Campaigners welcome work-related road safety charter in strategy to reduce road deaths

The charter will promote good practice, and accountability of organisations and their workers. Beginning with a two-year pilot, it aims to establish a national standard for any employer requiring staff to drive or ride for work. It is designed to be inclusive, covering a wide range of vehicle types including HGVs, vans, cars, motorcycles, and even e-cycles.

Mark Cartwright, who heads up National Highways’ commercial vehicle incident prevention team, said that having the charter in the strategy was “good news.” 

“We welcome it,” he said, speaking on a webinar hosted by road safety advice sharing platform #Project EDWARD (every day without a road death), after the launch on 9 January.

“We’re already aware that it’s starting to increase awareness across industry of their obligations and the risk that is attached to at work driving. It starts the conversation. It also supports individuals in organisations who are already fighting the fight and taking it to board level,” he said.

The road safety charter, which begins with a two-year pilot, will establish a national standard for any employer requiring staff to drive or ride for work. Photograph: iStock

Simon Turner, engagement manager at Driving for Better Business (DfBB), a National Highways initiative promoting road safety for work-related driving (on which the charter will be based), also speaking on the webinar, added: “I think we will very quickly see large companies demanding this from their supply chains. But the public sector is also going to have to lead in this respect as well with their own supply chains.”

The ten-year, 22-page strategy, is the first road safety strategy from a UK government in over a decade. Key among its plans include a focus on young drivers, tackling drink driving and mandatory eye tests for older drivers.

In Great Britain, drivers aged 17–24 represent only 6 per cent of licence holders, yet they were involved in nearly a quarter (24 per cent) of fatal and serious collisions in 2024.

Changes could see the minimum learning period for new drivers increase to up to six months. This would give learners more time to develop their skills, says the document, and gain experience in varied conditions, such as driving at night, in adverse weather, and in heavy traffic.

With 1 in 6 road fatalities involving drink driving, another consultation will explore how preventative technology, such as alcohol interlock devices, could tackle the issue. 

Jamie Hassall, executive director at PACTS (the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety) commenting on the target to reduce deaths and injury, said he predicted a “slow start” given the strategy that we have: “It’s been [discussed] that actually we are consulting on lots of stuff rather than just saying, ‘this is what we are going to do at kick off’. I don’t think we are going to see a major downward trend in the first year [in fatalities and injuries] but we have some of the building blocks in there [for progress over the following] nine years.”

British Safety Council’s Chairman, Peter McGettrick, said: "British Safety Council welcomes the Government's announcement of a new road safety strategy, which is long overdue given the scale and nature of the problem and the evolving landscape in which they are found.”

"In particular, we welcome the launch of a pilot 'National Work-Related Road Safety Charter' focused on the estimated 1 in 3 road traffic fatalities. which involve someone driving or riding for work."

Commenting on the strategy overall, Edmund King OBE, AA president, said: “This is a positively radical reframing of road safety, which is long overdue. We commend the government for its wide ranging and ambitious strategy and ambitious targets, which we hope will save the lives of thousands of people.”

Road Safety Strategy is published here

Watch the webinar hosted by Project EDWARD here