AQW 37584/11-15

Ms Claire Sugden
Independent
East Londonderry

Tabled Date: 16/10/2014
Answered On Date: 21/10/2014
Priority Written: Yes

Question:
To ask the Minister of the Environment, following the recent teenage road fatalities in Coleraine and Belfast, what assurances he can provide that his Department are doing all it can to work with other Departments and outside agencies to reduce the number of road deaths.

Answer:

I am extremely concerned by the number of road deaths this year. My sincere sympathy is with all of the families and communities affected by those tragedies.

As Minister with lead responsibility for road safety, I remain totally committed to the partnership approach that has so greatly reduced road casualties over the last 40 years. The Road Safety Strategy to 2020 sets out four strategic targets and 224 action measures to reduce deaths and serious injuries on our roads. We take a shared approach to implementation, working alongside many parts of government, the Police Service and other bodies. Some 118 of the Strategy action measures have already been completed or embedded in ongoing business, and there have been positive reductions against the Strategy’s four targets.

This progress reflects a great deal of ongoing cooperation between my Department and our road safety partners and stakeholders. I chair a Ministerial Road Safety Group, meeting regularly with the Ministers for Regional Development and Justice and representatives of the emergency services, to explore road safety issues and drive forward improvements. Officials also liaise regularly on both an informal and a more formal basis. This partnership working includes the Road Safety Strategy Delivery Board which reports to me and is responsible for monitoring implementation of the Strategy.

I also convene the Road Safety Forum, where representation is drawn from the relevant government departments, statutory agencies, the emergency services and a range of other road safety stakeholders. All of the Forum members have a clear commitment and resolve to tackle road safety issues; the meetings provide an opportunity to exchange views on the Strategy and the way in which it is being implemented.

I cannot emphasise enough, however, that the vast majority of casualties on our roads are caused by human error. My Department and our road safety partners can educate, engineer and enforce, but ultimately each of us as individuals has to take personal responsibility for our attitudes and behaviours as road users.