Road Safety Statement 2019: A Lifetime of Road Safety
The Department for Transport has published an update to its 2015 Road Safety Statement; with increased penalties for failing to wear a seatbelt being one of seventy-four measures being considered to improve road safety for people at every stage of life, from birth to old age.
Under the new plans, failure to wear a seatbelt could result in penalty points as well as fines, to reduce the number of deaths on UK roads.
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said, “The UK has some of the safest roads in the world, but we are not complacent and continue to look at how we can make them safer.
“Today’s action plan is a key milestone in our road safety work and sets out the important steps we are taking to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on our roads.
"The Department for Transport is also considering the report from the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) on seatbelt use. This report analyses which drivers and passengers are least likely to wear seatbelts, what prompts their behaviour and which interventions would be best to reduce the number of casualties.”
The action plan builds on a number of projects in the Road Safety Statement, published in 2015, which saw increased enforcement for drug driving, and doubling penalties for using a handheld mobile phone at the wheel. The Statement, which can be read here, brings a particular focus on the needs of four vulnerable road user groups:
- young road users
- rural road user
- motorcyclists
- older road users