Conclusions and recommendations
176. Deaths and serious injuries on our roads bring
misery to hundreds of thousands, including the relatives and friends
of the dead and injured. Although the huge number of serious injuries
on the roads is still declining, the number of deaths, including
pedestrian deaths, has been at the same high level for several
years. We have one of the worst child pedestrian safety records
in Europe, and children from poor families are far more likely
to be killed. Speeding is endemic. Excessive and inappropriate
speed is the largest single contributor to deaths and serious
injuries on our roads and significantly reduces the quality of
life in many urban and rural areas. The failure to tackle the
consequences of speed affects Government policies on the welfare
of children, social inclusion, urban regeneration, health and
integrated transport.
177. We know what to do reduce the casualties. The
Government has commissioned research and funded the pilot projects
which show what should be done. It also monitors best practice
from the Netherlands and other European countries, particularly
in how to reduce pedestrian casualties. In those places in England
where many of the right measures have been taken, such as York,
Gloucester, Hull, Northamptonshire and Nottingham, there have
been significant reductions in casualties and improvements in
the quality of life. In 1997, TRL estimated that the cost of a
comprehensive series of measures in urban areas would be £3bn..
The sum would be considerably higher today, and measures need
to implemented in rural areas too. Nevertheless, the cost of making
very important changes is relatively small: the Gloucester
Safer City was a £5m project which transformed a whole
city. Unfortunately too few local and police authorities have
put the money and effort into implementing the measures which
are known to work.
178. A major reason why too little has been done
is that road casualties are a forgotten story which receives far
too little national attention. If any disease killed as many people,
as die on the roads, there would be an outcry. There would be
national campaigns to insist that the Government do something
about it. In its reporting of speed, however, the media too often
does the reverse, implying that drivers are the best judge of
the right speed, and that attempts to get them to observe speed
limits in built-up areas are an unacceptable infringement on their
liberty. Press reporting too often focuses on the inconvenience
to drivers, ignoring the potentially fatal consequences of their
attitudes.
179. A second reason is the slow progress of Government
policy. In March 2000, the Prime Minister launched the Government's
Road Safety Strategy Tomorrows roads - safer for everyone,
but unfortunately since then little has happened: projects have
not been undertaken; some proposals have not been implemented;
others have been dropped. New rules about the location and visibility
of safety cameras have been promulgated which are in danger of
reducing their effectiveness. Reluctant local authorities are
unlikely to implement effective measures for which they may be
criticised if Government Ministers are unwilling to put the case
for them.
180. The Government's principal task now is ensure
that all local and police authorities give reducing road traffic
speed the same priority as the best. It must insist that they
do so because saving lives is not a matter of discretion. It will
also need to provide the funds to enable it to be done. Specifically,
the Government should:
- improve the National Safety Camera Scheme by allowing
local and police authorities to decide where to site cameras;
and ensure that the whole country is covered by 2004
- issue the promised revised Guidance to local authorities
about speed limits; this should include a number of changes, in
particular, that 30 mph should be the speed in villages,
- re-engineer the roads to ensure that speed limits
are obeyed and to make roads safer and more pleasant for pedestrians
- ensure that the funding of Local Transport Plans
is dependent on measures to reduce speeds; and
- make road safety a priority for the Ten Year Plan
and provide specific funds for a national programme to re-engineer
and re-design our roads.
181. The Government also has to give leadership.
It needs to make it very clear that speeding is unacceptable.
Drivers should not exceed 30 mph in a residential area where a
child might dash onto the road. The Prime Minister has recently
rightly stressed the importance of basing decisions on scientific
analysis. He now has to decide whether Government policy on speed
will be dominated by concerns about how it is portrayed by a section
of the motoring lobby and in parts of the press. The alternative
is to base it on the detailed research of experts, including TRL,
the AA, and the Royal College of Physicians. The evidence which
we received is that such a policy would be popular with the public
for whom speed is a very serious concern. Drivers are also residents
and pedestrians. With the right policies we could reduce deaths
on the road to under one thousand a year.
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