Opinion: the UK’s road safety deficit – 14 years of missed opportunities and complacency

David Ward

In this latest opinion piece, David Ward, executive president of Global NCAP and the Towards Zero Foundation, outlines why a change of Government represents ‘a welcome opportunity to revive the UK’s failing road safety policies’.

HM Treasury is warning of a £20 billion black hole in the budget, but the challenges facing Sir Keir Starmer’s new government are not just about finance.

There are huge performance deficits too, notably in road safety. In the first decade of this century UK road deaths almost halved but since then progress has stalled. Annually we suffer 30,000 deaths and serious inquiries – equivalent to devastating a medium sized town every year. The anguish and pain caused to so many families are unimaginable but the social and economic costs amount to a staggering $43.5 billion each year.

If the progress achieved up to 2010 had been sustained, we would have avoided at least 40,000 deaths and serious injuries1. That is the scale of 14 years of missed opportunities and complacency in UK road safety. Sadly, we have also failed to maintain global leadership in road injury prevention. Since 2012 twenty-five countries have outperformed the UK in reducing road fatalities.

I have worked in road safety for thirty years and advocated for cross-party support for evidence-based policies. There have been committed road safety ministers from both major parties but sadly over the last 14 years a consensus on road safety policy has been hard to sustain. In 2009 the Department for Transport (DfT) issued an ambitious consultation document on how to make Britain’s roads the safest in the world2. ‘A Safer Way’ issued by Jim Fitzpatrick, then Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport made proposals for a shift towards “a road safety ‘system’ in which we try to anticipate people’s errors and provide protection through safer road and vehicle design and through everyone one of us improving our skills”. This approach was consistent with growing international support for ‘safe systems’ strategies for injury prevention3.

Unfortunately, the coalition government elected in 2010 ignored this emerging consensus. In 2011 a new strategic framework was published in which ambitious casualty reduction targets were thrown out. Instead, Philip Hammond the new Secretary of State for Transport prioritized “education and training instead of more bureaucracy, targets and regulation”. This was a step back to discredited ‘blame the victim’ policies rather than the integrated plan for safer roads, safer vehicles, and safer road users envisaged in ‘A Safer Way’.

The only innovation in the coalition government’s strategy was to encourage ‘localism’ by giving local authorities more responsibility to improve road safety. However, the important potential for local leadership in road safety was still-born due to austerity. Core funding of local authorities since 20104 has been cut hobbling efforts to maintain roads and fix potholes, let alone improve local road safety. In parallel road policing has also been devastated by cuts. According to the Police Federation numbers of traffic police fell by 22% between 2010-2014 and then again by 18% between 2015-20195.

In 2020 the HM Inspectorate of Constabulary warned about the impact of an estimated 34% cut in roads policing and called for improvements that were “not optional”6. The public shares their view. In 2022 a poll by Auto Express revealed that 83% of drivers want to see more road patrols7. In response the Home Office in 2023 included roads policing in its Strategic Policing Framework, but a long-delayed review announced by DfT in 2020 has still not been published. Against this background it is hardly surprising that in July DfT reported that the central estimate of fatalities caused by drink driving collisions is the highest since 2009. This shows clearly how the 2011 shift to ‘education and training’ unsupported by enforcement was a predictable failure.

The anti-regulation bias adopted by the DfT in 2011 has also held back progress in UK vehicle safety. The result of the Brexit referendum in 2016 unfortunately made a bad policy position even worse. Previously the UK had a proud record of leading improved vehicle safety through the European Union (EU) system of type approval which sets regulations for safety and emissions. We strongly promoted new crash test standards in the late 1990s and DfT was a founder member of the European New Car Assessment Programme8. Together these initiatives have halved occupant fatality rates.

In 2018 the then Prime Minister PM Theresa May pledged that after Brexit “UK and EU regulatory standards will remain substantially similar in future” 9. Since our EU withdrawal on 31st January 2020 the Government has established a ‘GB Type Approval’ system10 and initially its regulatory content was identical to existing European requirements. Unfortunately this alignment has not lasted long. Searching for ‘Brexit opportunities’ the previous Government failed to adopt new legislation for safety technologies now applied to vehicles across the EU since 6th July 202211.

The General Safety Regulation (GSR) includes the phased introduction of autonomous emergency braking (AEB), intelligent speed assistance (ISA), better crash test standards, and improved truck visibility. The lifesaving potential of these measures has a compelling evidence base. According to the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) the package will have a greater safety benefit than the introduction of seat belts. TRL estimate that in the UK over the next 15 years it could prevent 1,762 deaths and 15,000 injuries and deliver £7 billion in net economic benefits. Which is why in 2022 a cross-party group of former road safety ministers called on the Government to implement the GSR12. Today GSR compliant vehicles are on sale in the UK. This is because it is costly for manufacturers to downgrade vehicles as over 60% of their output is sold in the EU and must comply with the GSR. Nevertheless, to be sure you are purchasing a new car that meets all the EU’s new safety requirements you should buy it from a dealership in Northern Ireland!

With a change of Government there is now a welcome opportunity to revive the UK’s failing road safety policies. That is why I was delighted to support the Manifesto for Road Safety 2024 jointly issued by the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety on behalf of the UK road safety community13. The manifesto outlines four strategic priorities that would restore progress in reducing fatalities and serious injuries on UK roads. These are:

  • Developing a National Road Safety Strategy – Implement a Safe System Strategy focused on prevention, protection, and post-collision response, coupled with evidence-based targets and robust safety performance indicators.

  • Establishing a Road Safety Investigation Branch – An independent body modelled after existing transportation safety branches to analyse road incidents and provide actionable insights for preventing future tragedies.

  • Introducing Graduated Driver Licensing – – A progressive licensing system to support young drivers by limiting high-risk driving situations, a measure proven to reduce casualties from collisions involving a 17-to 19-year-old driver by up to 40%”.

  • Adopting Advanced Vehicle Safety Regulations – Immediate implementation of the full GSR package of world-leading vehicle safety standards.

I well understand that Louise Haigh, the new Secretary of State for Transport, and Lilian Greenwood, the Minister for the Future of Roads, face many challenges in their first few months in office. Action on these manifesto recommendations, however, would be a great way to signal a return to evidence-based policymaking that can restore dynamism to the UK’s road safety performance. It would also help recover the UK’s previous reputation for global leadership in road safety. This would be timely as next February 18 20th the Moroccan Government will host the 4th Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Marrakesh14. What better opportunity could there be for the new Government to rekindle the 2009 ambition to make UK roads the safest in the world?

 

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