Asked by: Lord Swire (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what obligations the Highways Agency is under to keep motorways free of detritus.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The responsibility for clearing highway litter and sweeping carriageways is governed by the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA); National Highways is responsible for litter collection on motorways and some trunk roads. National Highways works to the ‘Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse 2006' issued under section 89(7) of the EPA. National Highways inspects and grades litter and detritus on the Strategic Road Network (SRN) in accordance with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse. National Highways carries out litter picking almost every day and weekly inspections on its network, to ensure that clearance of the worst affected areas is prioritised. Wherever possible planned closures are used to undertake litter picks to minimise disruption to road users.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to require child passengers on bicycles to wear a safety helmet.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department recommends that cyclists should wear helmets, as set out in The Highway Code, and will continue to encourage children to wear helmets. A comprehensive safety review carried out in 2018 considered the benefits of mandating helmet wearing for cyclists of all ages but concluded that the safety benefits would be likely to be outweighed by the fact that this would put some people off cycling, thereby reducing the wider health and environmental benefits
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to make bicycles subject to rule 124 of the Highway Code.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government does not currently have any plans to make bicycles subject to rule 124 of the Highway Code.
Asked by: Michael Shanks (Labour - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of the level of public awareness of changes to the highway code made in 2022.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The January 2022 changes to The Highway Code to help improve road safety for people walking, cycling and horse riding have been communicated via a factual awareness raising campaign and broader behaviour change campaigns.
Over £2.4million has been spent on media across the campaign, utilising channels such as radio, digital audio, video on demand and social media advertising.
Results from the most recent campaign activity in August 2023 include:
Awareness: The percentage of road users reporting to know either a little or a lot about the Highway Code changes in September 2023 was at 70% among all road users (82% amongst drivers), with 86% of road users having heard of the changes by September 2023.
Understanding: In September 2023 86% of drivers correctly identified that you should leave at least 1.5 metres of space when passing cyclists. Pedestrian priority at junctions was correctly identified by 77% of drivers.
Empathy: Drivers agreeing that it is their responsibility to respect and give space to vulnerable road users remains consistently high and was at 93% in September 2023.
Action: In September 2023 81% of drivers claim to leave a gap of 1.5M when passing a cyclist all or most of the time.
We will continue to promote The Highway Code changes on THINK! and DfT social media channels and via our partner organisations.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 18 December 2023 to Question 6880 on Cycling: Pedestrian Areas, whether he plans to develop targeted educational campaigns to improve cyclists' knowledge of pedestrian safety.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Active Travel England is providing £50 million to expand Bikeability cycle training to a million more young people between 2023 and 2025 as part of a projected £3 billion investment in active travel up to 2025. This will help to improve standards of cycling behaviour by teaching young cyclists the rules of the road. In addition, a THINK! Campaign, with significant media investment, supported the changes made to The Highway Code in January 2022. The campaign aimed to raise awareness and understanding of the changes, helping to improve road safety for people walking cycling and horse riding. It included messaging on the hierarchy of road users, making clear that those road users who can do the greatest harm have the greatest responsibility to reduce the danger or threat they may pose to others.
There are no further plans to develop a targeted educational campaign to improve cyclists’ knowledge of pedestrian safety.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 29 February 2024 to Question 15138 on Cycling: Pedestrian Areas, how he plans to support the DVSA in increasing awareness of Rule 64 of the Highway Code among cyclists.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Factual awareness-raising and behaviour change campaigns took place in 2022 and 2023, to highlight the changes the Department made to the Highway Code in January 2022, as part of helping to improve road safety for people walking, cycling, and horse riding.
The campaigns were supported by significant media resource: utilising channels such as radio, digital audio, video on demand, and social media advertising. This approach has helped the Department and DVSA to increase awareness of the relevant Highway Code rules for cycling.
Asked by: Jeremy Quin (Conservative - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve road safety.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Although by global standards, roads in the UK are very safe, every road death and injury is a tragedy for the families involved and we are working on a number of measures to keep our roads and road users safe. This Government has updated The Highway Code to improve road safety for people walking, cycling and riding horses, tightened up the law to target the most dangerous drivers and closed the loophole in the offence of driving while using a mobile.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the appropriateness of maintaining Household Cavalry horses stabled and deployed in central London in the light of the events of 24 April, and public safety and animal welfare concerns arising from the risks of their environment.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The British Army takes the health and wellbeing of its military working horses (MWH) extremely seriously. All of our horses are well looked after, exercised daily and have 24/7 direct access to world-class veterinary care.
Before riding in public, Service personnel undertake training to prove their competence and are fully compliant with the Highway Code when exercising horses on public highways. A progressive programme of activity, including exposure to London traffic, military bands and environmental noise, ensures our horses are properly and safely prepared for their ceremonial role.
The Army has three mounted units in London: the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, the Band of the Household Cavalry and King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery. All undertake State Ceremonial and Public Duties in Central London and Windsor throughout the year.
Steps have already been taken to enhance the environment for our MWHs by creating more loose boxes, which provide greater space and comfort to the horses while stabled. Two to three months per year, the horses are also provided with an alternative environment by being sent out to pasture and the herd often visit Norfolk for two weeks, offering time for daily exercise in the countryside and along local beaches.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing legislation to require drivers to report collisions with cats to the police.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Although there is no obligation to report all animal deaths on roads, Rule 286 of The Highway Code advises drivers to report any accident involving an animal to the police. If possible, they should make enquiries to ascertain the owner of domestic animals, such as cats, and advise them of the situation. I recognise the very deep upset that losing a beloved pet can cause – but, given challenges around enforcement – there are no current plans to strengthen that requirement.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what guidance his Department issues on best practice in tackling potholes.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
To prevent potholes and other defects from forming in the first place, well-planned maintenance is vital, which is why the Department advocates a risk-based, whole life-cycle asset management approach to all aspects of the local highway network. There are various key bits of guidance that the Department recommends to local highway authorities, including a 2016 Code of Practice on Well Managed Highway Infrastructure, produced by the UK Roads Leadership Group and available via the website of the Chartered Institute for Highways and Transportation.
Other guidance includes the 2019 “Potholes: a repair guide” on which the Department worked with the Association of Directors, for Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT), and which is on the ADEPT website. This recommends that local highway authorities should wherever possible make permanent rather than temporary repairs, with temporary repairs only appropriate in emergency circumstances or where safety cannot be managed using alternative approaches.
To help local highway authorities to understand the impacts of the changing climate on local highway networks, the Department has published on gov.uk an independent report on the lessons learned from extreme weather-related emergencies over the period 2015 to 2020.