Category Archives: Road safety

NSW court ruling will make it almost impossible to contest drug-driving charges, legal experts claim

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Judge says decision involving a Sydney man who lost his licence after testing positive for cocaine pivoted on presence of drug rather than his credibility

Legal experts have argued a New South Wales district court judgment will make it almost impossible for people facing drug-driving charges to defend themselves, no matter the circumstances.

The decision, handed down on 26 July, involved a Sydney man who lost his licence after testing positive for cocaine at a roadside drug test.

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Australia’s road toll continues to rise with most states falling behind safety goals

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Victoria recorded the biggest increase in road deaths in the last year, followed by NSW

Australia’s road toll continues to rise with 37 additional lives lost in accidents compared to the previous 12 months, despite a nationwide target to halve road deaths by 2030.

The latest report into road deaths by the Australian Automobile Association found the greatest rises in fatal accidents were recorded in Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia and South Australia, and only one state or territory was on track to achieve national safety goals.

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France clamps down on dangerous drivers with new ‘road killing’ offence

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No tougher penalties announces for offence formerly known as involuntary homicide by a driver

The French government has announced a clampdown on people who drive while unfit, months after a crash involving a high-profile comedian accused of drug-driving.

The prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, announced the creation of a new offence, of causing a “road killing”, specifically aimed at those who are unfit to be behind the wheel.

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Death toll in Kenya road crash rises to 52

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Truck lost control at notorious junction in Londiani, hitting people and vehicles in latest road catastrophe

The death toll of a road crash in western Kenya rose to 52 on Saturday, officials said, as rescuers worked to clear the wreckage from one of the deadliest traffic accidents in the country in recent years.

A truck carrying a shipping container veered out of control and ploughed into multiple other vehicles and people thronging a busy roadside junction on Friday evening, plunging the nation into shock and mourning.

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Dozens dead in western India bus crash

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Bus was travelling on expressway to city of Pune when it hit a pole, overturned and caught fire

At least 25 people were killed and eight others injured after a bus caught fire on an expressway in western India, police said.

The bus was travelling to the city of Pune when it hit a pole and overturned in the early hours of Saturday, causing its diesel tank to catch fire, a senior police officer told the Agence France-Presse news agency.

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Boy died in bus collision after friend unlocked e-scooter, inquest told

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Family calls for more restrictions on underage access to electric scooters after Mustafa Nadeem was killed last December

A 12-year-old boy was killed while riding a hired Voi e-scooter unlocked by a 14-year-old friend using their father’s account, an inquest has heard, as his family called for stricter measures to prevent children using loopholes to access them.

Mustafa Nadeem suffered fatal injuries when he rode an e-scooter along the pavement and accidentally collided with a pedestrian causing him to fall on the road into the path of a bus in Birmingham on 6 December last year.

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Australia’s road death toll jumps with fatalities still higher than pre-pandemic

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National automotive body says poor data collection is limiting authorities’ ability to formulate an evidence-based response

Australian roads are becoming deadlier, with an almost 6% jump in road deaths in the past year as fatalities remain significantly higher than before the Covid pandemic and worse than long-term safety targets.

The latest road fatality figures, which cover the 12 months to 31 March, reveal 1,204 deaths on Australian roads – an annual increase of 5.9%.

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Russian diplomats in Australia refuse to pay $90,000 in traffic fines dating back 15 years

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Exclusive: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is chasing hundreds of overdue fines amid repeated requests to respect the law

Russian diplomats have refused to pay hundreds of overdue speeding, parking and traffic fines dating back more than 15 years, frustrating Australian officials who can only politely ask that they respect local laws.

Freedom of information documents obtained by Guardian Australia indicate the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) is chasing almost $90,000 from the Russian embassy for fines dating back to 2007, despite repeated requests for diplomats to respect the law.

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Rishi Sunak scraps plans for new smart motorways in England

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Fourteen smart motorways removed from government road-building plans over cost and safety fears

The building of new smart motorways is being cancelled as Rishi Sunak acknowledged concerns about safety and cost.

Fourteen planned smart motorways – including 11 that are already paused and three earmarked for construction – will be removed from government road-building plans, given financial pressures and in recognition of the lack of public trust.

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Robert Jenrick banned from driving for six months for speeding

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Immigration minister fined more than £1,600 for breaking limit on M1 after appearing on Any Questions? last year

The government minister Robert Jenrick has been banned from driving for six months and fined more than £1,600 after being caught driving almost 30mph over the speed limit last year.

The Conservative MP for Newark was recorded driving 68mph in a temporary 40mph zone on the M1 in Northamptonshire on 5 August 2022. Jenrick pleaded guilty to the offence in February and said in a letter to the court that he “sincerely apologised” for the incident.

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UK mounted police chase down man holding mobile phone while driving

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Officers on horseback deployed to reduce use of phones by motorist; driver faces £200 fine and six points on licence

Two mounted police officers have chased down a man spotted holding his mobile phone while driving.

