Lawford Kidd's Blog

The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for more to be done to improve road safety in a message issued in advance of the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, which is to be observed on 20th November.

The message reports that each day nearly 3,500 people die on the roads, tens of thousands more are injured, and families are broken apart. Road accidents have become the leading cause of death for people aged 15 to 29. This is an unacceptable price to pay for mobility.

The Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020, which began in May this year, has the goal of saving five million lives. A global plan for the decade provides a framework for Governments, civil society and the private sector to work together to improve road management, upgrade the safety of roads and vehicles, and educate drivers, passengers and pedestrians on safe behaviour.

Europe’s largest organisation of engineers, the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), says the loss of focus brought about by the removal of road safety targets could lead to more road traffic accidents in different parts of the country.

Targets set in 2000 by the government led directly to a fall in road deaths of almost 50% due to the impetus this forced on local authorities to create road safety partnerships.

The warning is sounded as the professional engineering body submits evidence to the Transport Select Committee, which is investigating the impact of the Government’s Strategic Framework for Road Safety. The Framework, published by the Department for Transport earlier in the year, shifted from the former targets based programme, to an outcomes framework. Evidence shows that long-term targets would help local authorities to reduce deaths and serious injuries on UK roads.

Road safety charity Brake has welcomed Government proposals to create a new criminal offence of 'causing serious injury by dangerous driving'. Those convicted of the offence could spend up to five years in jail.

A health and safety body has urged employers to do more to reduce the worrying number of work-related road traffic accidents (RTA).

Scotland's Chief Statistician has announced the release of Key Scottish Safety Camera Statistics 2010. This publication reports statistics relating to road traffic casualties and offences at safety camera sites (speed cameras and red-light cameras) in Scotland.