The argument to reduce young pedestrian deaths had become overwhelming by 1970. Leader of the Opposition Harold Wilson was keen to address the problem head-on and make it a flag-ship policy for the recently defeated Labour Party. His suggestion was to ban all vehicles from Britain's roads. "I want to make our roads a place of barbecues and folk music" he famously argued in a heated Commons exchange with then Prime Minister Edward Heath. With the governments reluctance to eradicate transport from the UK's transport network, politicians were encouraged to go back to the drawing board.