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Road Safety Bill [Lords]

I am grateful to have a chance to contribute to the debate and to give an extremely warm welcome to the Bill. I think that the remarks of the hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell (Chris Grayling) were somewhat churlish, as I believe that it contains a variety of measures that will give the police a much wider range of sanctions for many more offences than is currently the case. It will enable them to do many of the things that the hon. Gentleman described, and it will be for them and the local authorities to work out how to use the measures to improve road safety. The hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell said that the Bill did not have a strategic vision. I disagree: it maintains a clear focus on what is needed to improve road safety and deal with the different problems that arise. Moreover, implicit within it is a recognition that we need a culture change in our attitude to driving. The hon. Gentleman did not mention that, but running through the Bill is a much stronger awareness of the fact that a person who gets into a car is getting into something that can be a dangerous weapon. Cars can be responsible for very serious accidents, as well as being a statement of our personal freedom. The Bill requires a culture change among the public. I ask the Government, as they move it forward, to make sure that information is issued about the change in responsibilities and that there are awareness campaigns to change attitudes to speaking on mobile phones while driving, children wearing safety belts in the back of cars, and speeding. The Opposition have a real responsibility to be party to that as well. Let us take the example of the debate about speed cameras. I suppose that we are not meant to be party political at this point, but I have heard, particularly from the Conservative party, constant criticism of speed cameras. The assumption is that they are there to raise money, when we all know—certainly, this is the case in Northamptonshire—that many people walking around today would be dead were not it not for speed cameras and the move to bear down on speeding. A good number of young people have been spared very serious injury because speeding has been reduced. If we are going to achieve the changes that we can get out of the Bill, we require a culture change. I find it odd that, having said there is a great need to deal with problem drivers, the Conservative party opposes, or questions and undermines, one of the most radical proposals in the Bill, which has been welcomed, looked for and campaigned for by people outside this place as well as inside it. I refer to the proposal for a new offence of causing death by careless driving. I do not understand how it is possible to talk tough on driving and then say, ““Oh, but we aren’t going to have a separate offence of causing death by careless driving.”” If the Conservatives are serious about dealing with road safety and the horrible tragedies that result from bad or careless driving—whatever we want to call it—they must be consistent in their approach. I hope that, in Committee, they will suddenly see the light, have a road-to-Damascus conversion, as they have on so many other things, and support this important proposal. Over the years, many colleagues have pressed for a new offence of causing death by careless driving, because we have all heard the most harrowing tales of deaths caused by careless driving in our constituencies. I pay tribute to the predecessor of the hon. Member for Wellingborough (Mr. Bone), who, as he knows, campaigned, as he has, on behalf of his constituents, and to many other Members who are still on the Labour Benches and who have done a vast amount of work over the years. I took up the matter in a private Member’s Bill following consultation with young people in my constituency. It was one of those cases of seeing further when one sits on the shoulders of giants because colleagues have done much more work than I have. The young people chose it as the piece of legislation that they most wanted to see on the statute book, which is interesting, since many of the briefings sent to us by outside organisations pick up on the fact that driving and road safety issues have a particular impact on young people and are of particular concern to them. I thank the schools that took part in the consultation and supported the private Member’s Bill: Kingsthorpe community college, Duston school, Weston Favell school, Northampton School for Girls, Thomas Becket school, Roade school and Unity college. In particular, they were moved by the story of Alexine Melnik, a constituent of the hon. Member for Wellingborough. She was a teenager who was killed by a careless driver. Her killer escaped with a derisory sentence. The schools met with Alexine’s brother and parents, who joined them in lobbying the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, my hon. Friend the Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart), to get such a measure on the statute book. They followed the process through, and I hope that they will be able to come to the Committee to see the legislation they have campaigned for go through.