Road Safety Policy Position Statement
1. Issue Identification
Everyone should be able to travel safely, whether they are walking, cycling, using public transport, riding
or driving. Yet almost 30,000 people are killed or seriously injured in road traffic collisions (RTCs) in
Great Britain each year. These deaths are preventable, and immediate action is necessary to ensure
that essential mobility does not put people’s safety at risk. Successful road safety prevention requires
the implementation of a range of measures concerned with the safety of the road user, vehicle safety,
infrastructure, and post-crash care.
Fire and rescue services (FRSs) play a crucial role in keeping people safe on the road. Each year, FRSs
attend thousands of RTCs, rescuing drivers and passengers and providing emergency first aid to road
users, including drivers, motorcyclists, pedestrians, cyclists, and horse riders. FRSs’ statutory
responsibilities are limited to preparing for and responding to RTCs. But FRSs also deliver wide-ranging
road safety prevention activities, including educational campaigns and programmes encouraging people
to become safer road users. FRSs are key partners in the cross-agency work undertaken by Road
Safety Partnerships to improve road safety in local communities.
2. NFCC Position
International evidence shows that success in preventing road traffic deaths and injuries can be achieved
through concerted effort at national level by those who design and use the road transport system. FRSs
are only one part of a complex, integrated transport system. It is therefore crucial that governments play
a leading role in driving improvements in road safety at a national level through enhanced legislation,
regulation, standards, and education.
NFCC believe that the current statutory duty on FRSs to prepare for and respond to RTCs should be
expanded to cover preventing road deaths and promoting road safety. Governments should also
advance road safety strategies based on Safe System principles, develop consistent standards for Road
Safety Partnership, and include road safety themes in relevant curriculums. Governments should
consider the ways they can protect high-risk road user populations such as young and novice drivers by
consulting on the introduction of graduated driver licensing (GDL).
3. Recommendations
• The UK and Welsh governments should undertake public consultations on establishing a statutory
duty for FRSs to prevent road deaths and promote road safety in support of current statutory
partners. An expanded statutory duty must be supported by initial capital investment and continuous
funding to ensure individual FRSs can invest appropriately in training, equipment, and resources.
Clear governance arrangements are required to clarify the roles and responsibilities of road safety
agencies in ongoing partnership working.
• The UK Government should develop and consult on a new national road safety strategy for England
based on the core principles of the Safe System, covering prevention, protection, and post-collision
response. The Welsh Government should progress the new road safety strategy for Wales. The
strategies must ensure that road safety is the continued responsibility of all relevant agencies.
• The UK and Welsh governments should develop and consult on Road Safety Partnership Standards
for England and Wales, respectively, to ensure best practice and consistency in the ongoing work of
partner organisations. The standards should mirror those that underpin Local Resilience Forums.
They should be developed with road safety organisations and emergency services to clarify
governance arrangements and enhance joint working.
• The UK and devolved governments should consult on introducing graduated driver licensing in
England, Scotland, and Wales to support young and novice drivers, a high-risk population for road
deaths, through their transition to independent driving.
• The UK and Welsh governments should ensure that road safety themes are reflected in relevant
curriculums. Road safety education should be research led and delivered to consistent standards of
practice.
4. Supporting Evidence
Enhanced Statutory Duty for Road Safety
FRSs play a crucial role in keeping people safe on the road. FRSs in England attended 31,448 road
traffic collision incidents in 2023, an increase from 27,930 in 2012/13. Roads are getting busier and
road use is changing. This changing risk profile increases the operational burden on FRSs in terms of
risk planning, prevention work, and post-collision response, which must be tailored to new technologies
and changing road use, such as the growing risk of lithium-ion battery fires from e-bikes and e-scooters.
Road safety is a key part of the Community Risk Management Plans that all FRSs maintain and a core
element of the prevention work FRSs undertake in their local communities. Yet FRSs currently have no
statutory duties for various vital areas of FRSs’ prevention work, including road safety. This impacts
funding for prevention activities.
The current statutory duty for FRSs to prepare for and respond to RTCs does not capture the full range
of activities FRSs undertake to prevent road deaths and promote road safety. NFCC recommends that
the governments of England and Wales consult on introducing legislation to expand the statutory duties
on FRSs in their jurisdictions from the narrow focus on post-collision response to encompass road
safety more broadly. This will ensure that clear legislation underpins FRSs’ road safety prevention work.
Further, an enhanced legal basis for prevention activities and community risks beyond fire would place
Chief Fire Officers in a stronger position to protect and secure funding for these activities, rather than
competing with other public services.
