Government unveils new measures to further improve road safety

The UK Department for Transport (DfT) has unveiled a raft of measures to improve the safety of Britain’s roads, including US$3 million for research into driver education, including the possibility of giving learner drivers motorway experience with an instructor before taking their test.
December 22, 2015 Read time: 2 mins

The UK 1837 Department for Transport (DfT) has unveiled a raft of measures to improve the safety of Britain’s roads, including US$3 million for research into driver education, including the possibility of giving learner drivers motorway experience with an instructor before taking their test.

Other measures include a US$968,000 grant for police forces in England and Wales will fund more officers with drug recognition and impairment testing skills to enable more effective and targeted enforcement.

A grant of US$74 million over the next four years will support Bikeability cycle training in schools, helping to increase children’s road awareness, encouraging children to be healthy and active.

The government will also consult on changes to improve cycle safety to ensure sideguards are not removed from HGVs but remain permanently fitted. Compulsory Basic Training (CBT) for learner motorcyclists will be strengthened and there will be a consultation on a range of further proposals to support safer motorcycling.

Motorists who endanger lives by using hand held mobile phones while driving will face an increase from the current three penalty points to 4, while the fixed penalty notice will rise from US$140 to US$223. For larger vehicles such as HGVs where the consequences of an accident can be much more severe, the penalty will increase from the current three points to six and the fixed penalty notice will rise from US$140 to US$223.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: “Britain has some of the safest roads in the world but we are always looking to improve that record. Today we are delivering common sense proposals that balance tougher penalties for dangerous drivers with practical steps to help youngsters and other more vulnerable groups stay safe on our roads.”

The 6983 Freight Transport Association (FTA) has reacted positively to the proposals. Commenting on the statement, Christopher Snelling, FTA’s head of National & Regional Policy, commented: “Overall this appears to be a sensible range of measures that should further improve the UK’s comparatively good road safety record.”
 
Snelling concluded: “It is incremental improvements such as these, along with the hard work of road freight operators that have contributed to the fact that half as many HGVs are involved in fatal incidents today as compared with 10 years ago.”

A series of consultations on the specific proposals announced today will follow in 2016.

Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • The proven route to safer roads from iRAP
    July 23, 2024
    Research from Johns Hopkins University suggests nearly 700,000 deaths and severe injuries were prevented over eight years in road safety projects which used the International Road Assessment Programme methodology
    Read More
  • UK traffic congestion getting worse says new report
    June 4, 2014
    Traffic congestion in cities across the UK has got significantly worse over the past year, according to a new report from TomTom. The fourth annual Traffic Index from TomTom shows average journeys in 2013 took 27 per cent longer than they would in free-flowing traffic – up from a 26 per cent delay in 2012.
    Read More
  • Developments in security for wireless communications networks
    July 20, 2012
    David Crawford looks at new developments in security for wireless communications networks. Wireless communications - including mobile phone links - are well recognised as a key transport technology. They are low-cost, easily installed, well supported by the wider IT industry and offer the protocols of choice for much metropolitan area networking on which transport applications can piggyback.
    Read More
  • The UK’s busiest crossing adopts free flow charging
    April 30, 2015
    Colin Sowman looks at the transition to free-flow charging on the Dartford Crossing, a notorious congestion blackspot on the UK motorway network. The Dartford Crossing, where London’s orbital M25 motorway crosses the lower reaches of the River Thames 32km (20 miles) to the east of Central London, has long been a major source of congestion. Now, to alleviate the congestion caused by some 50 million crossings per year, the Highways Agency has adopted a free-flow charging system - but the Crossing’s location a
    Read More

Highlighted Content