Thousands 'owe their lives to road safety rules'

Date: 13/6/2011

Concerns have been raised over government plans to cut some motoring regulations, particularly those designed to improve road safety.

The coalition recently launched its Red Tape Challenge website and one topic the public was urged to comment on was the rules relating to driving.

Once the consultation is over, ministers will be charged with deliberating on which regulations should stay and which are to be cut.

However, charity Brake has urged caution to this, noting that many of the points up for debate have been designed to help keep people safe and have already saved thousands of lives.

It notes that in the past decade, fatalities and serious injuries resulting from road accidents have fallen by 44 per cent - a trend that could continue.

But in order to achieve this it claims that rules need to be tightened, rather than cut.

Julie Townsend, Campaigns Director for Brake, says: "We should be focusing our energies on how we can best develop road safety regulation to stop the daily carnage, which very commonly affects the young and which is a very significant social and economic burden."

Posted by Sarah Bailey