Road safety
Issue one of three. UK Parliament responsibility.
Heidi Alexander, Secretary of State for Transport · day 561 in post
Last substantive ministerial announcement: No record
Mentions in Hansard last 30 days: 14 (3 front-bench)
Departmental press releases in last 90 days: 4
Active primary legislation: 0
Issue one — the figure
road deaths in 2026 so far. On present trajectory, ~50,300 casualties of all severities by year end.
£25bn economic cost so far in 2026 · year-end projection £55bn. Includes lost output, casualty value, medical, police, property damage. DfT RAS4001 (gov.uk) →
live · DfT STATS19 final 2024 · updated just now
The gap, in plain language
Norway's road death rate is 1.6 per 100,000. The UK's is 2.4. If we matched Norway, an estimated ~540 of these deaths would not happen each year.
How the UK compares
Road deaths, per 100,000 inhabitants
Lower is better. Source: ITF/OECD Road Safety Annual Report 2025 (data year 2024).
Source: ITF — Road Safety Annual Report 2025 →
All values are 2024. EU/EFTA figures cross-checked against the European Commission, DG Mobility & Transport, October 2025 Road Safety Statistics release (per million × 10 = per 100k). UK figure is DfT RRCGB 2024 final (1,602 deaths / ~67.6 M population = 2.37, rounded). United States is included as the upper-bound outlier, not a peer target.
↓ hover for methodology
What has been solved elsewhere
Norway, 2001 — Vision Zero
case studyNorway adopted Vision Zero in 2001 — a binding national strategy combining speed limits, infrastructure investment, and enforcement. Road deaths fell from ~340 in 2000 to ~110 by 2024, a reduction of ~67%. Over the same period the UK reduced its rate by ~22%.
↓ hover for the full case
Labour's prior statements
Promised, July 2024
“Labour will maintain and renew our road network, to ensure it serves drivers, cyclists and other road users, remains safe, and tackles congestion.”
— Labour Manifesto 2024, Get Britain moving
In context: the 2024 manifesto pledges to fix one million potholes a year, but contains no statutory road safety target, no commitment to a comprehensive strategy, and no equivalent to the Vision Zero pledge in Labour's 2019 manifesto.
Delivered, day 708
“None of record. No strategy published, scoped, or budgeted.”
— Hansard, gov.uk, DfT publications
Tribune searches across DfT, Hansard written and oral answers, and gov.uk publications return 3 ministerial mentions of “road safety strategy”, none committing to publication. No consultation has opened.
↓ hover either card for context & sources
The standing record for this issue
Days in office
708
since 5 July 2024.
Days since substantive action
No record
No comprehensive strategy published, scoped, or budgeted.
Promise-to-delivery gap
8.4/10
scope, specificity, timeline, accountability, outcome.
What the leaders do that we do not
Sweden — Vision Zero (Nollvisionen) — Government Bill 1996/97:137, adopted by the Riksdag 1997.
Statutory shift of responsibility for fatal and serious crashes from individual road users to system designers — road authorities, municipalities, vehicle makers. Roads must be engineered so human error does not produce death. Implemented through 2+1 median-cable highways, 30 km/h urban zones, ~1,400 automated speed cameras, and mandatory KSI audits.
Road fatalities fell from 541 in 1997 to 213 in 2024 — a 61% reduction despite traffic growth. Sweden's road-death rate is 2.6 per 100k, the lowest in the EU. The UK adopted Vision Zero in 2019 and dropped it from the 2024 manifesto.
Source: Riksdag Prop. 1996/97:137; ITF/OECD Road Safety Annual Report 2024 →
Norway — Nasjonal tiltaksplan for trafikksikkerhet 2022–2025 (National Action Plan under Vision Zero, adopted by the Storting 2002).
179 binding road-safety measures across 15 priority areas. Mandatory TS-revisjoner (road-safety audits per Statens vegvesen Håndbok V720) on every new design and TS-inspeksjoner on the existing network. Default 30 km/h in residential streets — roughly two-thirds of Oslo's road network. Jointly enforced by Statens vegvesen, the police, Helsedirektoratet, and 8 metropolitan cities.
Road deaths fell from 560 in 1970 to 87 in 2024 — an 84% reduction. 2024 was 18% below 2023. Oslo recorded zero pedestrian and zero cyclist fatalities in 2019. National target: under 50 deaths a year by 2030.
Source: Statens vegvesen; Trygg Trafikk National Plan 2022–2025; ETSC PIN Award 2025 →
Netherlands — Duurzaam Veilig (Sustainable Safety), SWOV/Rijkswaterstaat 1992 onward; Tour de Force national cycling agenda 2015–2027.
Road network classified into three functional categories — through, distributor, access — with matching speed and design so vulnerable users and motor traffic are physically separated. ~€510 million a year of combined Rijk + provinces + municipalities cycling investment, roughly €30 per capita. ~37,000 km of segregated bicycle infrastructure.
Cyclist fatality rate 15.65 per billion km cycled (SWOV 2023) — the lowest in the world per km, despite cyclists making 27% of all trips. Total Dutch road deaths 675 in 2024 (3.8 per 100k, around half the OECD average).
Source: SWOV Fact Sheet 'Cyclists' (updated 2024); KiM Cycling Facts 2018; Tour de Force agenda →
Your move — write to your MP
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Write to your MP.
A letter to your MP on any of the three counts, pre-filled with the evidence above. Anonymous by default — your name is never published.
Letter preview · updates as you choose an issue
Dear your MP, I am writing about the 717 preventable road deaths in Britain so far in 2026 — and the 1,602 that will happen by year end if nothing changes. The UK rate is now 50% above Norway's. Labour's 2024 manifesto promised to keep our roads "safe", but no road safety strategy has been published, scoped, or budgeted in 561 days under Heidi Alexander. Labour also dropped its 2019 Vision Zero commitment from the 2024 manifesto. I am asking you to press the government to publish a comprehensive road safety strategy with statutory targets, matching the standards of Norway and Sweden. Yours sincerely, [your name]