§ 49. Mr. SackvilleTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what further plans he has to seek to reduce the numbers of road accidents.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyIn July this year we published the outcome of a wide-ranging review of road safety—"The Next Steps". A copy was placed in the Library of the House on 8 May. The review confirms that there is no simple formula for reducing the number of road accidents and stresses the need for changes in social attitudes if we are to make our roads significantly safer.
We are presently consulting a wide range of interested organisations about how best to implement the review's recommendations about priorities for action in order to achieve the objective we have set of reducing casualties from about 300,000 a year now to 200,000 a year by the end of the next decade.
To achieve this target we must concentrate on measures which are demonstrably cost-effective, particularly in the fields of road engineering and vehicle safety.
Human error is a main factor in at least 70 per cent, of road accidents. To gain a fuller understanding of driver behaviour we have increased expenditure on research in this field by £600,000 a year. We are also continuing our efforts to improve the quality of road safety education.
429WThe worse example of behavioural failings is the drinking driver and we shall continue to do all we can to tackle this special menace.