Road Safety Bill [HL]

I am disappointed by the Minister’s answer because I have found that, on this Bill, he and I agree with each other more than we do with other noble Lords. I have agreed with a lot of what he has said. We are discussing a Road Safety Bill, and everything we want to do is related to road safety, but the legislation has to be acceptable and to recognise the world as it is, rather than simply reflect the views of those sitting on the red Benches of this House. A number of our debates have not really been representative of what is going on in the world, although I know some noble Lords here have a particular interest in road safety, as we all do. If one legislates for speed limits, people should keep to them. A lot of the discussion that we have just had has been based on the assumption that if you have an 80 mph speed limit everyone will drive at 90 mph. That is not at all what I meant or what I suggest. As noble Lords have said, modern technology has moved on. I would suggest various speed limits from 20 mph to 80   mph, but that they are enforced, so that people know that if they exceed them they are breaking the law. So much of the debate has been about people exceeding those speed limits on motorways and not being penalised, which is wrong. Therefore, this part of the debate has been very strange. People want to drive speed limits down. On some occasions, if it is the right thing to do, the Government should be looking at raising them or at least judging, at times, what the right speed limit is, as in the case of the flexible limit on the M25. We all know that it would be almost impossible to drive at 80 mph on the M25, because, whatever the time of day, it is full. We are talking mostly about other motorways, not the M25. Before the next stage, I will try to find some evidence to show that we can save lives by raising the speed limit. I am sure that evidence exists somewhere in the world. I implore everyone here to try to be a bit more flexible in their approach. We want this legislation to improve road safety, but not to be seen by the outside world as being unrepresentative of the world as it is. Millions of people use cars, and the use of cars will increase a lot more. Statistics in my county show that there will be a 20 per cent increase in the number of cars in the next 10 years. We know that such increases will not stop. We have to live in the world that exists. I shall reflect on all that has been said and see what we have to do in the next round. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.