Ignore the extremists!

Future road safety policy must take into account the views of the majority and not try to accommodate extreme groups, a police chief has told MPs.

Trying to reconcile the views of the motoring lobby with those bereaved by road crashes was impossible, Chief Constable Steve Green told the House of Commons Transport Committee.

He said the motoring lobby was very sceptical about any limit on their personal freedom and were an extreme group, while those who had lost loved ones in road accidents were at the other end of the scale.

He went on: "In the middle are the majority of the public who take a pragmatic view of road safety. We have to ensure that that this middle group's views are heard when road safety policy is made.

"We need to hear the mainstream view of the motoring public which does not get heard as much as it should."

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Mr Green, who is the head of roads policing for the Association of Chief Police Officers, was giving evidence to the committee in its inquiry into road safety.

Rob Salmon, West Sussex County Council's assistant head of highways and transport, representing the County Surveyors' Society, told the committee that road maintenance needed at least 30 per cent increase in funding otherwise there was a danger that poor maintenance could lead to more accidents.

He said that there was one year in his area where every single fatality had occurred either on a summer Sunday or a bank holiday.