Road to confusion

IT is a juxtaposition that illustrated the muddled thinking at the heart of the Government on so many policies. On the day David Cameron met Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, the Formula One kings of speed, to launch the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety and hail Britain’s success in reducing accident rates, his Transport Secretary Philip Hammond was announcing measures that could reverse this trend.

At face value, it makes sense to give police powers to issue motorists with spot fines for careless – or selfish – driving. An instant punishment has the potential to force culprits to be more respectful towards other road users.

Yet, while this would place a greater reliance on roadside cameras to identify speeding drivers when the future of these devices is in doubt because of council cuts, it also requires there to be sufficient police patrols to catch tailgaters and so forth. However, many police forces cannot provide this guarantee because of the extent to which their priorities are being compromised by Mr Cameron’s spending decisions.

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What the Government needs to do is provide a clear route map for the future of road safety – and then guidance on how it should be implemented.

Mixed messages about the danger of speed, while refusing at the same time to rule out the possibility of raising the limit on motorways to 80mph, is only going to further fuel the complacency that is now commonplace on Britain’s roads.

This is also why there are so many insured or banned drivers behind the wheel of vehicles. They are only in a position to imperil the safety of others because of the ineffectiveness of the courts and inconsistencies in transport policy – inconsistencies that will not be halted by Mr Hammond’s latest strategy.