New manifesto focuses on young drivers

It has published its road safety manifestofor the upcoming general election, calling for urgent support from all political parties to promote driver and rider improvement on UK roads.

It is also proposing that road safety to be part of the national curriculum.

IAMchairman Alistair Cheyne said:

“In the last five years, more than five-and-a-half-thousand young people have been killed on our roads or had life-changing injuries. Every one of those crashes was avoidable.

“We need legislation, we need campaigns to nudge people towards better driving behaviour and we need more training interventions – yes from people like us – but also from parents and the community.

“All of society has a duty to safeguard our young people.”

The IAMalso asked the government to play its part by making sure that companies applying for public sector contracts have road-risk policies in place. IAM research shows that only 30% of commercial drivers have ever been offered driver training yet commercial drivers account for a third of all crashes.

The IAM, the UK’s leading road safety charity, said road crashes still cost the UK economy £15 billion every year and “no government can afford to be complacent about road safety, continuing to reduce the numbers killed and injured on our roads will be an even greater challenge in the future”.

The manifestosays government “must start planning now for the future increase in older drivers”.

As there is no road safety case for compulsory medicals, eye tests or arbitrary age limits for older drivers to stop driving, incentives should be available to encourage older drivers to take voluntary driving assessments.

Other proposals in the manifesto, which has been published online, include greater priority for motorcyclists in transport policy, a national road safety forum, targeted retraining for offenders and continuous learning for motorists.