Selaine Saxby, MP for North Devon, and Co-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Cycling and Walking (APPGCW) secured a Westminster Hall debate on ‘Victims of road traffic offences and the criminal justice system’.
Selaine Saxby opened the debate and highlighted some of the key recommendations from the report, including compulsory re testing, ensuring that exceptional hardship truly is exceptional, thorough investigation of major collisions, and more.
This follows on from a report launched in September by the APPGCW, addressing the issue of road justice. In 2017 the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group conducted a significant inquiry looking at cycling and the justice system. With active travel more important than ever on the policy agenda, they felt it prudent to revisit that inquiry and provided this updated report, which was supported by British Cycling and Leigh Day.
The debate was an important opportunity for MPs to raise this issue, and pay tribute to the families of those who have tragically lost their lives due to road traffic offences. The APPGCW will continue to campaign on this issue in Parliament, and work with key stakeholders such as RoadPeace to raise awareness more widely.
Selaine Saxby, MP for North Devon said:
“Today was an important opportunity for Members across the House to raise the issue of road traffic offences and the justice system. The stories we heard are a stark reminder of the avoidable tragedies that occur every single day on our roads.
“We need to see progress on some of the key recommendations from our report, to ensure that the severity of the punishment for committing acts of road violence matches the awful outcomes. I will continue to work with colleagues on a cross-party basis and look forward to following up with the Ministry of Justice, Department for Transport and the Home Office.’’
Fabian Hamilton MP, co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Party Group for Cycling and Walking (APPGCW) said:
“I was grateful for this debate today, having the chance to highlight three particularly upsetting cases from my constituency. I can only imagine what those who lose loved ones in such incidents continue to go through.
“It is within our power to reduce the high number of people who are killed or seriously injured on our roads every single day. This is a hugely important issue to me and my colleagues in the APPG for Cycling and Walking, and one that we will continue to push forward on.’’
