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The Transport Secretary has published a wide-ranging road safety strategy that puts partnership and data at the heart of policy that seeks to achieve a 65% reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured on roads in Great Britain by 2035.
The government is working closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) to highlight the importance of regular police roadside eyesight tests for all drivers. This is intended to ensure that those drivers who fail to meet the minimum eyesight standards required for driving will have their driving licence revoked by DVLA.
Over 1600 people died on Great Britain’s roads in 2024 with the estimated cost to policing of collisions is £264m and an astonishing £3.1bn cost of providing healthcare and ambulance response.
The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) welcomed the strategy. Road safety lead, CFO Dan Quin said: “the NFCC and organisations across the road safety sector have long warned that progress on road safety has dragged across the last decade and we are encouraged to see the Government recognising this and taking meaningful action.”
Quin said he was pleased to see the introduction of the Road Safety Investigation Branch (RSIB), noting that its introduction would: “bolster prevention strategies.” He also highlighted the adoption of the Safe System approach, adding: “this is essential for a road network designed so that inevitable human mistakes do not result in death or serious injury. Embedding these principles is critical to a truly comprehensive and sustainable road safety framework.”
The RSIB will take a strategic, thematic approach, focusing on patterns of collisions, injury trends, and systemic safety issues. It will adopt a test-and-learn approach, using real-world evidence to inform targeted safety interventions, data-driven policies, and proactive prevention and enforcement strategies.
Linking road safety and health data will be strengthened under this strategy with the Department for Transport working closely with NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). They have committed to making the secure linkage of police-recorded collision data and healthcare data “a shared policy priority, to deepen understanding of the root causes and impact of road traffic collisions.”
A new Roads Policing Innovation Programme will be introduced to continue work between the government and partners including the police, Police and Crime Commissioners, the
DVSA, the Traffic Commissioners and others. “This programme will focus on national coordination, technological innovation, and targeted enforcement to improve road safety
and reduce criminality.”
Police forces have become increasingly concerned about the illegal use of e-scooters and e-bikes – with Dorset Police reporting its highest ever level of seizures in 2025. The Road Safety Strategy notes that legislation has not kept pace leading to concerns about their safety, regulation, and integration with existing infrastructure. Referring to Low-speed Zero Emission Vehicles, the government says it will put in place a “proportionate and agile process” to regulate “and allow the police to tackle irresponsible and anti-social use.”
Police and Crime Commissioners emphasised the safety of young and new drivers. “We believe the government can and must go further to implement comprehensive progressive driver licences for young drivers, including time-limited measures such as nighttime curfews and restrictions on the number of young passengers.” Road safety leads Durham PCC Joy Allen and Warwickshire PCC Philip Seccombe said that this approach, used successfully in other countries, will contribute to the government’s objective of reducing deaths and serious injuries by 65% by 2035.
Read the full Road Safety Strategy as well as the five accompanying consultation papers, including one on the introduction of compulsory eyesight test for the over 70s.
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