Transport Insights

Road safety minister Lilian Greenwood appears to want the credit for delivering “the first road safety strategy in a decade”, without actually delivering it – and is causing confusion along the way.

I joked recently that the boast would soon be extended to 11 years as the Department for Transport fails to produce the strategy.

Now Greenwood has resorted to saying “over a decade”, as in this recent Instagram post, where she is pictured with transport secretary Heid Alexander, proclaiming “safer roads ahead”.

How much safer? and how far ahead? remain the questions and a the lack of a timetable led to a bit of backtracking on LinkedIn from Jamie Hassall, executive director at the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS).

After originally commenting “What great news!”, he admitted: “I should have used a ? rather than a ! I thought this might be the release of the strategy.”

Anyone looking at this can be forgiven for thinking that the hype from ministers might signal that the strategy is imminent, and indeed it may be.

If the plan will indeed save lives, the delay is costing them.

Meanwhile, Greenwood has returned to saying “this year” after going back to the “in due course” formulation.

In a response this week to a parliamentary question, she wrote:

Our Road Safety Strategy is under development and will include a broad range of policies. We intend to publish by the end of the year.

If (still) under development is true, it isn’t imminent.

What’s that saying about the road to hell?