(1 day, 17 hours ago)
Commons ChamberRead Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Manuela Perteghella (Stratford-on-Avon) (LD)
I am bringing forward this debate because of the many fatalities on the roads in the west midlands, and the catastrophic consequences of collisions and crashes. In seconds, happy worlds are turned upside down, lives are destroyed and families are left grieving their loved ones. My constituents are dying on the roads as a direct result of successive Governments’ inaction on tackling the scourge of speeding and dangerous driving, and I intend to set out exactly what must change.
Let me begin with an example that has stayed with me. On 19 May, a constituent contacted me to say that drivers on a road near them were regularly travelling at more than double the 30 mph speed limit. They were frightened, and they wanted something done, so I wrote to the Government to raise their concerns. The response I received was that the Department for Transport was not at that time considering any changes to the data used in assessing road safety interventions. On the same day that the response arrived, there was a fatal accident on that road—and that was the third death on south Warwickshire roads in a few days.
The Government must change their approach to road safety and intervene to save lives on our roads. They must also safeguard and consider all road users, and any new measures must protect vulnerable users such as pedestrians, walkers, cyclists and roller skaters, and ensure that funding for active travel infrastructure is available to communities so that people can enjoy safe walking, cycling and horse riding. Why must cycling infrastructure cost millions of pounds? Why is it so difficult to have separate and well-marked cycle and active travel lanes in Britain?
I welcome the Government’s road safety strategy, published in January. It is ambitious in its aim to cut the number of people killed or seriously injured on Britain’s roads by 65% by 2035 and by 70% for children under 16. Yet a strategy without teeth is not a strategy at all. The Government need to commit to radical solutions; tinkering at the edges is no longer sufficient. The scale of death and serious injury on our roads demands bold, evidence-based action—and it demands that now. We need national legislation that is properly enforceable, that sets clear thresholds for interventions on dangerous roads and that does not leave communities at the mercy of local councils that are failing in their duty of care.
Mark Sewards (Leeds South West and Morley) (Lab)
Although the debate is about road safety in the west midlands, many of the lessons that the hon. Lady talks about will apply nationwide, including in Leeds South West and Morley. Does she share my frustration that some councils rely on mean average speed data to determine whether to make adjustments on certain roads? As a maths teacher, I really appreciate the mean, but it hides the outliers. If we have 100 outliers out of 10,000 cars, that still makes for a dangerous road. Does she agree that councils should change their approach?
Manuela Perteghella
I thank the hon. Member for his passionate intervention, and I fully agree with him. I will talk a bit about what is happening in Warwickshire and I hope that Warwickshire colleagues will also intervene and share their experience. I also hope that the Minister will say something about guidance for local authorities, so that they are not just reactive but proactive.
Communities up and down the west midlands want to see proper enforcement and a reduction of speed limits in residential areas, especially where schools are located. My constituency of Stratford-on-Avon is a case in point, where we are left exposed by the Reform-run Warwickshire county council. Parish councils and community watch groups work hard to gather data, but it is incredibly difficult to implement any type of traffic calming measures or speed reduction orders. Often, even if those are agreed, the cost of the proposals falls on parish and town councils. The problem is felt with particular force in rural constituencies like mine.
Rachel Taylor (North Warwickshire and Bedworth) (Lab)
I thank the hon. Member for securing this important debate. As a constituency neighbour in Warwickshire, I share her concerns. I have been out with my local Speedwatch groups in Warton and Water Orton.
My constituents in North Warwickshire and Bedworth are fed up of dangerous roads simply being ignored by the Reform-led county council in Warwickshire. From the Woodford Lane junction, Grendon Road in Polesworth, No Man’s Heath Lane in Austrey, Marston Lane in Bedworth and King’s Lane in Newton Regis to Coventry Road in Fillongley, speeding is out of control and the lack of speed cameras is putting lives at risk. Meanwhile, Reform’s record on Warwickshire county council shows that it is spending less money on our roads. Does the hon. Member agree that communities such as mine in Warwickshire deserve safer streets, investment in road infrastructure and action on potholes from local government, not rhetoric about what information children can read in libraries or what flag can be flown from Shire Hall?
