Road Safety - Updating the Legal Component

1. Road Safety - Updating the Legal Component David Jamieson MPParliamentary Under Secretary of State

2. The Road Safety Challenge • Sustaining UK’s very good road safety record • 10 people still die on our roads each day • Still represents a significant economic, social and emotional cost to society Road deaths per 100,000 of population Source: International Road Traffic and accident Database

3. 10 Year Plan • Strategy sets out the framework for delivering further improvements in road safety over the next decade • Needs to evolve continuously as new evidence and ideas emerge • Legislation is an essential component in both existing commitments and future developments

4. Progress Against Targets Killed or seriously injured casualties : Rolling four quarter totals

5. Legislative Component - Key Areas This package of measures addresses those areas of the strategy that require primary legislation: • Local Road Safety • Drink Driving • Speeding • Bad Driving • Driving Standards • Fatigue • Support for Enforcement

6. Demonstration projects have proved successful: reducing casualties, providing approaches and lessons that can be applied elsewhere Propose clear and specific power to fund full range of potential innovative road safety projects This will secure funding for future innovative projects such as Dealing with Disadvantage and Gloucester Safer City and allow their success to be replicated and further developed Local Road Safety

7. Drink driving now accounts for a sixth of all fatalities Propose to introduce: - evidential roadside breathtesting, - retesting for serious and repeat offenders- better rehabilitation Will:- allow more efficient policing- further discourage recidivism- offer courts effective alternatives to disqualification- tighten loopholes in legislation whilst - complement successful publicity campaigns Drink Driving

8. Speeding is a factor in a significant proportion of collisions Proposal: - create variable fixed penalties in range of 2-6 points- speed rehabilitation courses- increase penalty for not identifying driver and - ban speed camera jammers and detectors Will support and promote successful camera strategy by:- relating the severity of the offence to the punishment- prevent evasion of cameras - remove incentive to not identifying driver Speeding

9. Driver error a major contributory factor in 95% of all collisions Propose to offer retraining for bad drivers and increase maximum penalties for: - careless driving (to £5000)- mobile phone offences ( to 3 penalty points) - using vehicle in a dangerous condition (mandatory disqualification for 2nd offence) This will discourage poor attitudes and improve driver behaviour through retraining and severer penalties Bad Driving

10. Younger drivers are 6% of all drivers / 12% of injury collisions Propose to:- modernise driving instruction - extend regulation to all sectors- publish performance data of driving instructors Will:- create higher standards of professional instructor- improve educational environment - empower consumer - reward better instructors Driving Standards

11. Research has suggested that up to 10% of collisions are sleep related Proposal:- trial of motorway rest areas- clarify & improve powers to enforce EU drivers’ hours rules Will:- counteract commercial incentive to drive whilst tired - reduce risk of collisions involving larger vehicles- motorway rest areas will encourage people to take a break- provide genuine alternative to motorway service areas Fatigue

12. Security of driving licence and vehicle number plate essential to enforcement Propose: - to extend regulation of number plate supply to Scot & NI- seizure of fraudulent driving licences by DSA staff- more secure photocard- allow international exchange of DVLA data Will: - prevent criminals using fake number plates - hinder export of stolen vehicles- remove stolen & fraudulent driving licences from circulation - further increase the security of the driving licence Support for Enforcement - Licensing

13. (Support for Enforcement cont.)Insurance and Fraud Uninsured drivers are 6-9 times more likely to have a collision, “clocking” fraud costs approximately £100m per annum and prevents safety problems from being detected • Propose to: - require the mandatory recording of vehicle mileage - derive database of “at risk” vehicles from insurance records • Will enable police to target uninsured drivers using successful ANPR technology; and prevent fraud & ensure mileage gives true indication of vehicle condition

14. (Support for Enforcement cont.)Fixed Penalties for Non-GB Licences • We are unable to give foreign (non-GB licence holders) and unlicensed motorists fixed penalties • Propose to take power to issue fixed penalties for road traffic offences to non-GB licence holders • This will allow enforcement agents to issue fixed penalties to non-GB licence holders.

15. Other Measures • Radioactive material transport inspectors require parity of power to question suspects as Health & Safety Executive staff to ensure the safe transport of these materials • Alternative fuel conversions (LPG etc.) are safe and deliver environmental benefits only if properly converted, we wish to introduce a regime to regulate conversion standards • Propose to remove a loophole regarding the definition of a private hire vehicle to ensure that all such vehicles in London are subject to a licensing regime

16. Next Steps • These primary legislative measures will form basis of further action to take strategy forward in some areas • Road Safety is about more than legislation and work will continue in many other areas:- publicity- education- work with schools- research- infrastructure