Road safety professionals are urging Government to adopt a target of reducing by half the number of deaths and serious injuries in crashes by 2030, to bring it into line with the UN’s Decade of Action on Road Safety.
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An alliance including the Road Safety Foundation, TRL and the charity Brake makes the call in a report published this week, which also proposes the creation of a Road Safety Board to set targets for the Department for Transport and local authorities to meet. The group also suggests that a new Road Collision Investigation & Safety Standards Safety Agency is established.
Report co-author Dr Suzy Charman of the Road Safety Foundation says: “This Alliance is calling on Government to be bold and adopt a long term vision for safe and healthy mobility that moves us away from the status quo and drives us towards a vision of roads and streets free from death and serious injury, making road travel as safe as travel by rail and air.”
Richard Cuerden of TRL adds: “Now is the time for our political leaders to take a courageous, long term stance and become heroes for future generations.”
Mary Williams OBE of Brake said: “Road crashes are everyone’s worst nightmare, and every day a horrific reality beyond words for families across the UK. They constitute a terrifying national, daily disaster that must not be tolerated.”
The report, titled ‘Safe Roads for All’, also calls for traffic free spaces to be prioritised to help people walking and cycling, more 20mph limits in urban areas and the introduction of ‘phased' driver licensing and a lower drink drive limit.
Figures show that last year saw 1472 road deaths in Great Britain.
A bouquet of roses was placed outside the Department for Transport’s offices in London by Carly Lewin, whose boyfriend Steven Moore was killed by a drink driver. She said: “You read stories in the paper and always think this won't happen to you, it only happens to other people. These flowers are a reminder that it happens all the time, and it must now stop.”
(Photograph: Alastair Fyfe / fyfephoto.com)
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