Officers on horses have been deployed across the UK in order to reduce the number of people using a phone while at the wheel. Avon and Somerset police are involved in the enforcement operation led by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) over the next three weeks.

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‘Undermine our road safety’: promised rewards for ‘safe’ NSW drivers criticised by experts

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Labor and the Coalition promise to ease penalties for ‘low-level’ offences if they win the state election

Election promises by the New South Wales government and the Labor opposition to reward “safe” drivers have been met with scepticism by industry experts, with one accusing both sides of buying votes and failing to advance road safety.

The Coalition on Wednesday promised that drivers with a three-year clean driving record would be able to avoid fines for low-level offending, including low-range speeding, disobeying some signs and driving in a bus lane, if re-elected.

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Second deadly bus collision in Senegal in eight days kills 22 people

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More than 20 injured in incident involving a truck, after 40 died in two-bus collision in Kaffrine region

A collision between a truck and a bus in northern Senegal has killed 22 people, firefighters have said, a week after a crash between two buses left 40 people dead.

More than 20 people were injured in the latest accident, which occurred on Monday near Sakal in the Louga region, Papa Ange Michel Diatta, a colonel with the national firefighting service, told AFP. Amadou Ba, the country’s prime minister, visited the site, pledging to enforce new rules of the road.

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Amsterdam calls for crackdown on menace of souped-up e-bikes

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Demon young riders speeding at 40kph are making the Dutch city’s once cycle-friendly streets dangerous – and the problem is spreading

Debby Nieberg was cycling home from the dentist last October, when she was knocked to the pavement and broke her shoulder.

According to her police report, the youngster on an e-bike – overtaking Nieberg on Amsterdam’s narrow cycling lanes – got up and cycled off, a crime in itself. “This unfortunately has become a big part of my life because of the ‘need for speed’ of those on e-bikes,” says the 56-year-old freelance translator, who has just started cycling again. “The bike situation is definitely unsafe.”

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Thai police offer cash prizes for videos of worst road violations

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Effort to reduce new year collisions has been criticised for encouraging drivers to film others or stage violations

Thai police are taking an alternative approach to their annual road safety campaign by offering cash prizes of 10,000 baht (£240) for the best – or worst – videos of traffic violations.

About 22,000 people die each year in Thailand in road traffic accidents, one of the worst death rates in the world. The week over the new year, known locally as the “seven dangerous days”, has the biggest spike as people speed around the country.

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Israel grapples with ‘systemic problem’ of fatal road crashes

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Traffic deaths dropped by only 4.7% in last decade, compared with a 31% fall worldwide

When Islamic Jihad, the second largest militant group in the Gaza Strip, fired about 1,000 rockets at Israel during an unexpected flare-up of violence earlier this month, most were intercepted by the Iron Dome air defence system, and no Israelis were seriously hurt or killed.

On the country’s roads, however, it was a different story. In the same week, 19 people were killed in traffic incidents during a wave of particularly serious crashes.

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Registration plates and insurance for cyclists being considered by government – report

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Whitehall review is also said to suggest cycling speed limits, along with licence penalty points and fines

Bikes could be made to have registration plates and insurance as ministers weigh up bringing speed limits for cyclists into line with those for drivers.

The government is also considering the possibility of cyclists receiving licence penalty points and fines if they break speed limits or run red lights, the Daily Mail reported.

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Sleep-deprived medical staff ‘pose same danger on roads as drunk drivers’

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British anaesthetist pleads for doctors and nurses to be allowed naps and limited night shifts, as in other critical workplaces

About half of all hospital doctors and nurses have had accidents or experienced near misses while driving home after a night shift.

The risks they pose to themselves and other road users have been calculated as the same as those posed by drivers who are over the legal alcohol limit, delegates at a European medical conference were told last week.

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Police warn against vigilante action against duckling hit-and-run driver

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Driver’s details shared on social media after allegedly running over ducklings near Stoke-on-Trent as other drivers waited for them to cross

Police have urged the public against any vigilante actions after the registration of a driver who allegedly ran over a brood of ducklings was published online.

Staffordshire police confirmed it is investigating a Facebook post which claimed that at least three ducklings were killed on Friday at a roundabout in Trentham near Stoke-on-Trent. The post claimed they were killed by the driver of a white transit van who allegedly ignored other drivers who were waiting for the ducks to cross the road.

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Ditching the hard shoulder proved too hard a sell to MPs and motorists

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Analysis: the UK government has bowed to the inevitable and shelved the expanded rollout

Pausing the rollout of smart motorways suggests the government has finally bowed to the inevitable, faced with the collective outrage of motoring groups, bereaved families, newspapers, MPs – and indeed a former minister who signed off the schemes.

Not, though, that the small print guarantees drivers have in any way seen the end of the hard shoulderless highways: ongoing major works will be completed, and even design work will go ahead for more stretches, in case the mood changes by 2025.

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