Member News
By Sir Alan Beith MP - 18th May 2011
Sir Alan Beith MP urges the government to send out a clear message that safety on our roads is "a top priority, not an optional extra".
The Road Safety Bill, which I am presenting to the House of Commons today, has come about as part of the See Me, Save Me campaign to improve visibility from HGVs. I want to see better protection for pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable road users, along with better support for HGV drivers who face being involved in fatal accidents because of blind spots on their vehicles. A family in my constituency approached me for help after the death of their much loved daughter and sister, Eilidh Cairns, who was killed when a lorry collided with her as she cycled to work in London.
This Bill proposes powers for the secretary of state to bring in measures to require blindspot eliminating equipment as standard on new HGVs and to encourage retrofitting on HGVs already operating on the our roads. This can includes vehicle reversing camera/monitor systems, reversing alarms, movement sensors, ultrasonic proximity sensors, thermal imaging cameras and digital recorders – all of which can help to reduce the risk of collision.
I am hopeful that this proposal will be brought in across Europe, following the support of Written Declaration 81 by over 400 MEPs and the efforts of my colleague Fiona Hall MEP. But I want the government to send out a clear message that safety on our roads is a top priority, not an optional extra.
The introduction of safety measures has, over the years, usually been met with opposition based on cost. In this case, the cost of equipment has been estimated at around £750 when installed on a new HGV – vehicles which have a starting price of around £85,000. Retrofitting for vehicles already in service may cost slightly more. But the cost to business of being involved in a fatal collision is huge – loss of driver time, loss of vehicle time, higher insurance premiums are just some of the consequences.
Estimated figures from the Department for Transport put the value of a fatal road crash at around £1.79m. I would not want to quantify the social and emotional cost on families and communities of a fatal road collision. And I would like to see the government doing all it can to encourage the use of this equipment and the prevention of such needless deaths.
Sir Alan Beith MP has been Lib Dem MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed, North East since 1973.
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd