PRESS RELEASE

Road safety strategy leaves vulnerable road users exposed

Transport Action Network (TAN)¹ has welcomed today’s publication of the government’s Road Safety Strategy². The strategy, long overdue, contains welcome action and targets to reduce deaths and injuries on our roads. However, TAN is concerned by what is missing in the strategy. It lacks clear leadership on reducing speeds, fails to significantly improve safety for those outside of motor vehicles, or make pavements safe to use all year round.

20mph residential speed limits have been demonstrated in Wales to deliver substantial benefits, and should be the default across the country³. While people walking and cycling will see some safety benefits from the strategy, there are still many areas where action is too slow or non-existent. For example, funding for walking and cycling is still inadequate to deliver the changes needed to create safer streets and is a fraction of what is spent on one large road⁴. Also, there is no mention of pavement parking, a key safety issue for many, including disabled people, where action has been delayed for many years⁵.

Especially pertinent at this time of year, is keeping our roads free of ice and snow. Yet no mention is made of this critical issue for pavements⁶. These are often left untreated due to funding constraints and not being seen as a priority, despite the impact this can have on people’s lives and the NHS. Tackling increasing vehicle size is another area left in the slow lane⁷.

Chris Todd, Director of TAN, said:

“There is much to welcome in this road strategy, but equally worrying are the issues that it fails to tackle. Speed limits are left to others, no action is proposed on pavement parking, while funding to create safer streets is inadequate. In a reflection of the time of year, bloated cars with poor visibility only get a passing mention, while icy pavements don’t even get that.

“Where action is proposed, such as on drink and drug driving, enforcing seatbelt laws and tackling ‘ghost’ number plates and uninsured drivers, this could be meaningless unless the resources to properly police these crimes are increased.

“Overall, we welcome that the government has finally updated its road safety strategy. However, it still feels like people walking, wheeling and cycling are being forgotten, and left exposed to the worst dangers.”

– ENDS –

Notes for editors

1. TAN was set up six years ago by director, Chris Todd, to help communities press for better (more sustainable) transport, such as bus and rail services and active travel. To enable this and better roads maintenance (fewer potholes) we continue to oppose spending on the Lower Thames Crossing ‘smart’ motorway and other road schemes. We also support better integration between transport and planning. ↩︎
2. Road Safety Strategy, DfT (Jan 2026) ↩︎
3. See the latest monitoring report from Wales (July 2025) ↩︎
4. The government pledged £891m in 2027/28 and 2028/29 for the Lower Thames Crossing, a motorway built to ‘smart’ motorway standards, despite the government saying it was not building any more ‘smart’ motorways – page 39 of the Road Safety Strategy. This compares to £626m pledged over 4 years for walking and cycling – page 23 of the Road Safety Strategy ↩︎
5. The consultation on pavement parking, closed on 22 November, 2020. Since then there has been no government response. Any comprehensive road safety strategy needs to address this safety issue, especially for young children, the elderly and disabled people. ↩︎
6. There is just one mention of the value of well maintained pavements on page 11 of the Road Safety Strategy ↩︎
7. Despite the government pledging to drive through amendments on vehicle occupant safety, when it comes to improving safety for those outside of vehicles, all it is pledging to do is “collaborate with stakeholders and vehicle manufacturers to further understand safety concerns regarding increasing vehicle size.” (Page 33, of the Road Safety Strategy) ↩︎