The House of Commons Transport Committee has launched an inquiry to examine the potential effectiveness of the Government's recently published Road Safety Strategy.

As the first national safety strategy in over a decade, the new strategy aims to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on Britain's roads by focusing on four themes:

  • Supporting road users
  • Using technology, data and innovation
  • Safer infrastructure
  • Robust enforcement

In response to this, the Committee plans to examine the Government's proposals, along with the series of consultations that have been launched under the strategy, with MPs considering whether the targets are ambitious enough and are supported by suitably strong arrangements across Government departments.

Speed limit management, road design, safety on rural roads and lessons from international and UK practice are also on the docket for consideration by the committee.

Transport Committee chair, Ruth Cadbury, said: ‘Do we have the right level of ambition and the right arrangements in place to realise them? Should more be done to ensure that learner drivers are setting off on the right path, and how do we reduce deaths and serious injuries involving older drivers while still maintaining their independence? 

‘How should evidence on the relationship between speed limits and safety influence new guidance? What scope is there for road design and maintenance to further improve safety? And what can we learn about the effectiveness of various approaches in other countries?

‘These are some of the questions that the Transport Committee's inquiry will touch upon as we consider a range of perspectives. We will then make recommendations to the Government to best ensure that the Road Safety Strategy achieves its aims and works for all road users.'

As a part of this inquiry, the Transport Committee is calling for evidence regarding a range of questions covering the following themes:

  • Ambitions and evidence
  • Supporting the road user
  • Taking advantage of technology, data and innovation for safer vehicles and post-collision care
  • Ensuring infrastructure is safe
  • Robust enforcement to protect all road users

A full list of questions the committee is calling for responses to, as well as information on how to submit your response, can be found here.