“We need to find a way of making all of us nicer on the roads and to change the behaviour of the public,” Martin Surl told the ‘Street Legal’ conference organised by the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety. “Why is it so hard to let someone out of a junction?”

 

As well as educating younger motorists in how to drive in a more polite fashion he said there is a role too for fleet managers to tell their employees they expect them to be courteous on the roads. 

 

He added that some people can become “arrogant and self obsessed” when behind the wheel, thinking that their abilities as a driver are above average. Drivers should aim “to be nice”, he continued. “Being safe is critical and being sociable is also important.”

 

The Commissioner also said that every day five people die and 66 are seriously injured on roads in England and Wales; with proportionately more younger drivers losing their lives. “We need to help young drivers become good drivers and good adults; not to become victims and not to become offenders,” he said.

 

Martin Surl expressed frustration that a quarter of drivers are found to have an accident in their first year of motoring. “If we knew that 25% of the workforce (generally) was going to have a significant accident in the first 12 months and nothing was done about it, people would be sued, I would imagine.”

 

He added that in Gloucestershire, school children are put through a one day training course in how to be safe on the roads and is sure the measure is having a positive impact.