Press Release
30 November 2004

No Action on Abusive Road Death Law

Whilst allowing an abuse of human rights to continue by not addressing the injustice of the Section 3 Charge applied after most culpable road deaths or injuries, nor the inappropriate response to hit and run, Mr Darling, incongruously, starts the Road Safety Bill with the following statement: "In my view the provisions of the Road Safety Bill are compatible with the Convention rights."...

Failure to propose a long overdue law change in respect of death and injury on the road, or to give any guidance on the growing epidemic of hit and run, makes the few positive proposals - on uninsured driving, mobile phone use and drink driving - appear as nothing more than tinkering. This view is further supported by the scandalous proposal of reducing penalties for drivers who exceed speed limits in built up areas, when it is known that 95% of pedestrians survive collisions at 20mph, that an impact at 30mph will kill half of pedestrians and that at 40mph - 95% will die.

RoadPeace, the UK's specialist charity for road crash victims, has campaigned tirelessly for more than 12 years for a more fitting and humane treatment of road crash victims and for road death and injury to be treated far more seriously by the Government and all relevant agencies. RoadPeace's ongoing petition for a law change has shown nationwide support - over 40,000 signatures have been delivered to the Home Office and the House of Commons, supporting a law that would consider the death or injury the central issue of any charge, instead of a by-product of a piece of driving, that is disregarded, as at present.

RoadPeace also believes, and has stated this in their consultation response on graduated fixed penalties (the result of which has yet to be published, as has the report on the consultation on Road traffic penalties of 2000 that attracted over 1000 responses), that a two tier system should only be possible on motorways as even minor speeding on other roads can mean the difference between death, disability and the chance of a full recovery to vulnerable road users.

Furthermore, the Government's own research and campaign have shown how very sensitive pedestrian mortality is to speed, so the new proposals contradict the Government's own efforts over the past decade to deter speeding, and would lead to more people killed and seriously injured - the very opposite of the intention of the Bill: "A Bill will be introduced to help reduce further the numbers of those killed or injured on the roads."

Mrs. Gwyneth Dunwoody, Chair of the Transport Committee, said in a Press Release of 23 November "Speeding is serious, even if it is by only a few miles an hour. I hope the Government will re-think its plans for variable penalties when Parliament discusses the Road Safety Bill. "And in their report on Traffic Law Enforcement, the committee called for a 'radical overhaul' of the law on driving offences.

Amy Aeron-Thomas, RoadPeace Researcher, said: "The vast majority of vulnerable road user deaths and serious injuries occur in built up areas. We do not know of any evidence the Government or others have found, which would indicate that speeding has become safer for road users and that thus penalties deserve to be reduced. Under the proposed structure, a driver would be able to be caught speeding up to 7 times before losing their licence. The fine would be less than that proposed for dropping a cigarette in the street (£50)."

Brigitte Chaudhry, RoadPeace Founder, said: "It has been a frustrating seven years for RoadPeace, who have been promised and led to believe by consecutive Home Office ministers of the present Government that the grave concerns about the injustice of the present legal response to road death and injury have been noted and would be acted upon. Instead, we have seen an embarrassing and highly irresponsible pandering to the tabloids and motor lobby. Parliamentarians have the duty and opportunity to save lives, prevent serious injuries and improve the quality of life of their constituents. Not tackling with courage the source of road danger, including by the legal system, will lose politicians votes."

Contacts:

RoadPeace office 020 8838 5102. Rita Taylor 01963 359 044.

Brigitte Chaudhry 020 8964 1800. Zoe Stow 01491 642 857.

Notes to Editors:

'Road deaths and injuries shatter lives'

In the UK, from 1940 - 2000 (60 years - a person's lifetime), 17,586.625 million people were reported injured and killed on UK's roads - if we take under-reporting and the effect on families into account, then more than half the population is affected by road death and injury in their lifetime. On the world's roads, 3000 people are killed daily - a daily 9/11 disaster!

Out of the 3500 deaths on Britain's roads, only some 250 are followed by a prosecution which mentions the death in the charge. Other culpable deaths that get prosecuted (many do not) are only followed by a summary charge in a magistrates court, dealt with by lay magistrates, where the death remains totally disregarded, not mentioned or even recorded. No other country in the world treats death on the road so shabbily in law.

Also - Government criteria of four deaths for justifying speed cameras are cruel, crude and illogical, as well as contrary to all other forms of road safety and public health interventions.