Restrictions on Personal Vehicular Transport

The Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee is a statutory body established under the Transport Act 1985 to advise Government on the needs of disabled people in connection with public passenger transport.

Chairman: Robert Taylor OBE DL

Secretariat:

DPTAC Zone 1/14 Great Minster House 76 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DR Tel: 020 7944 8011 Textphone: 020 7944 3277 Fax: 020 7944 6998 E-mail: dptac@detr.gov.uk

SUMMARY

This paper sets out the considered views of the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC)¹ on the Government's report "Developing an integrated transport policy". It is concerned particularly with the prospective limitations on the use of private cars envisaged in that report. DPTAC has responded separately to other issues raised in the Government's green paper "New Leadership for London".

It should be made clear at the outset that DPTAC welcomes the government's initiative in seeking to create an effective and efficient transport system that places greater emphasis on the use of public transport and rather less on the use of the private car. The continuing development of more accessible public transport under the aegis of the Disability Discrimination Act is also welcomed because, from the point of view of disabled people, better access to mainstream public transport is essential as a means of making choice and opportunity for mobility for disabled people closer to that enjoyed by able-bodied people.

Notwithstanding DPTAC's support for these policies, there is concern that the mobility needs of one sector within the generality of disabled people should not be overlooked in the process of developing and implementing policies which will undoubtedly be of benefit to most people. It is very much the opposite of the legal maxim, "de minimus non curat lex".

There are rather over six million people in this country who are disabled. The majority of these people are able to benefit from the improvements in accessible public transport mentioned earlier and so can make a choice about what mode of transport they should choose for a given journey. For a minority, however, that choice does not really exist, nor will it, even when most public transport is fully accessible. These are people with a severe level of disability, many of whom cannot move around except in a wheelchair or, if they can walk, can only do so with difficulty and over quite short distances. These people rely on the private car, either as passenger or driver, for their mobility. While recognising the need for policies to limit the use of cars by both physical and financial means, DPTAC would not wish to see this group of more severely disabled people put at an even greater disadvantage than they currently face. The background to and basis for DPTAC's view on this is set out in this paper. In essence it rests upon a belief that to seriously impair the mobility of a relatively small number of disabled people in the process of developing transport policy systems and services that benefit the majority, is not equitable. It further rests upon the belief that measures to protect the interests of this small number of disabled people will in no way detract from achieving the objectives the Government has set.

The recommendations made to avoid such inequity, while still achieving the overall goals of more sustainable transport use and an improved environment are:

1. Clearly identifiable categories of disabled people with severe walking difficulties whose needs must be met should be established nationally and, unlike the current situation with the Orange Badge Scheme, strictly adhered to locally.

2. It is understood that sometime within the next three to five years a common European "Orange Badge" will be introduced. The introduction of this, which will require legislation in the UK, could offer the opportunity both to determine those people who really justify having an Orange Badge (or its European equivalent) and to make the more strictly limited number of permit holders exempt from general restrictions placed on private car use.

3. The objective should be the establishment of a national Orange Badge Scheme which includes Central London. Such a scheme would mean the withdrawal of local schemes in favour of the national one.

4. We believe that a full review of the Orange Badge scheme is required with a view to tightening the discretionary criteria. DPTAC's Personal Mobility Working Group is preparing a paper on this issue which will be submitted to Ministers shortly.

5. If road pricing is introduced as a means of discouraging people from using cars, the fact that some more severely disabled car users have no alternative but to continue using a car should be recognised by exempting them from the charges or applying a substantially reduced tariff.

6. If controls are introduced to limit access to town and city centres then, for the same reason given in (5), severely disabled people should be exempted from these restrictions.

7. Any general reduction made in the provision of public car parking in urban centres should not result in an equivalent reduction in parking spaces for severely disabled people.

8. Any future taxes levied on business parking spaces should exclude those spaces specifically allocated for severely disabled car users.

9. When introducing or extending pedestrianised areas, local authorities should make provision for car parking space for severely disabled car users in such a way that they have satisfactory access to all parts of the pedestrian area.

10. To encourage as much use as possible by disabled people of increasingly accessible mainstream public transport, adequate and reasonably priced parking space should be made available at public transport terminals.

11. In developing their policies on control of traffic and parking, local authorities should be required to take account of and make appropriate provision for the needs of severely disabled car users.

12. Transport services designed particularly with the needs of disabled people in mind (for example, Dial-a-Ride and Community Transport) make a valuable contribution to personal mobility, especially for those people without access to a car. Their continued development should be encouraged.