More than 33 organisations call for life-saving priorities for next government

With support from more than 33 leading organisations, and growing by the day, the manifesto outlines four strategic priorities aimed at revolutionising road safety and significantly reducing deaths and serious injuries on UK roads.

These are:

1. Developing a National Road Safety Strategy - A Safe System Strategy focused on prevention, protection, and post-collision response, coupled with evidence-based targets and robust safety performance indicators.
2. Establishing a Road Safety Investigation Branch - An independent body modelled after existing transportation safety branches to analyse road incidents and provide actionable insights for preventing future tragedies.
3. Introducing Graduated Driver Licensing - A progressive licensing system to support young drivers by limiting high-risk driving situations, a measure proven to reduce deaths and serious injuries in crashes involving young drivers by up to 40%.
4. Adopting Advanced Vehicle Safety Regulations - Immediate implementation of the world-leading vehicle safety standards, mandating critical technologies such as automated emergency braking and intelligent speed assistance.

The UK has seen a stagnation in road safety improvements since 2010, from being a global leader in road safety, it is now lagging behind other nations. Every day, five people die on UK roads, with more than 30,000 individuals killed or seriously injured annually, amounting to a staggering societal and economic cost of approximately £43.5 billion each year.

Jamie Hassall, Executive Director of PACTS, said: “These four simple measures will be the building blocks to enable the UK to reduce the number of people that are killed and seriously injured on our roads. When we have strong leadership and a strategic approach, the UK has managed to halve the numbers of road deaths in a decade. Since 2010, the focus has been lost and daily road deaths have remained at five a day. Investing in road safety is not just a moral duty, it’s good for people’s health and wellbeing, the environment, business and the country.

“These are simple, quick wins that are unanimously agreed across the UK’s leading road safety authorities to be top priorities, with the potential to save hundreds of lives and prevent thousands of life-altering injuries over the next few years and put the UK on track to be a world leader again.”

PACTS urges the incoming government to prioritise these strategies within the first 100 days of office to ensure the UK meets international road safety targets and sets a global standard in protecting its citizens.

For more information, please contact the Brake news team at news@brake.org.uk, or Jamie Hassall, PACTS Executive Director, at (+44) 77888 17072, jamie.hassall@pacts.org.uk.

For media inquiries please contact Rebecca Hadley at becky.hadley@hadstrong.com. Digital assets and detailed research data are available upon request, please contact Kumar Niketan, PACTS Advocacy Officer, at kumar.niketan@pacts.org.uk.

For specific information and technical details on the four policy priorities outlined above, please contact the following experts:

National Road Safety Strategy – Jamie Hassall, PACTS Executive Director at jamie.hassall@pacts.org.uk

Road Safety Investigation Branch – Steve Gooding, Director RAC foundation at Steve.Gooding@RACFoundation.org

Graduated Driver Licensing – Ian Greenwood, PACTS Trustee at ian1greenwood@btinternet.com or news@brake.org.uk

Vehicle Safety Regulations – Richard Cuerden, Director TRL Academy at rcuerden@trl.co.uk