Road Safety is an issue that effects every community in East Durham. Too often when concerns are raised, Durham County Council is bound by the Road Safety Strategy.

Road Safety Strategy summary (PDF, 128.0kb)

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Road Safety Strategy (PDF, 228.5kb)

The proposal to base interventions and programmes on casualty data leaves many rural areas and villages without access to resources to tackle road safety issues. When I make representations in relation to road safety and speeding, the response from Durham County Council references the Road Safety Strategy and its focus on casualty data, as a means of explaining why action cannot be taken about road safety concerns in East Durham.

Casualty data is important for weighting road safety resources; however, every community should have access to funding that can be used to address road safety issues.

At the moment, the current Road Safety Strategy is only reactive. I believe there should be two elements of the Road Safety Strategy, 1) preventative and 2) reactive.

In my consultation response, I have proposed that Durham County Council allocates a basic road safety budget to every district area in County Durham. This funding can be used to address the community’s road safety issues and would be the preventative element of the funding. The second element should be reactive based on the casualty data.

https://www.durham.gov.uk/article/22773/Consultation-on-road-safety-in-the-county

The deadline for comments is 10.00pm on Sunday 29 March 2020. While the above is my view, I hope as many people across County Durham, but especially in the Easington constituency, contribute to the consultation to ensure the future Road Safety Strategy works to improve the quality of life for our communities.

Road Safety Consultation Form: https://wh1.snapsurveys.com/s.asp?k=158221038952