Queen’s Speech

Lord Brougham and Vaux Excerpts

Wednesday 16th May 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Brougham and Vaux]

My Lords, it is always a privilege to follow my noble friend Lord Haskel; I say noble friend because we share duties on the Woolsack. Your Lordships will be pleased to hear that I am not going to speak about economics as I cannot run my own financial affairs. I declare my interest as chairman of an associate parliamentary group, the European Secure Vehicle Alliance, which aims to reduce vehicle-related crime and disorder. I welcome the Government’s proposal to introduce legislation to deter the incidence of driving under the influence of drugs, but would like to highlight three other areas that warrant further consideration.

The core theme of my speech is to highlight the virtue of designing products, systems and indeed legislation that get it right first time, as such innovative approaches invariably win public support and deliver considerable savings. One recent such innovation which has got it right first time is average speed camera systems, which have reduced casualties and improved journey times on the stretches of our roads where they have been operating, while issuing very few speeding tickets to motorists. The overwhelming majority of motorists grasp immediately the purpose of the innovation and willingly observe its intention.

Over the past year it has become increasingly apparent that we are now in happy possession of another innovation, namely the use of telematic data systems, which by assessing driver performance can reduce not only the costs of insurance but road casualties. The collection, transmission and interpretation of data that are generated continuously while a car is being driven by a known driver can now be shared in an easy-to-comprehend format between the driver, their parents if appropriate and their insurance company. The driver’s premium can be reduced, or indeed increased when justified, and early indications from a growing number of insurers developing such policies with related telematic data transmission devices are most encouraging. Moreover, such systems offer further financial savings by reducing the incidence of fraudulent claims for personal injury or vehicle damage by affording detailed examination of vehicle and driver data at the time of such incidents.

Fortunately, this innovation should not require specific legislation, but it would undoubtedly be welcome should the Government offer their encouragement and support. In addition, it should be regarded as an opportunity to reward the observant who welcome the challenge to drive responsibly and to be seen to drive responsibly; it should not be subverted by being positioned as a device to monitor irresponsible drivers. It should be seen as the Big Friendly Giant and not Big Brother.

The second innovation to which I would like to draw your Lordships’ attention is the growth of automatic number plate recognition—ANPR—and its relatedness to the vehicle number plate manufacturing and distribution regime that exists in the United Kingdom. I have recently been in correspondence with the Department for Transport Minister responsible for this matter, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Mike Penning, and ask for your Lordships’ support in encouraging him to take timely and appropriate action to remedy the shortcomings in the UK’s vehicle number plate regime.

The United Kingdom leads the world in terms of its police’s ability to both detect and prevent crime through its ANPR camera network, yet its value is compromised by having to read the number plates produced by approximately 30,000 to 40,000 number plate suppliers. Such a regime offers little capacity to ensure that appropriate quality standards are maintained and the high readability of a number plate on a correctly designated vehicle. Furthermore, it has recently come to my attention that one of the UK’s leading suppliers of vehicle number plates has manufactured and distributed hundreds of thousands of plates that present significant challenges to the UK’s ANPR camera manufacturers. That is clearly an area where we are failing to get it right first time.

The police first made representations to Government in 1994, recommending a radical change to the UK’s number plate regime that encompassed innovations in manufacture, distribution, security and systems management which would all lead to safer roads and a greater ability for the police to both detect and prevent number plate crime. Should the method of manufacture and supply be rationalised, the significant economies of scale would result in lower number plate prices to motorists while enhancing the potential value of the cherished number plate scheme to Government.

I conclude by making brief reference to a third area of interest; namely, the operating methods of an ill defined number of private parking companies which use CCTV and ANPR technology to identify motorists who have fallen foul of their often poorly signposted car parks. Recent legislation has focused on the cessation of wheel clamping and the establishment of an appeals procedure for “transgressors”, but we are missing the point by not planning to get it right first time. Our primary emphasis should be on developing approaches which help ensure that all parking regimes are designed to maximise observance, and measures should be developed to restrict operations that are unduly focused on capturing the non-observant parking motorist.

Legislation to deal with people driving with handheld cameras has been talked about. This situation is getting worse by the minute. The Department for Transport should crack down on it, because it is becoming very dangerous.