An Update

This week I spoke to the Road Safety Officer at Suffolk County Council where they are on 90 days notice with no ongoing consultation to offer any hope. My sympathy goes out to the council officers and Lollipop People and I sincerely hope that 3 months down the line I will not be reading about the first young child injured or killed as a result of these cuts but I fear that I will.

I have written to Mr Pickles this Week because as Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government surely he has an interest in watching out for those communities that will be devestated by children being killed as a result of the Local Government actions. I have also written to Ms Eagle the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport to see if there will be a bit more support on that side of the House.

This is a quote from the PACT report that was mentioned a couple of weeks ago...

‘There was a strong feeling expressed by many participants in the PACTS

research that central government’s role should be to lead. Central

government has a privileged panorama view, and it needs to use this

position to co-ordinate and advise. Power can be decentralised, but

overall responsibility cannot be abdicated.’

I wholeheartedly agree with that last sentence. I just wish I could find someone who wanted to take overall responsibility before the children start being hurt.

An interesting development elsewhere is road safety - In Oxfordshire speed cameras that were switched off to save money last year are being switched back on because more people are having serious accidents and dying! Let's hope we don't reach the serious injuries and death stage in our campaign.

The Parliamentary Advisory Council For Transport Safety (PACT)

A report has just been published by PACT. The report called 'Tackling the Deficit' reports on the effects on national road safety in light of the cuts to spending. This is a summary of the report.

Budget cuts threaten to reverse road casualty reduction
Britain should be braced for a possible increase in the number of road deaths because of cuts to the road safety budget and traffic growth caused by economic recovery.
Nine out of ten road safety professionals think reduced spending is going to harm road safety projects and over half believe a loss of expertise will mean there will be no further falls in the number of casualties.
When asked for their more detailed opinion a number of respondents wrote that they feared the amount of those killed and injured could actually rise.
The report concludes it is vital that government sets out a firm strategy for road safety over the next decade in its forthcoming Strategic Road Safety Framework. The previous ten-year plan came to an end in March 2010. A strong commitment from central government to preventing death and injury on the roads will encourage councils to spend a fair share of their reduced budgets on cutting casualties rather than diverting it to other services which they believe better reflects the view in Whitehall.

 Follow this link to read the full report.

I am only a concerned mother but I think this advice is saying don't cut the lollipop people just to save money!