Matt Rodda MP speaking at the Road Safety debate in parliament
Matt Rodda MP speaking at the Road Safety debate in parliament

Matt Rodda MP, who is also a Shadow Transport Minister, spoke from the frontbench in a debate on Road Safety in the House of Commons.

Leading the debate for the Opposition, Matt challenged the Government over their record on road safety and called for the re-introduction of road safety targets. He also spoke about Labour’s plans to reset the UK’s road safety vision and ambitiously strive for a transport network with zero road deaths.

Matt said, “Although it is proper to say that Britain has one of the strongest road safety records in the world, in recent years our record has stagnated. The number of deaths on the road has remained at about the same level since 2011.”

“In 2017, 1,793 people were killed on our roads, an average of five people every day, and just under 25,000 people were seriously injured. As the road safety charity, Brake, points out, that equates to 73 people a ​day either being killed or seriously injured. I am sure we can all agree that that is completely unacceptable.”

“The Government scrapped road targets that successfully reduced the number of people killed or seriously injured by a third under the last Labour Government. The Opposition believe that targets focus awareness and attention and hold the Government to account.”

“A future Labour Government would introduce a “target zero” approach to deaths on the roads—a new approach to road safety that does not accept that road deaths and injuries are inevitable. Beyond the obvious benefits to families and society, this policy brings significant financial benefits from avoiding NHS bills, care bills, the costs of transport delays, and costs of lost earnings and production.”

Matt’s speech can be found below:

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