Most of us use our local roads every day without giving them much thought. If it’s driving to work, walking to school, cycling into town or crossing busy junctions – they’re a crucial part of our everyday routine. When roads aren’t safe, the consequences can be immediate and often life-changing.
That’s why I’ve welcomed the government’s new Road Safety Strategy, published last week. Its focus is straightforward: reducing deaths and serious injuries, and making safety a core part of how roads, vehicles and transport systems are designed and managed.
This matters across our region. People regularly raise concerns with me about speeding traffic, dangerous junctions and roads that were never designed for the volume or speed of vehicles they now carry. Those concerns look different depending on where you are – whether it’s rural routes around our villages, busy commuter roads, or residential streets where parents worry about children crossing safely – the underlying issue is the same. People want to feel confident using the roads around them.
For too long, road safety policy has tended to respond after something has gone wrong. People often tell me that they’ve written to local authorities to press for action, but the response has for too long been that unless someone’s already been seriously injured, little can be done. This strategy is about prevention. It brings together better data, clearer national standards and stronger action on known risks like speeding and poor road design. It also recognises that improving safety isn’t just about one group of road users. Pedestrians, cyclists, drivers and horse riders all need to be considered together, particularly in rural areas where narrow roads and fast traffic can be a dangerous combination.
There’s going to be so many improvements considered – reforms to motorcycle training and licensing, given motorcyclists account for 1% of all road traffic but 21% of road deaths, are one example. Another is consulting on giving courts the power to install alcohol interlocks into the cars of people convicted for drink driving – these are breathalysers installed in car engines that won’t allow the car to start unless the driver proves they’re below the legal alcohol limit. In other countries, these have cut drink driving reoffending (which is a huge issue) by up to 70%, according to campaign groups.
The strategy also fits alongside wider work the Labour government is doing to make everyday travel safer and more affordable – from investing record funding into road repair and maintenance, to freezing rail fares and extending the £3 bus cap. Safer roads are part of the bigger picture. They reduce pressure on emergency services, support active travel, and make daily journeys more predictable and less stressful for families.
National plans only matter if they lead to real changes on the ground. I’ll continue raising specific local concerns in Parliament and working with councils and residents to make sure this renewed focus on road safety delivers practical improvements here in North West Cambridgeshire.