Manuela Perteghella
I absolutely agree. I would like the county council to focus on what really matters to our residents, rather than spending its first six months in power deciding which flag should fly on which flagpole or talking about other culture war policies. I received an email from a visitor to my constituency who had hit a pothole, which thankfully had not resulted in a crash, but his car had been badly damaged. Now he is in conversation with the county council. This is not good for residents, or for our local visitor economy. The council needs to get a grip on the state of the roads, which obviously contributes to these dangers.
In rural constituencies such as mine, speeding through villages is the norm. Speed limits of 30 mph mean very little when there is no enforcement to back them up. Our country lanes carry cars, lorries, farm vehicles and cyclists, and collision blackspots are all too common. Narrow roads prevent us from having things like chicanes or narrowings, because large farm vehicles obviously need to use the road as well. Street lights are also an issue when we have many dark sky villages. Rural communities feel abandoned due to the lack of police officers and, as the hon. Member for North Warwickshire and Bedworth (Rachel Taylor) just mentioned, the lack of power for local councils, as well as the lack of attention from Government.
I will focus on some locations in my constituency, but the list is not exhaustive. Rather, it is illustrative of the road safety issues that we all have in the west midlands. One example that I want to put on record is the junction where the A422 Banbury Road meets the B4455 Fosse Way, just east of the village of Ettington. Every day, drivers, cyclists, bikers and farm workers navigate a junction that should never have been designed the way it was. I have been calling on the Department to step in and engage with Warwickshire county council to ensure that this junction gets the full safety review and redesign that it so urgently needs. People have already paid the price for the failure to act.
There are many other dangerous junctions, including Oakleigh Road and Justins Avenue, off the Birmingham Road in Stratford-upon-Avon, with residents reporting near-misses and, sadly, crashes too. I have had meetings with National Highways about the Billesley junction on the A46, but we are still waiting for improvements to that junction, where several fatalities have already happened.
Lee Pitcher (Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme) (Lab)
Likewise in Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme, we have a clear picture of where our hotspot areas are. The hon. Lady spoke earlier about having teeth and the ability to proactively plan and work with councils and National Highways to ensure that we tackle these problems and prevent accidents from happening before they occur. Does she agree that we need to use our road safety strategy to change the culture from being reactive to being proactive and preventive in order to save lives before people are harmed and hurt?
Manuela Perteghella
Yes, at the heart of this debate is changing the culture from local government to national Government. We need to have education and behavioural change, and I will say a bit about that, but the culture also needs to change. We need to be proactive, and we can be, because only then will we save lives.
Speeding near schools an issue. The children of Mappleborough Green primary school have written to me as they are experiencing fear and anxiety when crossing and walking along a very busy road that still has a 40 mph limit. We have a 40 mph limit outside a primary school. We are not getting any support in keeping those young children safe on their journey to school—and I am not even going to touch on the air pollution that the children are experiencing. What does the Minister say to those children?
Constituents have contacted me about speeding on the A3400 through Wootton Wawen village, which is making it difficult for elderly residents to cross the road to go to the post office or the shops and, again, for children to go to school. As the hon. Member for Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme (Lee Pitcher) mentioned, we need a shift from reactive to proactive enforcement. We need that cultural shift. We cannot keep waiting for collisions to occur and then investigate the wreckage.
Laurence Turner (Birmingham Northfield) (Lab)
I congratulate the hon. Lady on securing this important debate. It is striking how many of the issues she describes ring true for city constituencies as well. In Birmingham, the number of collisions has fallen over the past decade, but the number of people killed or seriously injured on the roads has remained remarkably stable, at around 500 a year. That indicates that if someone is unlucky enough to be in a smash, the risk is actually greater. Many of our roads were not designed for the wider and heavier vehicles that now use them. Does the hon. Lady agree that we need more adaptations for historic roads, and better and more up-to-date guidance on what interventions are effective in this age of wider and heavier vehicles?
