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Road Safety

It is a pleasure to see you presiding over this debate, Mr. Hancock. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Pendle (Mr. Prentice) on raising this important issue. I wish to join him in congratulating all those associated with the falling casualty figures on their hard work: officials in the Department, the police and other emergency services, the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency, local authorities, the drivers themselves, and others, including the Transport Committee, several of whose distinguished members have contributed to this debate . The Transport Committee has kindly invited me to its meeting this afternoon to discuss the new statistics, and I am looking forward to doing so. I endorse the comment by the hon. Member for Scarborough and Whitby (Mr. Goodwill) that this issue is, and should be, above party politics. I am reassured that hon. Members from all parties are exercised by the dreadful statistics and are interested in improving road safety. We have had two debates on this important subject in this Session. My hon. Friend the Member for Dumfries and Galloway (Mr. Brown) raised it last October, and the late Gwyneth Dunwoody prompted a further debate in March. The Government share the concerns expressed in this and earlier debates, and by the Select Committee. As my hon. Friend the Member for Pendle said, we announced last month that provisional figures show that road fatalities fell below 3,000 for the first time last year. That is progress, but it is still a terrible toll. We are working on a new strategy designed to drive fatalities down much further in the coming years, and it must include new measures for young people. Provisional 2007 casualty figures are the best for young drivers in at least 10 years. Fatalities in accidents involving at least one driver aged 17 to 24 are down by 8 per cent. in 2007, and fatalities for drivers in that age group are down by 12 per cent. The figures are still dreadful, but I hope that we can build on that welcome improvement. We commonly speak about accidents—I used to do so before becoming road safety Minister—but, personally, I talk about crashes now.