Oral Answers to Questions

Rehman Chishti Excerpts

Thursday 7th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Goodwill]

Bus users are all too aware of reliability; they use services if they are reliable. It will be interesting to see how the policy in Liverpool, which is getting rid of bus priority schemes and bus lanes, will impact on the reliability of services and how much they are used.

[Rehman Chishti (Gillingham and Rainham) (Con)]

8. What assessment he has made of recent trends in road accident statistics.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Mr Robert Goodwill)]

The Department for Transport’s 2012 statistics show that the number of people killed in accidents reported to the police has decreased by 7.7%, from 1,901 in 2011 to 1,754 in 2012, the lowest figure on record, and today’s figures show further progress.

[Rehman Chishti]

I am grateful to the Minister for that answer. He will be aware that 16% of all road deaths in Britain are caused by drink-driving, and that is after a 17% increase between 2011 and 2012. What are the Government doing to improve road safety by dealing with repeat drink-drivers? He will know that that is the subject of my ten-minute rule Bill, which is listed for a Second Reading on 22 November.

[Mr Goodwill]

We have introduced measures to ensure that anyone disqualified for drink-driving twice in 10 years will be classed as a high-risk offender. High-risk offenders cannot get their licence back until doctors are satisfied that they are medically fit to drive again. The figures that my hon. Friend mentions are of concern, but they are against a trend of ever-reducing levels of fatality on our roads involving drink-driving.