\n<\/p>\n
Older drivers could face mandatory eye tests and the drink-drive limit could be cut as the government tries to reduce the number of road deaths.<\/p>\n
In a major overhaul of the UK\u2019s road safety laws, ministers are also reportedly considering tougher penalties for uninsured drivers and failing to wear a seatbelt.<\/p>\n
The proposals, expected to be published as part of a road safety strategy in the autumn, come amid concern about the number of people being killed or seriously injured on Britain\u2019s roads.<\/p>\n
Last year, 1,633 people were killed and almost 28,000 seriously injured in traffic incidents, and numbers have remained relatively constant after a large fall between 2000 and 2010.<\/p>\n
A Labour source said: \u201cAt the end of the last Labour government, the number of people killed and seriously injured on our roads was at a record low, but numbers have remained stubbornly high under successive Conservative governments.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn no other circumstance would we accept 1,600 people dying, with thousands more seriously injured, costing the NHS more than \u00a32bn a year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the number of people killed in drink-driving incidents has risen over the past decade, reaching a 13-year high in 2022 and prompting concern that existing road safety measures are no longer working.<\/p>\n
Under the plans being considered by the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, and first reported in the Times, the drink-drive limit in England and Wales could be cut from 35 micrograms of alcohol a 100ml of breath to 22 micrograms.<\/p>\n
This figure would be in line with Scotland, which cut its drink-drive limit in 2014, and the rest of Europe, where no other country has a limit as high as that in England and Wales.<\/p>\n
The UK is also one of only three European countries to rely on self-reporting of eyesight problems that affect driving, leading ministers to consider compulsory eye tests every three years for drivers aged over 70 and a driving ban for those who fail.<\/p>\n
Other proposals are reported to include allowing the police to bring prosecutions for drug-driving on the basis of roadside saliva tests rather than blood tests as increasing numbers of drivers are being caught with drugs in their system.<\/p>\n
The Labour source added: \u201cThis Labour government will deliver the first road safety strategy in a decade, imposing tougher penalties on those breaking the law, protecting road users and restoring order to our roads.\u201d<\/p>\n
The strategy is due to be published in the autumn, and all proposals will be subject to consultation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Older drivers could face mandatory eye tests and the drink-drive limit could be cut as the government tries to reduce the number of road deaths. In a major overhaul of the UK\u2019s road safety laws, ministers are also reportedly considering tougher penalties for uninsured drivers and failing to wear a seatbelt. The proposals, expected to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[8758,2930,635,7984,1092,1377,253,3998],"class_list":{"0":"post-15166","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-drivers","9":"tag-eye","10":"tag-mandatory","11":"tag-older","12":"tag-push","13":"tag-road","14":"tag-safety","15":"tag-tests"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}