RoadPeace member Philip Sutton has written the below blog as part of National Road Victim Month, remembering the friends he has lost in road traffic collisions and reflecting on what legal reforms would have the biggest impact on road danger reduction.

Stuart was killed on 9 July 2024. He’s the fifth person I’ve known who’s been killed by a driver whilst riding their bicycle. I also remember Tom, Nicky, Claudia and Martyn. Stuart was a husband, father of three school-age kids, and life and soul of the office where he had been my colleague for over 25 years. He was also an all-year-round cycle commuter, like me, and was killed on his way to the office. And for what? I won’t speculate on Stuart’s incident but distracted driving, impaired driving and aggressive driving are common ingredients in road fatalities – all behaviour I see routinely on my daily commutes. THIS HAS TO STOP.

As a lawyer who cycles, I’ve always taken an interest in road safety and the law. But nothing prepared me for the horror of the “justice” system’s handling of Tom’s  killer’s case which resulted in the driver getting three points and a £35 fine. Yes – £35, for taking a life. I was in court supporting the family and it still sickens me to the pit of my stomach to think of it.

I’ve thought long and hard about what changes might make a difference. It all boils down to jeopardy – real jeopardy. I remember hearing on the radio many years ago that if governments wanted to bring down the death toll on their roads they should require every vehicle to have an immovable spike pointing at the driver’s chest fitted to the steering column. Think about it. In terms of the law, prison is the spike. If a driver kills someone, the default presumption should be a custodial sentence with a minimum tariff of, say, a year; perhaps even as little as six months. Even if the driver only spends 50% of their sentence inside, it’s long enough to require explaining to family, friends, employers and others. The jeopardy message will hit home – drive with utmost care at all times or risk prison. And, of course, they should only be allowed to drive again following an extended re-test.

The proposal pays for itself many times over. The latest figures I can find say that the cost to the UK taxpayer of every road fatality is approximately £2.2million. With an average of five fatalities per day that works out at £11million per day, or £4.015billion per year. And that’s just the fatalities. Add in light, serious and life-changing injuries and I suspect the figure rises to tens of billions. As driver behaviour changes, the savings will pay for additional prison estate, support our desperately hard-pressed NHS and, most importantly of all, protect families from having their lives ripped apart in an instant.

Updated on: 6 August 2024