Skip to main content

Make traffic policing and casualty reduction a priority, says charity

A report released this week by road safety charity Brake and Direct Line has revealed that nearly half of UK drivers (49 per cent) admit to breaking traffic laws. Of those, half say they do so through inattention, while the other half admit to doing so deliberately, because they think they can get away with it or do not agree with the laws. When asked what unsafe driving behaviour they witnessed most, 71 per cent cited distraction such as from mobile phones, followed by tailgating speeding (67 per ce
April 29, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
RSSA report released this week by road safety charity 4235 Brake and 4236 Direct Line has revealed that nearly half of UK drivers (49 per cent) admit to breaking traffic laws.

Of those, half say they do so through inattention, while the other half admit to doing so deliberately, because they think they can get away with it or do not agree with the laws.

When asked what unsafe driving behaviour they witnessed most, 71 per cent cited distraction such as from mobile phones, followed by tailgating speeding (67 per cent) and risky overtaking (66 per cent) topped the list of UK drivers’ concerns.

Julie Townsend, deputy chief executive, Brake, said: “As these figures make clear, law breaking on our roads is not just down to a minority but endemic. For whatever reason, many seem to feel they are beyond the law or that traffic laws are somehow optional. This represents a failure by government to ensure traffic policing is receiving adequate priority and to make clear the importance and legitimacy of traffic laws.

“Whoever takes power after 7 May needs to make traffic policing a national policing priority, to ensure there is a strong deterrent against risky law-breaking on roads.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Speed cameras make safety savings?
    April 18, 2012
    The use of speed cameras in urban areas is said to make major savings overall, according to a new study. A two year cost-benefit analysis published online in Injury Prevention shows that the deployment of speed cameras in urban areas saves vast amounts of money as well as lives.
  • SafeRide: it’s time to act on cyberattacks
    May 10, 2019
    Cyber threats are increasing rapidly and conventional security measures are unable to keep up. Ben Spencer talks to SafeRide’s Gil Reiter about what OEMs can do now As more vehicles become connected, so the potential threats to their security increase. Gil Reiter, vice president of product management for security firm SafeRide, says the biggest ‘attack surface’ for connected cars is their internet connectivity - and the in-vehicle applications that use the internet connection. “The most vulnerable co
  • APA supports automated work zone speed enforcement
    July 17, 2015
    A trade association representing the highway construction industry strongly supports automated enforcement of speed limits in work zones and Maryland's experience with a similarly designed program has had very good results, the association head has told a joint Pennsylvania House and Senate committee. According to PennDOT, 24 people were killed in work-zone crashes in 2014, eight more than in 2013. Additionally, there were 1,841 crashes in work zones last year, a slight decrease from the 1,851 crashes
  • Cellcontrol targets international demand for distracted driving technology
    May 17, 2012
    Cellcontrol, a specialist in technology to stop distracted driving, is actively addressing the growing domestic and international demand for reliable distracted driving technology by pursuing and receiving regulatory approval to market its solution in Europe and other geographies. After extended testing by independent organizations, Cellcontrol received the Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) E11 Certification last week. This VCA certification is required for EU market participation and validates that Cellco