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Blog posted by: Philip Seccombe, APCC Joint Roads Policing Lead, 25 February 2026.

In April 2023 a group of teenagers accepted a lift home from school from a fellow pupil; 17-year-old Edward Spencer had passed his driving test just six weeks earlier.

Close to Shipston-on-Stour in Warwickshire, Spencer’s car crashed at high speed into another vehicle, killing his three young passengers and seriously injuring a woman and her two children in the other car. One of those killed was Tilly Seccombe, my cousin’s daughter.

Spencer is serving a two-year custodial sentence after admitting causing the deaths of Tilly and her friends. It turned out he had been using a mobile phone and taking selfies just before the collision.

My family’s experience underlines the vital importance of road safety and the need for everyone to work collectively to reduce road casualties.

It is, of course, the responsibility of us as individuals to drive safely, and industry has a role in designing and building vehicles with in-built safety features to minimise the risks to drivers and others out and about.

But we also need the right laws and systems in place to investigate effectively and punish drivers whose actions cause harm – and the police must act to enforce those laws.

Prioritising road safety

Every day in 2024, more than four people were killed on Britain’s roads – and in nine out of 10 collisions, driver error was a contributory factor.

The latest official statistics show a slight decline in the number of reported road casualties, continuing a downward trend in recent years, but we have lost ground in terms of reducing road fatalities compared to many other countries.

With more than 1,600 killed on our roads annually, we cannot afford to be complacent. Behind every fatality statistic is a life lost and a family devastated by that loss. I know this only too well.

As Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Warwickshire and APCC Joint Lead on Roads Policing I am committed to doing all I can to reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries on Britain’s road network. I know we cannot entirely eliminate driver errors and misjudgements, so we have to approach it by ‘designing out’ as many risks as possible.

The Government’s recently published Road Safety Strategy signals a welcome and significant shift in the political prioritisation of road safety. It contains a clear, if challenging, target of reducing deaths and serious injuries on the roads by 65% by 2035 alongside an even more ambitious target of a 70% reduction of under 16s.

After years of stagnation in road safety improvements, I very much hope this ambition – which must be supported by sustained investment – marks a turning point that will result in real, evidence-based change.

Balancing risk and liberty

Official figures show that 8% of those killed or seriously injured on British roads are children aged 16 or younger, 12% are aged 70 or over, and young drivers – that’s 17-24-year-olds – account for 18%.

I recognise just how important driving is for many elderly people in maintaining their independence, but we cannot ignore the data, so it’s right the strategy includes a plan to introduce mandatory eye tests and develop options for cognitive testing for older drivers.

For many, learning to drive is a rite of passage to adulthood, but too many young people – and particularly those newly qualified, whether through inexperience or bravado – end up as victims of road traffic collisions. The case for doing more to keep young people safe is clear.

Education and high-quality driver training is a must, but technology can help, too. The Road Safety Strategy includes plans to consult, for instance, on the use of alcohol interlock, or ‘alcolock’, devices fitted to a vehicle’s ignition. They breathalyse drivers and prevent them from starting the engine if they are over a set limit.

An area that is of growing concern is that of drug-driving. Decades ago, attitudes across society changed so that drink-driving became unacceptable. We now need to act urgently to replicate that change of attitude towards those who drive under the influence of drugs.

During last July’s Operation Spotlight, the enforcement operation led by the National Police Chiefs’ Council that targets the ‘fatal four’ driving offences (speeding, drink- and drug-driving, not wearing a seatbelt, and mobile phone use while driving), 60% of roadside drug wipe tests came back positive, compared to 22% of alcohol breath tests.

This shows the challenge we face, but it’s a challenge we must tackle. PCCs want to see more robust action against those who take to the road under the influence of alcohol or drugs – illegal and prescription ones.

Unfortunately, many drink- or drug-drivers are repeat offenders, which suggests ingrained behaviour, so we believe police should have the power to suspend their licences at the roadside and seize their vehicles, immediately removing the risk they pose to other road users.

The Road Safety Strategy includes a plan to review penalties for driving offences which I certainly welcome. Currently a death caused by a driver who is drunk or under the influence of drugs is prosecuted as an offence of death by dangerous driving. In my view, deaths related to drink- or drug-driving should be classified as manslaughter.

We need to go further to save young lives

Given human nature, particularly among groups of young men, it seems a reasonable price to pay to introduce some limited and temporary additional safeguards for new drivers if it keeps them, their friends and others safe.

I’m pleased the Road Safety Strategy includes a plan for a minimum learning period of three or six months before novice drivers can take their test. It also proposes lowering the current legal blood alcohol limit for all drivers in England and Wales, with an even lower limit for those newly qualified.

The drink drive limit hasn’t changed since it was first introduced nearly 60 years ago, despite a far greater understanding these days of how alcohol impairs judgement, so these moves are sensible and overdue.

PCCs have long lobbied for the blood alcohol limit for drivers to be cut, and this time last year I and my fellow PCCs and deputy mayors backed the British Medical Association’s call for a general reduction and a lower limit for new and commercial drivers.

While there is much in the strategy to welcome, I believe the Government could and should go further to safeguard against high-risk behaviours among a cohort disproportionately involved in incidents that result in deaths and serious injuries.

In countries where progressive or graduated driver licensing regimes have been introduced – Canada, Australia and New Zealand, for example – evidence shows the number of crashes and deaths of young people has dropped significantly.

And I’m in favour of other time-limited measures that protect inexperienced drivers, allowing them time to build up experience behind the wheel: short-term late-night driving curfews and a restriction on the number of young passengers they are allowed to carry unless supervised by an older adult, for example.

Northern Ireland is leading the way in the UK on this. From October new drivers there will be subject to a system of graduated driving licences. Among the measures being introduced there are a six-month wait for learners before they can take their test. Once qualified they will have to display an ‘R’ (Restricted) plate for two years, up from the current 12 months, and for six months after passing their test they will be restricted to carrying just one passenger aged 13 to 20 between 11pm and 6am.

Polling for the Road Safety Trust shows 72% of the public are in favour of this kind of scheme, so if the Westminster Government is genuine in wanting to save lives, I urge ministers to be open to following Northern Ireland’s lead.

The road user group that faces the most disproportionate risk of being killed on our roads is that of motorcyclists. Despite making up just 1% of road traffic, they account for a shocking 20% of road deaths.

It’s obvious they do not have the same physical protections as, say, car and van drivers so it is vital they take precautions themselves by wearing highly visible and other protective gear.

But they must also be put through rigorous training and testing before being granted a licence. The Road Safety Strategy rightly includes plans to review and reform the motorcycle training and testing regime to make sure this is the case.

The Road Safety Strategy is a definite step in the right direction with wide-ranging ideas of how government, industry, policing and road users can all help to improve road safety. PCCs and deputy mayors share the Government’s determination to save more lives, but we believe there is more that can and must be done.

As the Transport Secretary asks in her foreword to the strategy, would we tolerate four deaths a day and thousands seriously injured on our railways or in the skies? Of course not.

So, we will use the opportunity this strategy provides to shape future policy, doing everything possible to prevent more families living with the devastation and heartbreak my family and too many others have gone through.

• This article first appeared in Policing Insight