 per cent of all accidents involving a car and a pedestrian can be attributed to either the driver looking but not seeing the pedestrian or to the person hit wearing dark or inconspicuous clothing. Enhanced conspicuity at the roadside offers an opportunity to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured in road accidents. Indeed, the US Department for Transport found in a study that reflective clothing has been shown to increase the visibility of someone on the road by a factor of five. The same study found that wearing a reflective vest increased the distance at which the driver could see a pedestrian by around 159 metres. Wearing a retro-reflective vest makes a person more visible, allowing more time for drivers to react. Requiring car passengers unexpectedly forced to leave their car to wear retro-reflective jackets would reduce the number of road accidents, in particular in the event of breakdowns on busy carriageways or motorways. I understand that similar measures have already been implemented, or will   be implemented shortly, in Italy, Spain, Austria and Portugal. At a cost of as little as £5 a vest, the price seems cheap compared with the cost of dealing with road accidents in the United Kingdom, which in 2002 amounted to around £17,760 million. When this issued was discussed in another place the Minister said that the Government would consider such a scheme. I hope that the Minister can provide us today with an update on the Government’s latest position. I beg to move.