§ Mr. Bob RussellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list those local authorities(a) which have met Government accident reduction targets and (b) which on current trends are (i) likely and (ii) unlikely to achieve them. [114889]
§ Mr. HillEarlier road safety targets were not established in such a way that local authorities were required to meet specific targets, so it is not possible to measure local authority performance in this way. The Road Safety Strategy, "Tomorrow's Roads—Safer for Everyone", includes new national casualty reduction targets to be met by 2010, which local authorities must reflect in their local casualty reduction targets. However, authorities have different road traffic casualty records which reflect their local circumstances and how well they have addressed these problems in the past. Those with a poor record should be setting themselves stringent targets, because they must make major improvements, while those with an already good record may not be able to achieve similar levels of casualty reduction. Whatever the local circumstances, local targets should be demanding and reflect the aims of the national targets. We will be monitoring performance and the publication of road safety Best Value Performance Indicators will give local people the ability to compare the performance of their authority with other authorities and to measure how it improves over time.