This week's MP's column comes from Imran Hussain, Labour MP for Bradford East
IN 2018, the latest year for which Department for Transport figures are available, a total of 975 incidents in which someone was injured took place on roads in the Bradford district, causing 1,295 casualties, of which 15 were sadly fatal.
Whilst many of these incidents will be tragic accidents, a significant number will not.
They will be the fault of the dangerous and reckless driving that like many cities, blights Bradford.
Indeed, it is no secret that because of a small number of dangerous and reckless drivers, many of our roads are a misery at best for law-abiding residents to use, and a life-threatening danger at worst.
Make no mistake, the root cause of many deaths on our roads are the inconsiderate and dangerous drivers who treat public highways as their own personal racetracks with little thought for others on the road.
They are the ones who are responsible, they are the ones who must be stopped, and they are the ones who must be brought to justice.
However, it would be wrong to think that Government cuts to West Yorkshire Police’s budget that have depleted their resources, reduced the number of police officers and limited the specialised road traffic cars that they can commit to tackling dangerous driving hasn’t created an environment in which it can take place unchecked and without consequence.
Whilst West Yorkshire Police have managed to do some truly commendable work in the face of these challenges with Operation Steerside that is aimed specifically at tackling dangerous driving in Bradford, the reality is that since 2010, their budgets have been dramatically cut, leaving them in an “an unprecedented financial deficit” and the Government need to put investment back into road policing in Bradford.
Dangerous driving also carries a far too weak and limited punishment, and even the punishment for causing death by dangerous driving doesn’t carry a sentence that reflects the severity of the offence or the heartbreak they’ve caused, and the Government are far too slow in acting on the public’s demand for stronger sentences.
In my previous role as Labour’s Shadow Minister for Justice, I urged the Government to impose life sentences for those who caused death by dangerous driving or death by reckless driving to deliver justice for victims and their friends and family, and to provide a real deterrent for this crime, but such demands have sadly fallen on deaf ears in the Ministry for Justice, Department for Transport and Downing Street.
Whilst we need to rid dangerous driving from our roads, we also need to banish the dangerous and anti-social nuisance vehicles being used irresponsibly.
Driving through Bradford we have all seen quadbikes tearing down streets, weaving in and out of traffic and forcing others to swerve and make way, and those on these nuisance vehicles are also wreaking havoc in our communities.
Far too many constituents have been in touch with me about noisy and dangerous quadbikes and dirt-bikes cutting between houses, slipping down alleyways and back passages, and speeding through residential streets at all hours of the day and night, and a stop needs to be put to it.
I will therefore be pushing the Government to strengthen the powers that are available to the police to investigate and seize dangerous off-road vehicles that belong on farmland, not on our streets, as well as for much stronger restrictions on their sale for non-agricultural use and tough consequences for those breaking these rules.
The prevalence of dangerous driving also has a significant knock-on effect on the cost of car insurance premiums, which are some of the highest in the whole country.
Even a law-abiding driver in Bradford will face costs of over £1,000 on average and will be tarred with the same brush as irresponsible, reckless, and dangerous drivers just because of their postcode.
Ultimately, there is no single, realistic action that can rid our roads of dangerous drivers for good and make our streets safer for road users and pedestrians.
Yet by putting funding back into our police service, increasing the sentences for dangerous driving, getting rid of nuisance vehicles and cracking down on the number of uninsured drivers, we can start to restore law, order, and good driving back to our roads.
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