The Great Britain road casualty statistics released by the Department for Transport yesterday are worrying in a number of ways said David Davies, Executive Director of PACTS.
The executive director of PACTS added, “The Government is failing in its manifesto commitment to reduce the number of road users killed or seriously injured every year.
“There has been very little reduction in these figures since 2010. The number of deaths involving drink driving is stuck at 240 a year and the estimated total deaths in the past 12 months is only lightly lower than it was five years ago.”
He went on, “We need to see stronger action on a range of fronts, particularly drink-driving which accounts for 13% of all deaths.”
They show:
- No reduction in drink-drive deaths since 2010 – remaining at 240 deaths a year;
- No reduction in total road deaths and a 2% increase in serious casualties in the past 12 months (to 31 March 2016);
- Seven police forces, including the largest ones (Met and Greater Manchester) have not submitted casualty reports in time, forcing the DfT to estimate the figures for Quarter 1 of 2016.
PACTS supports:
- An increase in drink-drive education and publicity by the DfT;
- More support from the pub and drink industry to promote alcohol-free drinks and named driver campaigns;
- Better enforcement of drink driving by the police;
- Type approval by the Home Office of mobile evidential breath test equipment;
- A lower drink-drive limit in England and Wales, as in Scotland and (soon) Northern Ireland;
- An overhaul by the MoJ of the provision of drink drive rehabilitation courses;
- Full analysis of the impact of the lower limit in Scotland.”
He added, “A separate issue that is becoming increasingly evident is the vulnerability of the entire casualty reporting system to lack of prioritisation by some police forces. The Home Office needs to make clear that accurate and timely reporting is essential.”
The RAC is concerned that the safety improvements have hit a plateau after years of falling and this may be related to the reduction in traffic police now routinely patrolling roads so more drivers are tempted to drink-drive and take a chance on being caught.