Manuela Perteghella
I fully agree with the hon. Member’s points. With the road safety strategy consultation and review, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make changes to the culture and assess the situation. If we want to reduce deaths and serious injuries on our roads, we need to be bold and make sure that local authorities have better, bolder guidance on interventions for urban as well as rural areas.
For example, every time I ask for cameras, I am told that there have to have been five fatalities. There had been one fatality when I started campaigning for road safety in my village. I could not cross my road with my children—holding a little one by the hand and pushing the pram—so I started campaigning on road safety measures in my village. I was told, “You need to wait for five fatalities before automatic number plate recognition cameras are installed.”
John Slinger (Rugby) (Lab)
The hon. Lady is making a compelling speech, much of which resonates with me as the MP for Rugby. I am dealing with constituents and councillors who are concerned about the speed limit on the A426 into Rugby from junction 1 of the M6, which is currently 60 mph. Does the hon. Lady agree that the Government’s new edition of the best practice guidance on setting local speed limits, plans for which were set out in the road safety strategy, cannot come too quickly? We need to ensure that residents and their elected representatives are empowered, but all too often the process seems almost resistant to those voices. As she rightly says, all too often we need the evidence of injury and risk to come first, and that is often too late.
Manuela Perteghella
I fully agree with the hon. Gentleman. With the new national road safety strategy we have a real opportunity to ensure that we reduce serious injuries and deaths on the roads. I hope the Government will take into consideration our views and the responses to the consultation, and will ensure that the guidance is updated so that we are not acting after a fatality, because that is too late. It is too late for the families and for the young drivers who might have crashed—it is lives destroyed. Also, we cannot have a speed reduction policy that is based on how fast the cars are travelling, rather than on the dangers they pose to road users, including children walking to school or elderly residents crossing the road to get to the post office, the shop or their GP.
We must identify the risks before lives are lost and intervene accordingly. That is the change in culture that Members have mentioned, and the change in policy that the Government must now commit to. There must be cultural change at council level, too, as currently there is a reactive culture in which interventions are made only if there is a history of road traffic accidents, and locations with recorded collisions, especially collisions resulting in injury, are prioritised. County highways authorities often use the speed that most drivers do not exceed as data to judge whether a road has a speeding problem, but interventions should not be based on how fast drivers are driving. We need a change to the Department for Transport guidance, which also seems to reinforce reactive behaviour, especially on speed limits. I look forward to hearing about that from the Minister.
A constituent in Bidford-on-Avon—one of my villages—told me recently:
“Current analysis shows that 63% of cars exceed the speed limit through the village.”
I raised this situation with the local police force, which told me that 35 mph is the enforceable limit—but why? The charity Brake says that a pedestrian hit at 30 mph has a one in five chance of being killed, rising to one in three if they are hit at 35 mph. Children can be killed at 30 mph, so why are we waiting to enforce at 35 mph instead of 30 mph?
Lee Pitcher
On schools, it is not just about speeding, is it? One the biggest issues is parking outside schools. We need to find a way to help schools to move parents on, or to have others come in—relevant organisations, the police force or National Highways—to support them. We need to give them the teeth or the accountability to come in and provide support; if not, we will lose more children crossing roads between parked cars.
Manuela Perteghella
I agree with the hon. Gentleman. I was a school governor for many years, so I know how teachers write letters to parents to ask them to park considerately, and also not to idle their engines, because obviously that causes lots of pollution, and health issues such as asthma. The hon. Gentleman is right that we need to ensure that schools are given the tools to change behaviour. We can send as many letters as we want, but I often find that the thing that makes parents and carers change their behaviour is the children themselves—children telling their parents that it is walk to school week and that they want to walk rather than drive. The role of education is really important, and even firefighters, policemen or local councillors can go and speak to children at school to change behaviour from the ground up.
