Since the late 1960s, when almost 8,000 people were killed annually on Britain’s roads, the number of casualties has fallen dramatically. Given that over the same period, the number of cars rose from fewer than 8m to around 33m, there is no question that road safety policies – as well as huge improvements in medicine – have, over the long term, reduced the risk of being killed in a crash. The figure for last year was 1,695, which is 3% lower than in 2019, before the pandemic.
Several recent incidents, however, are a reminder of the dangers. These include the deaths of two eight‑year-old girls, after a Land Rover crashed through a fence at their school in south London, and four deaths, including those of two children, in Birmingham within a month. The driver in the Wimbledon crash was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. The Birmingham deaths led to protests by a campaign group, Better Streets for Birmingham, which wants the council to take stronger action against an “epidemic of bad driving”.
Details heard in court last week of the crash that caused the death of Frankie Jules-Hough and seriously injured her young son and nephew were a shocking illustration of driver recklessness. When Adil Iqbal, who is 22, crashed into her car on the hard shoulder of the M66 in Greater Manchester in May, he was driving at 123mph, holding his phone and filming himself. A judge sentenced him to 12 years in prison. Relatives of Jules-Hough, who was pregnant when she died, said they were haunted by the horror they had witnessed.
For devastated families, sentences given to dangerous drivers have often been felt to add insult to injury. Lawyers for Ms Jules-Hough’s family said her killer’s sentence was too lenient. Had he pleaded not guilty, he could have been given a longer sentence. Last year’s police and crime bill increased the maximum sentence for causing death by dangerous driving to life imprisonment. In France, too, victims’ groups have demanded change and a new offence of “road killing” is to be created.
But road safety charities have an agenda that goes beyond tougher penalties. They have fought for changes to the culture of road use that encourage responsible behaviour and raise public awareness. A new offence of causing injury by careless driving was introduced last year, as a way of ensuring that drivers whose conduct does not meet the higher threshold of dangerous driving can be brought to justice.
Overall, the number of deaths and serious injuries is lower than a decade ago, suggesting that measures including lower speed limits, cameras, and the courses that law-breaking drivers are sent on are effective. None of this should be taken for granted. In the US, pedestrian road deaths last year reached their highest level since 1981. A whole range of choices made by politicians, including how much to invest in public transport and road safety, shape the environment. In the UK, progress on road safety has stalled since 2010, reflecting the low priority placed on it by Conservative governments. Most countries in Europe have done more to reduce road deaths over this period.
The problems with an overly car-dependent culture go beyond the risk of collisions and include harmful local air pollution, and the contribution of vehicle emissions to global heating. The balance must tilt further towards affordable public transport.
