IAM calls for road safety targets

The IAM is calling for road casualty targets to be reintroduced in its contribution to November’s transport select committee’s inquiry into the government’s road safety strategy. Targets were removed by the government in May this year.

Despite positive reductions in the number of people killed in road accidents in 2010, over the last six months deaths on Britain’s roads have increased by seven per cent compared to the same period last year* (casualties in total have gone down by three per cent).

IAM chairman Alistair Cheyne OBE, writing in the IAM members’ magazine Advanced Driving, said: “That road deaths have gone up is a tragedy. Emergency services do a fantastic job and manufacturers are making cars safer all the time.

“But crashes are best avoided and all drivers need to think about how to make their driving style safer. The government must play a part by reintroducing targets on road safety to give the entire industry a goal to aim for.”

An IAM poll in September showed that only a quarter of the 2700 respondents think that the numbers of killed and seriously injured will continue to fall. Twenty-five per cent think they will keep going down. Thirty-four per cent think they will remain the same, and 36 per cent of respondents think that casualty rates will rise a little over the next three years.

Notes:

*Department For Transport: Reported Road Casualties Great Britain (Statistical Release: November 2011)
The IAM is the UK’s largest independent road safety charity, dedicated to improving standards and safety in driving, motorcycling and cycling. The commercial division of the IAM operates through its occupational driver training company IAM Drive & Survive. The IAM has more than 200 local volunteer groups and over 100,000 members in the UK and Ireland. It is best known for the advanced driving test and the advanced driving, motorcycling and cycling courses. Its policy and research division offers advice and expertise on road safety.

Tags: road safety