Breaking down the government’s Road Safety Strategy

The UK government recently released its first Road Safety Strategy in over a decade, setting out its long-term plan to improve safety standards for drivers in England and Wales.

The Strategy includes the following:

• Consultations to lower the drink-drive limit in England and Wales.
  • It is estimated that one in six fatal crashes involve alcohol. In addition to reducing the limit, new proposals include enforcing mandatory alcohol‑interlock, or ‘alcolock’ devices for some offenders.
• Introducing mandatory eye testing for over-70s.
• Toughening rules for learner drivers.
• Clamping down on illegal number plates.
  • One in fifteen vehicles may carry modified or non-compliant plates including ‘ghost’ plates designed to evade ANPR detection. 
• A commitment to cut deaths and serious injuries on Britain’s roads by 65 per cent by 2035. The government aims to achieve this by tackling speeding, drink and drug driving, seat‑belt compliance and mobile phone use.
• Plans to improve training for young drivers.
  • According to the RAC, motorists aged 17–24 make up 6 per cent of licence holders in the UK and yet are involved in nearly a quarter of all serious and fatal collisions.
  • To tackle this, the government will consult on introducing a minimum learning period of three or six months to give learners more time to gain experience in night‑time driving, poor weather and heavy traffic.
• Enforcement targeting uninsured vehicles and those being driven without a valid MOT.

Contract hire and fleet management specialists

We at Marshall Leasing are interested in the latest news about road safety, and we trust you find this information interesting.

If you would like to find out more about how you could benefit from our all-inclusive fleet management offering, please get in touch with our team of experts by emailing info@marshall-leasing.co.uk or calling 01480 414541. We will be delighted to assist.