Too many die on our roads

EVERY week, says Transport Secretary Alistair Darling, 69 people are killed or seriously injured on the roads in Yorkshire and the Humber alone.

And even though Britain has one of the best safety records in the world, 3,500 people died on roads across the country last year. That adds up to about ten people being killed every day - a figure Mr Darling rightly describes as shocking.

The new Road Safety Bill unveiled by the Transport Secretary yesterday aims to reduce that unnecessary toll of death and injury. It contains a raft of measures to clamp down on drink drivers, mobile phone menaces, speedsters and uninsured drivers. They include:

Roadside breath-testing without the need to go to a police station afterwards

The worst drink-drivers to be forced to resit their driving test

Tougher penalties for using a mobile phone while driving

Courts to require consistently bad drivers to take further training

More flexible fines for speeding, to reflect the actual speed being travelled at

Measures to deal with tired drivers

A clampdown on license fraud and 'clocking' of second hand vehicles.

The new bill follows hard on the heels of the Traffic Management Act, which became law in the summer and which will ultimately give local authorities such as City of York Council the power to fine motorists who flout local traffic laws (see panel on facing page).

Taken together, the two add up to major changes in the way our driving is policed.

The aim is to make our roads safer and, under the provisions of the Traffic Management Act, less congested. But will the measures work?

Motoring organisations and the police have given the new Road Safety Bill a cautious welcome, while stressing that the devil may lie in the detail.

Some of the measures, says North Yorkshire Police spokesman Tony Lidgate, are "very welcome indeed". "But there are one or two where I think we will need to see the details to find out just what they have got in mind."

The AA echoes that. "A lot of the measures are quite sensible, and I think the majority of motorists will see that," says the organisation's Yorkshire spokeswoman Denise Raven.

But you can't stop bad drivers by legislation alone, she says. What is needed is a fundamental change in attitudes towards things speeding, driving while tired and driving while using a mobile phone.

"It is an educational process that will be needed to make people see the consequence of their actions," she says.

Those reservations aside, how does the new legislation measure up? Mick Natt, for 21 years North Yorkshire Police's senior accident investigator and now a "collisions investigation consultant", agrees that there are some good measures in the new Road Safety Bill. But he is also worried that others are more about raising money than improving road safety.

Speed cameras, he says, do little to improve driving and cannot replace an experienced traffic policeman. Too often, he says, they are simply "cash cows" used to generate revenue.

We asked Mick to assess the main measures in the new Road Safety Bill.

Drink driving

Introduction of roadside breath testing to allow police to collect evidence for prosecution at the roadside rather than at a police station.

Good, says Mick. It will save a lot of police time because after doing a roadside test a police officer will no longer have to accompany a suspect to the police station to do another test.

Offenders disqualified for 24 months or more to retake the driving test. Good, Mick says. It will catch repeat drink drivers and those with very high blood alcohol levels and force them to take their test again.

Speeding

Introduction of more flexible penalties for speeding. Penalties in future to range from two to six points, instead of three to six.

It makes sense that a person convicted of driving at 30mph over the limit should be punished more severely than someone convicted of driving 5mph over the limit, says Mick. He remains opposed to the growing use of speed cameras, however. They don't have what traffic police officers have - the power to use their judgement. And very often they are used as little more than a source of revenue.

Exemptions from speed limits and other traffic regulations for certain vehicles such as organ donor vehicles. Very sensible, Mick says.

Other Bad Driving

Extending the use of retraining courses to offenders convicted of speeding and careless driving. Very sensible, Mick says. Simply fining someone does not improve their driving. Better training might. But who is going to do the training?

Increasing the maximum penalties for several safety-related offences:

careless driving (maximum fine increased from £2,500 to £5,000); failing to give identity of driver (penalty increased from 3 to 6 points); using mobile phone while driving (maximum penalty increased to £60 plus 3 points).

Generally good, Mick says. He does not see, however, why penalties for using a mobile phone while driving should not be even tougher. In his view, it constitutes dangerous driving.

Driving while tired

Improved enforcement of EU Drivers Hours rules which limit the total time spent driving for most lorry and some coach drivers

Motorway rest areas similar to French "aires" to be piloted as an alternative to traditional service areas.

Tragedies such as the Selby rail crash, caused by tired motorist Gary Hart, highlighted the real dangers of driving when tired, Mick says. There is a real need to crack down on coach and haulage firms which continue to flout the rules.

ALTHOUGH Britain has one of the best road safety records in the world, ten people die on the roads every day, and every week 69 people are killed or seriously injured in Yorkshire and the Humber. The Government is committed to reducing this shocking number.

In 2000 we set a target of a 40 per cent reduction in the numbers killed or injured on our roads by 2010, and a 50 per cent reduction for children. We are already well on track.

The latest 12-month data shows a reduction of 24 percent in the number of people killed or seriously injured, and a 41 percent reduction for children. Road casualties are at the lowest for nearly 50 years.

Despite this, last year 3,508 people died on the roads. We cannot be complacent.

This is why we have introduced a new Bill to improve road safety.

One of our biggest concerns continues to be drink driving. Most people now consider drink driving socially unacceptable and driver education, enforcement, and tougher penalties helped bring down drink-drive deaths. Sadly, drink-related road deaths have started to go back up, with a total of 560 in 2003 - one in six of all road deaths.

This is very worrying.

The new Bill would provide the police with the power to use suitable equipment to take breath tests at the roadside and so avoid the need for further tests at a police station.

It would enable mandatory re-testing of the worst offenders as well as closing a loophole allowing drink drivers at the highest risk of re-offending to drive.

We are also concerned about mobile phones. You are four times more likely to be involved in an accident if you are using a mobile when driving.

That is why we outlawed the practice and introduced a £30 fine. We have already seen the number of offenders fall by 25 per cent, but there needs to be a far greater reduction. The new Bill proposes an increase in the fixed penalty to £60 with three penalty points. Disqualification is an option if the case goes to court.

The Bill will also crack down on uninsured driving. New measures will make it possible for the police to check whether a vehicle is both licensed and insured at the same time - something they have been unable to do before.

Each and every road death represents a terrible tragedy for parents, partners or children. The measures we are introducing will make our roads safer by making penalties tougher but fairer, cracking down on antisocial driving and further reducing the unnecessary death and injury on the roads.

Traffic Management Act

The Traffic Management Act became law in the summer. It aims to tackle congestion and reduce disruption on the roads.

There are a number of measures in the Act, but one of the most important will allow councils to apply for the power to fine motorists who flout traffic laws on local roads.

Precise guidance on how councils should do this have yet to be published, but Ann Reid, City of York Council's executive member for planning and transport, is keen for the city council to take on the new powers as soon as possible.

The new powers would enable York traffic wardens to issue fines for offences such as:

Driving the wrong way down a one-way street

Making U-turns where they are banned

Driving in a pedestrianised zone

Driving in a bus or cycle lane

Stopping in a box junction.

Wardens would receive proper training, Coun Reid says, and would not stop people - simply 'flash' them with cameras so the penalty notices could then be sent in the post.

But she believes it could make a real difference to the council's ability to clamp down on anti-social driving in the city.

Money from the penalty charges would be kept by the council, however - which has prompted warnings from some, such as former traffic policeman Mick Natt, that the Act could be used by councils as a way to generate income as much as to crack down on poor driving.

Updated: 10:35 Wednesday, December 01, 2004