PACTS and the RAC Foundation have jointly published a new report entitled ‘Tackling the Deficit: At what cost to road safety?’, which is timed to coincide with the Coalition Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR).
The report, the first of two that PACTS and the RAC Foundation are publishing, argues that cutting casualties is an example of the Big Society in action and that a policy vacuum has developed in road safety due to cuts in funding and a lack of clarity over the post 2010 strategy and targets.
The report goes on to say that road safety in the UK is at a cross roads, and urgent action is needed to ensure that road deaths and casualties continue to fall beyond 2010.
A key area of concern raised is the Government’s move towards decentralisation, which will reduce the role of central government and increase the power of local government with regard to road safety delivery. The report argues that this could lead to a reduction in the level of ring-fencing applied to funding and spending decisions.
The report concludes that while the Government understandably wishes to use the CSR as a means to reduce the budgetary deficit, this must not be at the expense of safety.
Click here to download a copy of the report.
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