Wales and other nations are implementing 20 mph zones. I want to see whether we can learn any lessons from them, but because of all the data that shows how dangerous 30 mph is, I think 20 mph zones should be standard on new residential developments. In one of the new developments in an urban area of my constituency, the new road appears to link houses with a local school, but the speed limit will be set at 50 mph. Again, that was raised with Warwickshire county council, but it just said that it follows national guidelines, despite the council having a suite of active travel policies and the fact that the road goes through a residential estate. It is really difficult to make the council review that limit. We now have so many new houses being built, and this road cannot a have 50 mph limit. We really must ask local highway authorities to do better.
Let me turn to one of the groups we know are most at risk. Young drivers between the ages of 17 and 24 account for just 6% of new driving licences, but they are involved in 24% of fatal and serious collisions. Those are young people from constituencies like mine and across the country who never make it home.
The evidence for what works is not hard to find. Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and every single state in the United States already operate some form of graduated licensing for new drivers. Those schemes are sensible, proportionate and evidence-based, and they include measures such as restrictions on night-time driving, limits on carrying passengers—especially young passengers—in the early months of a licence, and probationary periods marked by visible plates. They save lives. We should be doing the same, and I urge the Government to look at graduated licences and to bring forward proposals without further delay. The RAC believes that a form of graduated licensing for young drivers could help to save lives on our roads. I want to thank my constituents Robbin and Patsy, who have been formidable campaigners for graduated licences and road safety for young people since losing their child.
Road safety is not just about physical measures; it is also about changing driver behaviour. Nationally, I want to highlight the work of THINK!, which has launched important and lifesaving campaigns, from encouraging the use of seatbelts to tackling excessive speed, drink and drugs and, recently, the use of mobile phones at the wheel. Such campaigns must continue to be properly resourced and funded and reach every driver.
The Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership holds an annual memorial service to remember the lives lost and injured on Warwickshire’s roads, which I attended last year. It was a sombre event, because we all knew that all these deaths and injuries could have been prevented. The families of those killed on the roads of the west midlands are not asking for the status quo; they are asking for change that will save lives. I am asking the Government today to deliver it.
Paulette Hamilton (Birmingham Erdington) (Lab)
I rise to speak about Chester Road in Erdington, which has become a real concern for many residents because of the repeated serious collisions and fatalities over recent years, the most recent being on 24 May 2026. Residents tell me that although speed restrictions and traffic calming measures have been introduced, too many drivers are simply ignoring them. There is a growing frustration locally that the rules exist on paper, but enforcement and compliance are inconsistent. Many of my constituents in Erdington feel there is a lack of clarity and consistency around speeding policy, particularly around how 20 mph and 30 mph zones are enforced in practice.
Communities need confidence that road safety measures will change drivers’ behaviour, not just introduce more signage. Residents want to see clearer national guidance, stronger enforcement and better co-ordination between councils, police and transport authorities. That is particularly important on major roads such as Chester Road, where speeding has devastating consequences for pedestrians, cyclists and other motorists.
Lee Pitcher
We have a lot of farming communities and agriculture in the Isle of Axholme, and we have a big issue with horses often being killed on the roads. The space between a car moving at high speed down a country road and a horse is really important. Does my hon. Friend agree with me that we need to take that issue into account, particularly when we talk about the importance of those animals to small and medium-sized businesses in my area?
Paulette Hamilton
My hon. Friend makes a valuable point. Sometimes we do not look at the issues faced by people who live in the countryside because we are looking at the issues that we face on the busy roads in some of our areas. He is right that it is vital that we do not look only at what is happening in cities and we look at rural areas as well. God help me, I would not like to see an animal killed because of something that I or someone else had done on the streets, so I agree with him.
Road safety is not just a transport issue—it is a public safety and public health issue affecting families across Erdington and around the country. Local people should not feel frightened crossing the road, waiting at a bus stop or walking near a busy junction because speeding has become normalised. We cannot accept preventable deaths and serious injuries as simply the cost of using our roads. Will the Minister tell the House how residents can be assured that communities can have confidence that road safety measures will be enforceable on our streets?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Simon Lightwood)
I congratulate the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Manuela Perteghella) on securing this important debate and I thank all hon. Members for their important contributions. I thank her for the clear and thoughtful way in which she articulated the road safety issues affecting her constituents and communities across the west midlands.
