Call on your MP to stand up for road justice
But today sees the start of our new, short and sharp campaign to persuade as many MPs as possible to go along to a parliamentary debate on what we really want – a much wider review of road traffic law.
You can help by sending them a pre-prepared letter.
Why a wider review?
As 13,600 plus people have already told their MPs via our online action (closed 5 November), a review confined to cycling alone won’t make the revolutionary changes to road conditions that everyone needs.
What we want to see instead is the Government looking at how the law deals with and defines irresponsible, careless and dangerous behaviour by all road users.
And it’s not even as if this hasn’t occurred to the Government itself in the past: it promised a full review of road traffic offences back in 2014. But, rather than that, it’s chosen to focus mostly on cycling offences.
This is hard to accept, and not just from a cycling perspective. Bad driving is a major threat to pedestrians: we estimate that around 1,800 have died on British roads while we've been waiting for a wider review, over 99% in collisions involving a motor vehicle.
Fulfilling its 2014 promise is the best way for the Government to scrutinise why our current road traffic laws are failing to deliver consistent, just or safe outcomes, e.g.:
- Why over 10,000 people still appear to be driving despite having 12 or more penalty points on their licence;
- Why there’s been a 57% drop in driving disqualifications over the last ten years; and,
- Why, crucially, so many people, including the victims of road traffic collisions, keep saying that the legal definitions of ‘careless’ and ‘dangerous’ driving aren’t fit for purpose.
The debate
The good news is that the closure of the Government's consultation on cycling offences doesn’t mean that our calls for a wider review will be off the Parliamentary radar until the Department for Transport publishes its response (which could take months).
Instead, they’ll be resurging in Westminster Hall on 20 November for a scheduled debate which will give MPs the chance to make the case for road justice.
How you can help
The more MPs we encourage to go along to the debate, the better, so we’ve put together another emailable letter to help you get the message to them, whether you’ve been in contact with them about the review so far or not.
Our thanks if you’ve already rallied round our campaign, and if you’re now about to help us, Brake and RoadPeace stir Parliament into genuine, radical road justice action with our follow-up calls to make supportive contributions to the 20 November debate.
For an in-depth explanation of all the points we've made to the Government about a wider review, read Cycling UK's full response to the cycling offences consultation.
