RoadPeace among 70 leading road safety organisations calling for four life-saving priorities for the next Government

RoadPeace is proud to be one of more than 70 organisations supporting a groundbreaking manifesto calling for immediate and strategic action to address the persistent issue of road fatalities and serious injuries in the UK.

The manifesto, coordinated by The Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS), outlines four strategic priorities aimed at revolutionising road safety.

These are:

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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%.

4. Adopting Advanced Vehicle Safety Regulations – Immediate implementation of the world-leading vehicle safety standards, mandating critical technologies such as Automatic Emergency Braking and Intelligent Speed Assistance.

The UK has seen a stagnation in road safety improvements since 2010, from being a global leader in road safety, it is now lagging behind other nations.

Every day, five people die on UK roads, with more than 30,000 individuals killed or seriously injured annually, amounting to a staggering societal and economic cost of approximately £43.5 billion each year.

Jamie Hassall, Executive Director of PACTS, said: “These four simple measures will be the building blocks to enable the UK to reduce the number of people that are killed and seriously injured on our roads. When we have strong leadership and a strategic approach, the UK has managed to halve the number of road deaths in a decade, but since 2010, the focus was lost and daily road deaths have remained at five a day.

“Investing in road safety is not just a moral duty but it’s good for people’s health and wellbeing, the environment, business, and the country.”

These are simple, quick wins that are unanimously agreed across the UK’s leading road safety authorities to be top priorities with the potential to save hundreds of lives and prevent thousands of life-alerting injuries over the next few years and put the UK on track to be a world leader again.

PACTS urges the incoming government to prioritise these strategies within the first 100 days of office to ensure the UK meets international road safety targets and sets a global standard in protecting its citizens.

Long-standing commitment to Graduated Driving Licensing

Bereaved Mum, Sharron Huddleston, Co-founder of Forget-me-not Families Uniting

While RoadPeace strongly supports all of the manifesto’s priorities, the charity is particularly committed to priority three – Graduated Driving Licensing (GDL). This dedication is rooted in RoadPeace’s long-standing support for families grieving the loss of young people killed in road crashes.

RoadPeace played a key part in the formation of ‘Forget-me-not Families Uniting’ – a group which now consists of more than 100 bereaved parents, who are demanding the introduction of GDL to tackle the unacceptable and disproportionately high number of young driver and passenger deaths on UK roads.

In April 2024, RoadPeace appeared on BBC Breakfast alongside bereaved parents, Sharron Huddleston and Dr Ian Greenwood, co-founders of Forget-me-not Families Uniting, to officially launch the group’s Graduated Driving Licensing campaign. Since then, many more families have come forward to join forces, united by their shared grief and determination to ensure that other parents do not have to suffer in the same way in future.

The evidence is overwhelming – Graduated Driving Licensing saves lives. In other countries, including Australia, Canada and New Zealand, there has been a reduction in deaths and serious injuries in crashes involving young drivers by between 20 and 40%, following the introduction of GDL. But despite this categorical evidence, and pleas from bereaved families and leading experts for decades, Graduated Driving Licensing has yet to be introduced in the UK.

Nick Simmons, CEO of RoadPeace, the national charity for road crash victims, said: “RoadPeace has supported so many parents during its 32-year history who have lost sons and daughters in road crashes.

“They have been calling for changes to the law to better protect young drivers and passengers for decades, but nobody has listened. Many families have felt unheard and ignored.

“Enough is enough. How many more young lives need to be lost before action is taken?

“We are proudly supporting the Manifesto for Road Safety 2024 and we urge the new Government to prioritise its strategic priorities as soon as possible.

Just some of the many Manifesto for Road Safety 2024 signatories

Manifesto Signatories and Supporters

If you would like to add your name to the list of supporters, please email Kumar Niketan with your logo.

Updated on: 5 June 2024