Road safety is a priority for this Government. In January we published the first road safety strategy in over a decade. Safer roads support economic growth, enable more sustainable and active travel, reduce pressures on our NHS, and ensure that people can travel safely and with confidence in their daily lives. I am grateful for the constructive tone of the debate, and I welcome the opportunity to respond on behalf of the Government.
As the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon set out so clearly, road safety is not an abstract issue—it is about people, families and communities. Every road death is a tragedy. Even today, around four people lose their lives on our roads every day and many more suffer life-changing injuries. Behind each statistic is a family whose life has been permanently altered. The vast majority of these collisions are avoidable. They are too often linked to behaviours such as speeding, drink and drug-driving, distraction and failure to wear seatbelts.
Alex Ballinger (Halesowen) (Lab)
One of the key issues in my constituency is street racing. All over the Black Country we have young men driving in gangs, causing a menace and many accidents, so I was pleased that the combined authority had set up a High Court injunction to allow the police extra powers to tackle street racing, which caused a reduction in my area. However, I am concerned that both Dudley and Sandwell councils are withdrawing from that injunction, removing the police powers against police advice. Does the Minister have any advice for me or those councils on how they tackle street racing?
Simon Lightwood
I obviously urge all local authorities to do everything possible in their power to improve road safety, and I hope that they will consider very carefully their actions in this area.
While the number of casualties has fallen over the long term, progress has slowed in recent years. For too long, the situation has been accepted as inevitable. To those who shrug their shoulders and say, “Nothing more can be done,” this Government say clearly, “Enough is enough.” That is why our road safety strategy sets out a clear direction for change. It includes ambitious targets to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured by 65%, and of children by 70%, by 2035. It puts road users at the heart of our approach.
We are taking action across the system. We are consulting on a minimum learning period for new drivers, strengthening motorcycle training, improving vehicle safety standards and ensuring tougher approaches to dangerous behaviours, including drink and drug driving. We will also establish a new road safety board to monitor delivery and drive progress, but we must go further, particularly for those who are most at risk.
In 2024, 31% of those killed on our roads were pedestrians or cyclists. Those numbers are simply too high, and we must design a system that better protects those people. That is why we will update the manual for streets to ensure that future road designs support people who walk, wheel and cycle to do so safely and with confidence.
We are also taking action to tackle work-related road risk. We will pilot a new national charter to improve safety for those who drive or ride as part of their job. It is estimated that more than 1,000 pedestrians were hit by working drivers last year. We will work with businesses to reduce work-related road risk and improve safety for all road users. Too many lives are affected by preventable incidents, and we are determined to change that.
A number of Members have raised concerns about speeding. For many communities, this is not just about statistics; it is about near-misses, fear and a sense that nothing happens until a tragedy occurs, and I understand that frustration. People should not have to wait for a serious injury or fatality before action is taken to improve safety. Speed is a key factor in both the likelihood and severity of collisions, and it is right that we continue to focus on it.
Local authorities have the powers to set speed limits, including 20 mph limits where appropriate, and to introduce traffic-calming measures. It is for them to determine what is appropriate in each case based on local knowledge and evidence, but we are supporting that work. We will update guidance on setting speed limits and the use of speed and red light cameras to ensure that authorities are able to take well-informed, proactive decisions.
The hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon represents a largely rural constituency, and she is right to draw attention to the specific risks on rural roads. Those roads often carry higher speeds, have different layouts and can lack the infrastructure found in urban areas. When collisions do occur, they are more likely to be serious. We recognise those challenges.
It is essential that local authorities are able to take targeted action on higher-risk routes and that decisions reflect the needs of rural communities as well as urban ones. That is why we are working to ensure that interventions are better targeted on the risks presented by different road groups, including rural routes, where the consequences of collisions can be the most severe. We are supporting local authorities through updated guidance and evidence to help them to manage those risks more effectively.
