Anne-Marie Trevelyan is being urged to take the “strong, immediate action” needed to get the UK back on track as a world leader for road safety.
Ms Trevelyan was handed the role by Liz Truss last week, as part of the prime minister’s first cabinet since taking office.
She joins the DfT at an important time – following a decade in which the number of road deaths has remained close to the 1,700 mark each year. This is with the exception of the last two years which were impacted by Covid-19.
In a statement welcoming Ms Trevelyan’s appointment, IAM RoadSmart CEO Antony Kildare, said following a “decade of stagnation”, expectations were high that “real progress could be made this year”.
However, he warns the absence of “important decisions” by the previous government has created a “vacuum in road safety leadership and strategy”.
Mr Kildare said: “The UK is waiting for new legislation affecting road safety, and we believe that the new secretary of state needs to bring forward these announcements to give clarity on the UK’s road safety future.”
These focus on a number of areas, such as older drivers, driving for work and e-scooters.
On the latter, Mr Kildare said: “While we welcome innovation, transport changes and trends are happening faster than the network is developing to accommodate them.
“Mixing unregulated e-scooters with pedestrians and motorised traffic is potentially deadly and requires urgent legislation to ensure the safety of all road users.”
He is also calling on the new transport minister to focus on self-driving technology and drug driving, as well as creating a new motorcycle strategy.
Mr Kildare added: “Investment in motorcycle safety has not had the same priority as other modes of transport, and although the DfT consultation on motorcycle decarbonisation has yet to close, we are calling for the government to rethink proposals for arbitrary UK-only target dates for phasing out new petrol motorcycle production.
“We have a vision of a society where all road users can safely and sustainably use the public highways’ together resulting in zero deaths, so we welcome the opportunity to meet with the Minister and share our ideas on how the UK can act now to become a world leader once again.”
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