Road Safety Bill [HL]

My Lords, I begin by welcoming the Bill and declaring a major interest in it as the current president of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. In particular, I welcome the fact that my noble friend Lord Davies of Oldham is the Minister with responsibility for the Bill because, as has been said, he is a former president of RoSPA and so knows its concerns and major interest in the Bill as well as I do. That makes my task a great deal easier. RoSPA is an organisation covering safety across a wide area of our lives: in the home; at work; when we venture near the sea or inland rivers; in playgrounds and other leisure activities; and in many other areas besides. But it is safe to say that safety on the road is regarded by many who know of and work with RoSPA as a key part of its existence. Together with other organisations such as the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health and the British Safety Council, RoSPA concentrates on major issues of road safety. One glance at the recent agenda of RoSPA’s national road safety committee shows the importance placed on the issue. The May agenda included items on advanced driver training; a policy paper on helping drivers not to speed; the setting of local speed limits; draft responses to consultation papers on the review of road traffic offences involving bad driving; and development training for qualified motorcyclists—something in which the noble Earl, Lord Peel, may well be interested. Its recent publications include a booklet on rural road safety, two new road safety posters—““Drivers Beware””, which covers the law banning the use of hand-held mobile phones; and ““The Morning After””, which illustrates the length of time for which alcohol can stay in the body—and a booklet being devised with, among others, the Highways Agency and Surrey police aimed at 10 to 11 year-olds, exploring the consequences of throwing or dropping objects from bridges on to roads. That gives a flavour of RoSPA’s work and why the   Road Safety Bill, which it has welcomed, is so important to it. The Bill contains a comprehensive package of measures designed to play a major part in achieving reduction targets and raising awareness of the need for everyone to be vigilant to that end. However, all Bills need amendment and I now turn to the main issues raised by the Bill for RoSPA. Some of them have been raised already, but I make no apology for raising them again, because they are vital. They are: speeding, driver rehabilitation courses, drink driving, mobile phones, fatigue and a ban on speed camera detection and jamming devices. The first issue is speeding. According to the Government’s figures, driving too fast for the road conditions or exceeding the speed limit causes or contributes to one-third of all road accidents. There are 72,000 speed-related road accidents a year in Britain, in which 1,100 people are killed and 12,600 seriously injured. Speed is vital here. If a pedestrian is hit by a car at 40 miles per hour, in nine out of 10 cases he or she is likely to be killed. If a pedestrian is hit by a car at 30   miles an hour, the odds are about even that he will die. But if someone is hit by a car at 20 miles per hour, the odds are only one in 11 that he will be killed. The figures speak volumes. The Bill allows the introduction of a graduated system of penalties for drivers caught speeding. Instead of the present system, where drivers receive three points on their licence, they would receive between two and six   points. Secondary legislation will determine the structure to decide the level of points and fine to be applied. However, the consultation already completed and published in September 2004 proposed that the lower penalty of two points would apply at speeds up to 39   mph in a 30 mph zone. RoSPA feels very strongly that that proposal is at odds with all the work that has been carried out by the Department for Transport, local authorities and organisations such as RoSPA. Drivers need a clear message that exceeding the speed limit can have severe consequences for vulnerable road users such as children and the elderly, both as pedestrians and as cyclists. A great deal of work has been carried out to convince drivers that speeding can kill and cause severe injuries. Reducing the penalty from three to two points for driving at 39 mph in a 30 mph zone will reinforce the view of many drivers that such behaviour is acceptable. It is not and that is not the right message for the Government to be giving. I would welcome my noble friend’s comments. I turn to the ban on speed camera detection and jamming devices. RoSPA supports the measures in the Bill, which refers to equipment that can be used to detect or interfere with the operation of equipment used to assess the speed of motor vehicles. Such devices allow drivers to slow down for cameras which are active, or in the case of jamming devices simply ignore the presence of cameras. Cameras are situated on roads where there is an accident history and they highlight to drivers that however safe a piece of road looks, it is not. People have been hurt or killed there, and the road should be driven with caution. Drivers who use such devices choose to break the law and put the lives of other road users at risk. Such behaviour is extremely antisocial and should be seen as such. My noble friend Lord Faulkner of Worcester has already spoken adequately and eloquently on mobile phones and I support all that he said. Therefore I turn to fatigue. It is well known that driver fatigue is a problem resulting in many thousands of road accidents each year. The Road Safety Bill proposes the introduction of trunk road rest areas, similar to French aires, which provide an alternative to motorway service areas. Research suggests that up to 20 per cent of accidents on monotonous roads in Great Britain are fatigue related. Research in other countries also indicates that fatigue is a serious problem. Young male drivers, truck drivers, company car drivers and shift workers are the most at risk of falling asleep while driving. However, any driver travelling too-long distances or when they are tired is at risk of a sleep-related accident. The early hours of the morning and the middle of the afternoon are the peak times for fatigue accidents; and long journeys on monotonous roads, particularly motorways, are the most likely to result in a driver falling asleep. RoSPA therefore particularly welcomes the proposals in the Bill for more rest areas on trunk roads. I turn to driver rehabilitation courses, which have been discussed: drink-drive courses, which allow drivers prosecuted for drink driving to reduce the length of their ban by successfully completing a drink-drive course as stipulated by the courts, have proved successful. The Road Safety Bill allows the extension of the scheme, a step welcomed by RoSPA. However, we are disappointed that there is no extension to include drivers who have completed a driver improvement scheme course or a speed awareness course as an alternative to prosecution. RoSPA believes that such schemes should also be taken into account. I ask my noble friend to consider that point. RoSPA would like to see several other related issues included in the legislation, particularly covering a lower drink-drive limit and enforcement of the drink-driving laws, both of which have already been mentioned. They will be returned to as the Bill progresses through the House. The British Red Cross and the St John Ambulance have obviously been busy because I too have been asked to raise the role that first aid can play when road accidents occur. As the noble Lord, Lord Hanningfield, told the House, 57 per cent of deaths caused by road accidents happen in the first few minutes after a crash; 85   per cent of those could be prevented if first aid were administered at the crash scene. The Road Safety Bill is an excellent vehicle to carry a   clause for a practical first aid assessment to be introduced into the driving test for drivers of motorcycles, cars, lorries and buses. I would welcome the Minister’s views. Finally I declare a particular interest in the Bill as my father was killed in a car crash outside our home in Market Rasen, a very rural area. I know at first hand how road accidents are life-changing for families and friends of victims, and road safety is very close to my heart.