Minister slammed for failure to update crucial road safety guidance

Parliamentary Candidate Lisa Smart has slammed the Tory Roads Minister, Richard Holden MP, for a three year delay in updating crucial guidance on road cameras, after he said the update “has taken longer than hoped”.

The comment, in a response to a letter from the Hazel Grove parliamentary candidate, also failed to give a date when the new guidance would be ready, simply saying “as soon as practicable”.

Lisa Smart said: “Local road safety bodies – in particular Safer Roads Greater Manchester – are simply refusing to update their own standards on when speed cameras can be installed simply because it would conflict with the Government’s guidance, which everyone accepts is massively out of date.

“At the moment, local authorities are forced to wait until people are critically injured or killed on the roads before they can put up safety equipment. When that has happened, it is already too late.”

The response from the Minister also states that local bodies, such as Safer Roads Greater Manchester can institute their own guidance for when to install speed cameras. However, the local bodies are understandably wary of adopting local standards which conflict with the national guidance. 

Lisa continued: “The Department of Transport is trying to shift the blame on to local bodies such as Safer Roads Greater Manchester, and they are in turn putting the blame back on the DfT. 

“What is clear is that if the Department of Transport weren’t three years late in revising this advice, this could all be resolved, and it could be much easier for us to have speed cameras installed where the local community knows they are needed – saving lives before it is too late.