Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Department for Transport

Oral Answers to Questions

Mark Pawsey Excerpts
Thursday 29th November 2012

(11 years, 5 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Lord McLoughlin Portrait Mr McLoughlin
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I know the hon. Gentleman takes this issue incredibly seriously, and although he talks about deaths I think we should look at the seriously injured as well. In the year ending June 2012, there were 1,790 deaths on British roads—a 6% drop on the year before.

Mark Pawsey Portrait Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)
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The Secretary of State is well aware that those most at risk on our roads are young drivers. I was pleased to see his recent positive comments about placing restrictions on young drivers—for example, on the number of passengers they may carry or the times of day they may drive. Will he indicate to the House how those proposals might be taken forward?

Lord McLoughlin Portrait Mr McLoughlin
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A number of representations on young drivers have been made to the Department for Transport and, as I said in that interview, they are all worth considering and investigating properly to see whether we can reduce the terrible toll that is sometimes caused by young drivers. However, that is not so of all young drivers. We read about the horrendous cases, but not about the many cases where young drivers behave and act responsibly on the road, as do other road users.