Over the past 30 years we have seen a dramatic reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured on our roads but... over the last 10 years it has flatlined. We cannot seem to reduce it further.
Organised criminals regularly use the roads to transport illegal goods (including people) and travel around our area and across the country causing harm on our communities.
The largest volunteering group we have are those who diligently carry out our community speed watch scheme. Our community cares so much about safety on our roads they are willing to take action to help.
This is why roads policing matters and I have made road safety a priority for the past three years. I have invested over £750,000 into roads policing and the force have created the No Excuses team who proactively tackle the fatal five that are a killer on the roads.
I am the Chairman of the South West Road Safety Peninsula Partnership where elected members from across Plymouth, Torbay, Devon and Cornwall have committed to Vision Zero. This is a serious commitment to have zero road deaths and serious injuries by 2040. We know technology may be the answer but that is someway off yet so we need radical ideas to make the difference we all want to see. Together we have released £5.3million to invest in road safety since we established ourselves.
If you are an employer then you can also help by signing up to Driving for Better Business, Highways England's scheme to keep people who drive for work even safer.
We want safer roads in our communities for everyone who uses them. We can all help by uploading driving offences that we capture on our dash cams via OpSnap. The police will prosecute where the evidence is clear. Check out some of the poor driver behaviour caught on camera and led to prosecution thanks to our cyclists and drivers uploading their footage.
If re-elected I will:
- Continue to lead the Vision Zero Partnership to reduce road deaths and serious injuries by 2040.
- Produce an annual report on the money raised through enforcement and what it is spent on, for full transparency.
- Continue to invest and improve Community Speedwatch to help our residents play their part.
- Create a scheme where those on a community sentences can help fix our pot holes