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In safer hands?
Page 20
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Jennifer Ball reports, the government's latest Road Safety Bill las been met with mixed reactions...
For the first time in 40 years, the government is to overhaul its Road Safety Bill with measures designed to crack down on llegal drivers and cut the number of people :Med and seriously injured on Britain's roads. lut it has not received the acclaim the governnent had hoped for — in fact, safety campaign:is warn that in its present form the bill could :ost more lives than it saves.
The government's motives are unimpeacha)le, with attempts to make life fairer for UK Terators and reduce the burden on the courts vith a form of fixed penalties for some overoading and hours offences. But concerns have )een raised over plans to introduce a graduated )enalties scheme for speeding, with the penalty or "marginal" offences reduced from three )oints to two.
The Safer Streets Coalition, whose 29 mem)ers represent road safety and environmental ;roups, warns that 'marginal' could mean hiving at 39mph in a 30mph area. It opposes ighter penalties.
Paige Mitchell from the Slower Speeds Initiitive says: "Cracking down on anti-social iehaviour is a government priority. They want 75 for littering but would reduce penalties for peeding in those same streets.
"Speeding kills and maims thousands of peo)le each year, intimidates millions and causes toise and pollution. It's about as anti-social as mu can get and Home Office research shows hat the public recognises this. The government s well out of touch on this one."
But the Freight Transport Association velconaes the move. A spokesman says: "It .eems sensible that there should be a range of )enalties, with the gravity of the offence fitting he punishment."
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accilents (RoSPA) slams the government for failing o use the bill to strengthen the drink-drive laws. (evin Clinton, RoSPA head of road safety, says neasures such as evidential breath testing, where someone who fails a roadside test would no longer have to be taken to the police station, do not go far enough: "We are now one of only four countries out of 15 in the European Union with a level above 50mg/l00m1 blood. At levels between 50-80mg drivers are two to four times more likely to be involved in a fatal accident than drivers with no alcohol.
"If we are to make real progress with drinkdriving in this county, the government has to act to cut the limit now and prevent more needless deaths on our roads."
The bill also moves to introduce Continentalstyle motorway rest areas and spot fines for foreign truckers. These measures will please UK operators, who have become increasingly concerned about the number of foreign operators escaping prosecution because it costs too much to take them to court (CM 8 July 2004).
Julian Arnold, boss of Kent-based TLC European says:"We get on-the-spot lines when abroad, and if we can't pay we are parked up until we can. It's about time that we had a level playing field and that they had to pay up over here."•