A Letter to the Main Man

Having waited for a month for a reply to an email to David Cameron I conclude that there will not be one. Fair enough I suppose as he must get thousands if not hundreds of thousands of emails. Therefore I have written a proper letter which I shall post tomorrow and if you are reading this and know him please you can point it this out to him in case the letter gets lost in the mail.

Dear Prime Minister,

I am running a campaign that is concentrated in Dorset but extends across the country, seeking to halt the cuts by local authorities to the funding for School Crossing Patrol services. I wrote to you at the start of the campaign and your office referred me to the Department of Transport (letter 27^th Jan).

I have been supported in my campaign by all national road safety organisations, as well as two local Dorset MPs, Annette Brook and Richard Drax, who spoke to Norman Baker on this subject in an adjournment debate in March. However, much as Mr Baker supported the very important and necessary role of these patrols he said that the responsibility for the funding lay with the local authorities and there was nothing he could do. (Transcript attached).

It was with considerable interest that I read about the launch of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety last month.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron has joined F1 stars Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button to launch the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety in the UK. They launched the Decade of Action together with ten schoolchildren in a Downing Street photocall.

Wearing the road safety Tag for the Decade of Action, the Prime Minister said that road deaths now represent a major global concern and combating them must become a development priority:

“Every six seconds, someone is killed or seriously injured on the world's roads. Addressing this must be an urgent priority for the international community. In the United Kingdom, we have managed to make our roads amongst the safest in the world. Yet, despite this road accidents are still the leading cause of death for British teenagers and young adults – with the loss of six or seven people in road crashes every day.

“That's why I'm adding my voice to all those across the world who are coming together in support of the launch of the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety.”

I trust that you stand by your words quoted above and fully support the aims of this world wide campaign.

If so, I am sure that you will recognise that the Government must take back from local authorities the responsibility for maintaining School Crossing Patrols to assure their future funding.

I do not see how you can be part of a global campaign for road safety and sit back and let these cuts take place, putting our children’s lives in danger. I would be most grateful for your thoughts on this subject and your intentions to ensure our roads remain the safest in the world.

Yours sincerely

A Trip To Parliament

Last Thursday it was a  pleasure to meet the Shadow Transport Minister for road safety, Mr Jim Fitzpatrick  and have a meeting with him on the Houses of Parliament Terrace to discuss the Kids Cross Safely Campaign and my Lollipop Campaign. He was very supportive of all that we am trying to achieve and encouraged us to continue with what we are doing and encourage others around the country to fight for their local Lollipop People and safe crossing outside schools. Only by getting the issue into the main stream media will we make those in power look at and address our concerns. Until then David Cameron can just go on ignoring us.