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Are our roads safe enough? Safety organisations and fleet operators think not and are calling for a re-introduction of safety targets called ‘road safety reduction targets. They were first introduced in 1987 but were axed by the Government in 2010.

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The targets were believed to have helped to reduce road deaths and serious injuries on the road each year. Whilst the targets were discontinued in 2010 the road safety community believe that we are now missing a vital component in the tools that make roads safer.

Trade journal, Fleet News, along with the ACFO and the BVRLA have joined forces to try to convince the Government that they need to re-introduce the targets. However, the DfT have said, ‘Britain continues to have some of the safest roads in the world, but every death is a tragedy and we are determined to do more.’

He went on to explain, ‘We are making sure we have the right legal, education and investment frameworks in place to make our roads safer. We have already introduced new laws, given the police tougher powers to tackle dangerous driving and are investing billions to improve the conditions of our road network.

Local authorities are best placed to decide how to use these frameworks to make their roads safer, rather than having centralised national targets.’ Richard Owen, Road Safety Analysis operations director, pointed out that the current Government was opposed to use targets to dictate policy. He said, ‘An example of this is hospital waiting times. This was forcing hospitals to meet numbers and it was having a detrimental impact on patient care.’

However, UK safety bodies believe that targets do make a difference. There is a wider EU target to reduce road fatalities by 50% by 2020, but a lack of clear UK targets takes away focus and sends a message that road safety is not a priority. The DfT’s Reported Road Casualties In Great Britain Annual Report 2014 shows that 1,775 people died on the roads (a 4% increase on the year before). A further 22,807 were seriously injured (a 5% increase).

Casualties of all severities rose to 194,477 in Great Britain in 2014, an increase of 6% over 2013, interrupting a steady downward trend since 1997. Pedestrians and bike riders bore the brunt of the increase. Pedestrian deaths increased by 446, an increase of 12%, accounting for three quarters of the overall rise in fatalities. Serious injuries to cyclists rose by 8% to 3,401continuing a long term trend that has been ongoing since 2004.

In response to the figures Julie Townsend, deputy chief executive at safety charity Brake commented, ‘We should be under no illusions as to the seriousness of these figures’. Brake join forces with the RAC Foundation and the Institute of Advanced Motorists in calling for the re-introduction of Safety Targets. I find myself agreeing. By Graham Hill

We all know that crooked private car park and land owners got their come upance when the Protection of Freedom Act 2012 was introduced that banned the clamping of cars on private land.

Have you ever driven the 27 miles of the M6 toll road? I did last year and it was an absolute delight. You zoom round without a care and every so often you catch a glimpse of the log jammed cars on the actual M6 thinking – suckers! So do I agree with the idea that tolls should be introduced wholesale across the country – no I bloody don’t. It took ages Read more »

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As you can imagine, in order to produce my weekly newsletter and my blog I carry out a lot of research. The information I receive comes from a number of sources leaving me to decide on the accuracy before I report it. Most of the time I feel quite happy with the information that I have and when I recently reported on the rip off price of diesel in Read more »

The Department for Transport has started to issue statistics on their website relating to individual speed cameras with a mixed response. The overall pictures suggests that road accidents and speed at camera locations is no less than the national average which has dropped over the last 10 years. Mike Penning, Road Safety Minister said that the statistics Read more »

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Today’s amazing fact is that there are over 25,000 traffic lights across the country with 6,000 in London alone. The number increased by 30% between 2000 and 2008. The figures were collated by the RAC Foundation who also pointed out that the number of lights that were programmed to give priority to busses rose by 221% in just 2 years from 3,801 Read more »

Last year saw the lowest number of road deaths since records began 80 years ago. The Department for Transport revealed that deaths fell by 7% last year from 3,172 to 2,943 despite indications that levels of traffic rose. Road deaths have been slowly dropping year on year but last year saw the biggest drop over recent years. In 2007 car driver and passenger deaths dropped by 11% and the number of seriously injured and other casualties dropped by 9% and 6% respectively. Whilst the latest drop was welcomed by the RAC Foundation and RoSPA  both organisations warned against complacency. Whilst the figures have dropped significantly there are still thousands dying on our roads each year. By Graham Hill

When it comes to fuel saving the RAC Foundation has pitched in asking commuters to car share. It said that 25 million people commute daily to a fixed place of work, 71% of whom use a car (bloody big car that’s all I can say – the old ones are always the best). “Car sharing has the potential to reduce the financial, environmental and congestion costs associated with some of these 18 million work-related journeys” it said. Look, I know that’s pretty obvious but it’s not me who’s treating you like a moron – I’m just reporting what they said! Good grief!