Philip Seccombe, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Warwickshire and Joint Lead on Roads Policing for the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, has warned that the Road Safety Strategy doesn't go far enough. According to BirminghamLive, Labour has been slammed by a police chief over its weak safety strategy after 1,600 deaths on UK roads. ' The strategy includes a plan for a minimum learning period of three or six months before novice drivers can take their test and proposes lowering the current legal blood alcohol limit for all drivers in England and Wales, with an even lower limit for those newly qualified.
' Police and Crime Commissioners have long lobbied for the blood alcohol limit for drivers to be cut. In countries where progressive or graduated driver licensing regimes have been introduced, evidence shows the number of crashes and deaths of young people has dropped significantly. Seccombe referenced the Transport Secretary, who asks in her foreword to the strategy if we would tolerate four deaths a day and thousands seriously injured on our railways or in the skies, quoting, 'As the Transport Secretary asks in her foreword to the strategy, would we tolerate four deaths a day and thousands seriously injured on our railways or in the skies?
Given human nature, particularly among groups of young men, it seems a reasonable price to pay to introduce some limited and temporary additional safeguards for new drivers if it keeps them, their friends and others safe.
' It is unknown what specific additional measures Seccombe proposes beyond the current strategy or how many deaths on UK roads are attributed to young or inexperienced drivers. Seccombe emphasized, 'The Road Safety Strategy is a definite step in the right direction with wide-ranging ideas of how government, industry, policing and road users can all help to improve road safety.
The drink drive limit hasn't changed since it was first introduced nearly 60 years ago, despite a far greater understanding these days of how alcohol impairs judgement, so these moves are sensible and overdue.