§ Mr. HeathTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what plans he has to reduce road traffic accidents in Somerset. [17929]
§ Mr. JamiesonLocal transport authorities have a statutory duty to produce a local transport plan (LTP). They are required to set out five-year integrated transport plans which cover all forms of transport and include a set of locally devised aims and objectives, a long-term strategy to meet them, a costed implementation programme and a set of targets and performance indicators to measure progress. They also provide annual progress reports. The first full LTPs were produced in July 2000 and cover the period from April 2001 to March 2006. Capital resources for local transport improvements are provided through the annual local transport capital settlement; we will announce shortly the allocations for 2002–03 which will include provision for road safety improvements.
Road safety is an important component of the local transport plan (LTP) process and we will expect to see all transport authorities to be making progress in this area.
382WSomerset's first LTP annual progress report reports progress in several inter-related strategies, eg. a 14 per cent. reduction in killed and serious injury (KSI) accidents on the county's roads in 2000 over 1999 and a 50 per cent. reduction (50) in child KSI accidents over the same period. The county has introduced 90 local safety schemes on its roads in the last five years, such as speed management and improving facilities for pedestrians and cyclists, and in 2000–01 nine primary, six middle/secondary schools and one FE college have committed to the Safe Routes to School initiative.