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A
raft of new measures to tackle drink driving, clampdown on the menace of
uninsured and irresponsible driving and improve road safety was unveiled
by Transport Secretary Alistair Darling today as the Government's Road
Safety Bill was published.
Britain
has one of the best road safety records in the world and the Government
is committed to reducing the numbers of people killed and seriously
injured on our roads by 40 per cent by 2010. In 2003 the number of
people killed and seriously injured in accidents fell to 37,215 - which
is 22% below the 1994-98 average. The number of children killed or
seriously injured fell to 4,100 and was 40% below. However, in 2003,
3508 people were killed on the roads and reducing death and injury
remains a priority.
The
new Road Safety Bill builds on progress made to date and continues the
Government's commitment to drive down casualties on the roads.
Measures
outlined in the Bill include:
-
New
police powers to take drink-drive evidence at the roadside and
closing a loophole allowing offenders at highest risk of
re-offending to only drive after medical enquiries.
-
Powers
to allow mandatory re-testing of drivers disqualified [in U.S.
terminology: 'suspended'] for 24 months or more -- toughening up
the penalties for the worst offending drink drivers and other
irresponsible drivers.
-
Provide
powers for a more flexible system of fixed penalties for speeding to
match the punishment to the severity of the offence*.
-
Improving
driver compliance through tougher penalties for using a hand held
mobile phone while driving**,
careless driving and using a vehicle in a dangerous condition.
-
Clamping
down on uninsured drivers by allowing the police to make better use
of motor insurance data to detect illegal drivers -- supporting the
use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition [ANPR] technology and new
powers in the Serious Organised Crime and Police Powers Bill to
seize and dispose of uninsured vehicles.
-
Ensure
that foreign drivers cannot escape punishment in Great Britain
through powers to issue fixed penalties and require deposits.
-
Clarify
the provisions that allow certain vehicles to exceed listed speed
limits in emergency situations and what driver training would be
required.
-
Deal
with poor driving standards by allowing the courts to make increased
use of retraining courses for serious bad drivers and through
improvements to driving instruction and testing procedures.
-
Tackle
fatigue-related accidents by piloting motorway rest areas and
providing for better enforcement of Drivers' Hours rules.
-
Ensure
better security and accuracy of the Driving and Vehicle Licence
records to tackle licence fraud and help prevent "clocking"***
in vehicles as well as making various administrative changes to the
licensing regime.
Alistair
Darling, Transport Secretary said: "The UK has a good road safety
record and the Government remains committed to reducing the numbers of
people killed and seriously injured on our roads. The number of road
casualties is at its lowest for nearly fifty years -- but even so, much
more needs to be done.
"Ten
people die on the roads every day and there are still some problem areas
like drink driving which need to be tackled. The measures in the Road
Safety Bill will improve safety, making penalties tougher but fairer,
cracking down on antisocial driving and further reduce the unnecessary
death and injury on the roads."
The
Bill was read in Parliament for the first time today (30 November, 2004)
and will now be subject to parliamentary scrutiny.
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Full
outline of 'Road Safety Bill' Proposals
Drink
Driving
1. Introduction of evidential roadside breath testing to allow police
to collect evidence for prosecution at the roadside rather than at a
police station.
2. Powers to allow [DSA note:
surely this should read: 'compel', or 'oblige']
offenders disqualified for 24 months or more to
retake the driving test [before
being allowed to resume driving], this would catch most high blood alcohol
content and all repeat drink drive offenders.
3. Closure of a loophole whereby High Risk Offenders have cover to
drive before completing a DVLA medical test. The period for which a
record of an offence under Section 7A of the Road Traffic Act 1988
(failing to allow laboratory analysis of a specimen obtained whilst
medically unable to consent) can be held by DVLA, will be brought into
line with other drink drive offences i.e. from 4 to 11 years.
4. Various administrative changes to improve court arrangements and
flexible payment of fees to improve the take up of the Drink Drive
Rehabilitation Scheme and provide for an experimental alcohol ignition
interlock scheme.
Speeding
5. Introduction of variable fixed penalties for speeding -- changing
the range of penalty points from 3-6 to 2-6*.
6. Banning the carriage or use of safety camera detectors and jammers.
7. Giving the Secretary of State power to grant exemptions from speed
limits and other traffic regulations will be introduced -- for example
organ donor vehicles.