Let me turn specifically to the west midlands. I recognise both the challenges and the progress that has been made. The region has a really complex road network, with busy urban centres, strategic routes and rural roads serving dispersed communities. That brings a range of risks, but this is a region showing really strong leadership. I welcome the commitment of the West Midlands combined authority to Vision Zero and the work being taken forward through its road safety action plan.
My colleague the Minister for Local Transport has visited the west midlands and was able to meet with the road safety commissioner. The appointment of the UK’s first road safety commissioner is a significant step in driving that work forward, alongside increased enforcement activity and the use of technology in high-risk locations. This kind of partnership working between local authorities, police and regional bodies is exactly what we need to see. Our role as a Government is to support that work through funding, guidance and a strong national framework, and we will continue to do that.
Enforcement is a critical part of improving road safety. Police forces, including West Midlands police, are responsible for deploying resources based on local priorities and risks. Their work—targeting dangerous, careless and inconsiderate driving—is essential to deterring unsafe behaviour and keeping communities safe. Technology also has an increasing role to play, whether that is through enforcement tools or vehicle safety systems that help prevent collisions or reduce their severity. We will continue to support both effective enforcement and the responsible use of new technologies.
Tragically, young drivers remain over-represented in road casualty statistics. We must strike the right balance between keeping young people safe and supporting their ability to access work, education and opportunities. Graduated driving licences and their implementation vary around the world—there is not one standard type. We are consulting on introducing a minimum learning period for England, Scotland and Wales, to make sure learner drivers get the necessary time and training to prepare themselves for a lifetime of driving. We already have a two-year probationary period for all novice drivers once they have passed their test, and we are now seeking views on a lower blood alcohol limit for novice drivers in England and Wales.
Let me turn now to some of the other points raised. The hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon raised the issue of data at the outset of her speech. She was referring to STATS19 having near-miss data; we have no plans to change that. STATS19 is the form that the police use to record details when they attend collisions that involve a casualty. On the specific issue of schools, road safety around schools, particularly the safety of children travelling to and from school, is a priority for this Government. Of course, protection for children is not limited to the immediate school frontage—national transport policy focuses on improving safety along the whole journey commonly made by children and young people, including school routes.
Rachel Taylor
Does the Minister agree that the leader of Warwickshire county council consulting the public on whether children should walk up to 8 miles to and from school was a bad move?
Simon Lightwood
I will leave it to the local transport authority to make those kinds of calls, but I urge it to make sure that the safety of children is of paramount importance when making those decisions.
The approach we are describing includes the use of 20 mph limits where appropriate, alongside safer crossing facilities, traffic-calming measures, school streets schemes, enforcement and school travel planning. We support delivery of those measures through national funding, which includes £7.3 billion of capital funding for local highways maintenance. The hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon also mentioned her concern about her local authority, saying that five fatalities need to take place before it takes action. I can say categorically that that is not the case—local authorities do not have to wait for any fatalities before taking action to improve their roads.
Improving road safety is not the responsibility of one organisation alone. It requires action from Government, local authorities, enforcement agencies and road users themselves.
Lee Pitcher
I am sorry, Madam Deputy Speaker— I have made lots of interventions today, but this issue is really important to me. On the topic of new developments, Warren Park estate in my area has had new roads for a long time, but some of the markings are not there. The developer and the highways authority need to work together; will the Minister encourage them to do so? There is one specific junction that is particularly dangerous. Will he join me in pushing them to resolve that issue as soon as possible?
Simon Lightwood
I very much hope that those people will have heard my hon. Friend’s message and will take action to ensure that everybody is safe using the roads.
As I was saying, road safety is not the responsibility of one organisation alone; it requires action from Government, from local authorities, from enforcement agencies and from road users themselves. This Government are determined to reduce road deaths and serious injuries on our roads. Through our road safety strategy, through stronger local partnerships and through a renewed focus on the causes of collisions, we are taking a more determined and more proactive approach. I assure the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon that the concerns she has raised today will be carefully considered and that we will continue to work closely with partners across the west midlands to support further progress. I once again thank her for securing this important debate.
Question put and agreed to.