“MY constituents are dying on the roads” said MP Manuela Perteghella during an impassioned speech in Parliament.
The Stratford MP led a road safety debate in response to fatalities on the roads in the West Midlands, and the catastrophic consequences of collisions and crashes.
Dr Perteghella’s debate included cross party MPs who joined her in supporting the call for urgent Government action.
She said: “My constituents are dying on the roads as a direct result of the inaction of successive Governments on tackling the scourge of speeding and dangerous driving.
“On May 19, a constituent contacted me to say that drivers on a road near them were regularly travelling at more than double the 30 mph speed limit. I wrote to the Government to raise their concerns. On the day that the Government response arrived, there was another fatal accident on that road – the third death on south Warwickshire roads in a few days.
“Speed limits of 30 mph mean very little when there is no enforcement to back them up. Our country lanes carry cars, lorries, farm vehicles and cyclists, and collision blackspots are all too common.
“Where the A422 Banbury Road meets the B4455 Fosse Way, just east of the village of Ettington, drivers, cyclists, bikers and farm workers navigate a junction that should never have been designed the way it was.
“There are many other dangerous junctions, including Oakleigh Road and Justins Avenue, off the Birmingham Road in Stratford.
“I have had meetings with National Highways about the Billesley junction on the A46, but we are still waiting for improvements to that junction, where several fatalities have already happened.”
Dr Perteghella continued that current national road safety strategies were reactive rather than proactive and the culture needed to change.
She explained: “The scale of death and serious injury on our roads demands bold, evidence-based action – and it demands that now. We need national legislation that is properly enforceable, that sets clear thresholds for interventions on dangerous roads and that does not leave communities at the mercy of local councils that are failing in their duty of care.”
She added: “Every time I ask for cameras, I am told that there have to have been five fatalities.
“With the new national road safety strategy, we have a real opportunity to ensure that we reduce serious injuries and deaths on the roads. We must identify the risks before lives are lost and intervene accordingly.”