Other Bad Driving
8. Extending the use of retraining courses to offenders convicted of
speeding and careless driving.
9. Increasing the maximum penalties for several safety related
offences:
-
careless
driving (fine £2500 to £5000)
-
using
a vehicle in a dangerous condition (mandatory disqualification for
s second offence)
-
failing
to give identity of driver (3 to 6 points)
-
mobile
phone/proper control (£30 to be made endorseable: 3 points £60)
-
rationalising
fines for children not wearing seatbelts (£500 fine for front and
rear -- currently £200 in rear and £500 in front)
Driver
Training and Testing
10. Amendments to the current "one-size-fits-all" scheme for
car driving instructors with an ability to introduce schemes targeted
to meet the needs of individual sectors e.g. lorries, buses, off-road
and fleet driving.
11. Allowing the public access to information about the performance of
individual instructors, their qualifications and their services.
12. Introduction of more flexible powers to extend the user-pays
principle to all forms of test and assessment e.g. charge test
applicants a fee to rearrange a test appointment.
Fatigue
13.
Legislation to improve the enforcement of EU Drivers Hours rules
(apply to most lorry and some coach drivers limiting total time spent
driving) and to pilot motorway rest areas similar to French "aires"
as an alternative to traditional Service Areas.
Support for Enforcement
There are several areas of the Bill that will contribute to
enforcement of various road traffic laws, some deal with licensing and
insurance, others empower enforcement agencies to deal more flexibly
with individual situations and extend the use of fixed penalties.
14. New police powers to better target uninsured vehicles through the
use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology and data from
insurers.
15. Various changes to licensing arrangements for drivers to allow for
administrative charges to be levied in various circumstances (e.g.
renewal of a photocard licence) and provision for the recall of old
format (i.e. paper) licences.
16. Legislation to enable the international exchange of driver and
vehicle data to combat driving licence and vehicle crime.
17. Legislation to allow mandatory recording of various particulars
(mileage, date of birth etc.) on the vehicle register to improve
accuracy of records and help prevent "clocking" fraud; and
to extend the current registration scheme for number plate suppliers
from England and Wales to the rest of the UK and make improvements to
its enforcement.
18. Introduction of a system of graduated fixed penalties for
roadworthiness offences and to give adequate enforcement powers to
enforcement agents. A deposit scheme and powers to issue fixed
penalties to non-GB licence holders will also be introduced to ensure
that foreign drivers do not evade punishment by leaving the country
before a summons is served.
Wider 'Road Safety' Issues
The Bill also contains various other wider measures that contribute to
the overall programme of improving safety on our roads.
19. Powers will be taken to ensure that innovative road safety
projects can continue to be developed and built upon with grant from
DfT.
20. Powers will be taken to regulate the conversion of vehicles to run
on alternative fuels e.g. LPG, to ensure conversions are carried out
to the required safety and environmental standards.
21. Improvements will be made to the enforcing the transport of
radioactive materials and the regulation of alternative fuel
conversions.
22. A potential loophole in the Private Hire Vehicles (London) Act
1998 will be closed, preventing minicabs in London from evading the
current licensing regime.
Source:
UK DfT Press Release 2004/0153
See
the insipid response to the Road Safety Bill, from the UK Conservative
Party, here.
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Footnotes *
This particular proposal includes the possibility of actually reducing
the number of points and the minimum fine for certain levels of speeding
in 30mph areas, even though it is in such areas that the majority of
pedestrian deaths occur. This has drawn much wrath from road safety
experts and organisations. An
article relating to this specific topic may be accessed here. **
Clearly, this approach of banning only hand-held mobile phones ['cell
phones'] neglects research by the Transport Research Laboratory,
amongst others, which shows that the act of using any
mobile phone -- hand-held or otherwise -- has as much detrimental effect
on a driver as him/her being at the 0.08% BAC alcohol limit. The fact
that the British Government have missed this opportunity to reduce the
dangers from all mobile phones is regrettable. ***
For the sake of clarity to our non-British readers, we would add that
"clocking" is the act of putting a false, low reading on a
used vehicle's odometer so that it sells for a higher price. Eddie
Wren, Executive Director, Drive and Stay Alive, Inc.
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