This is particularly important given that FRSs are in a unique position to deliver effective road safety
education in their communities. FRSs enjoy high levels of public trust and confidence in local
communities. Unlike the Police, who also deliver road safety education, FRSs do not enforce road traffic
laws or illegal or dangerous activity on the roads. This can mean that people can be more receptive to
road safety messages delivered by FRS personnel. An enhanced statutory duty will build on an
established strength of FRSs and ensure they are better placed to deliver road safety prevention,
creating safer and healthier communities in collaboration with partners. Nonetheless, a statutory duty for
road safety prevention must support and enhance continued partner working on road safety.
A statutory duty for road safety must be supported by initial capital investment and continuous funding to
ensure individual FRSs can invest appropriately in training, equipment, and resources.
A Safe System Strategy
There are multiple, interconnected benefits from having safer roads. Deaths and serious injuries on
roads have a significant and unnecessary human cost that reaches beyond those directly involved,
affecting friends, family, and communities. Improved road safety and safer streets encourages active
travel, which reduces carbon emissions and has a significant positive impact on public health. Fewer
RTCs can reduce congestion, improving journey times for all. Road casualties also have a significant
economic cost to FRSs, police forces, and the NHS, as well as costs arising from damage to property,
insurance, and lost economic output. The UK Government estimates the annual societal and economic
costs of road deaths and injuries in Great Britain was £43.2 billion in 2022.
According to the International Transport Forum’s Road Safety Report 2023, the UK lags behind other
countries on road safety. The UK is one of only three International Traffic Safety Data and Analysis
(IRTAD) group countries to have not yet defined its targets on road deaths and serious injuries, along
with Mexico and Moldova. The UK is also not on track to meet the United Nations’ Decade of Action for
Road Safety 2021–2030 target of a 50% reduction in road deaths by 2030. The European Transport
Safety Council agrees that the UK does not have national targets for road death or serious injury
reduction and does not have a strategy for achieving the UN’s 2030 target.
The UK Government’s most recent road safety strategy for England was published in 2019. NFCC
recommends the Government develops and consults on a new national road safety strategy for England
that covers prevention, protection, and post-collision response. The strategy should be based on Safe
System principles and set out clear, evidence-based targets for reducing deaths and serious injuries on
roads, like Scotland’s Road Safety Framework to 2030. Northern Ireland approved a new Road Safety
Strategy based on the Safe System approach in June 2024. Wales consulted on a new Strategy for
Road Safety in Wales, based on the Safe System, in January 2024, but further progress is needed.
The Safe System approach represents a paradigm shift in road safety policy and is considered best
practice by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD). The Safe System approach is based on the premise that traffic collisions result
from failures in the overall road system, not individual human error. Any fatalities or serious injuries that
occur within the road system are unacceptable, as people’s lives and health should never be
compromised by their need to travel. Safe System approaches shape preventative interventions to meet
the long-term goal of zero deaths and serious injuries on roads.
FRSs are a crucial component in the Safe System approach to road safety through their role in post-crash response and road safety education. NFCC has promoted the adoption of Safe System principles
by local strategic Road Safety Partnerships, and the inclusion of these principles within road safety risk reduction plans. NFCC is also a signatory of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety
(PACTS) Manifesto for Road Safety 2024. The UK Government should adopt a Safe System approach
to road safety, and reflect this in a national road safety strategy for England. The Welsh Government
should progress the new road safety strategy for Wales. These strategies must ensure that road safety
is the continued responsibility of all relevant agencies.
Road Safety Partnership Standards
As above, the UK is one of only three countries to not have defined targets on road deaths and serious
injuries. There are currently no national road safety targets in England, with the last formal period of
target setting ending in 2010. Instead, individual road safety authorities (for example, local authorities)
can set targets.
Having quantified road safety targets in place is associated with greater average reductions in road
deaths in OECD countries. By increasing ownership and accountability, consistent standards and
targets can incentivise partners to design and deliver effective road safety interventions aimed at
achieving a specific outcome. Standards, targets, and measuring progress can also incentivise road
safety stakeholders to focus on best practice proactively and collaboratively.
NFCC recommends that the UK and Welsh governments develop and consult on national standards for
Road Safety Partnerships for their jurisdictions. These standards would complement the expanded
statutory duties for FRSs around road safety by setting out expectations of best practice and enhancing
joint working. Clear Road Safety Partnership standards would guide continuous improvement and
provide a benchmark for assessing the effectiveness of Road Safety Partnership activities. Standards
would also promote better consistency of local collaboration and partnership across the country.
We recommend that Road Safety Partnership Standards mirror the National Resilience Standards that
underpin Local Resilience Forums (or Resilience Partnerships), with a sponsoring department or agency
in each jurisdiction. The standards should be developed in collaboration with road safety organisations
and emergency services to clarify governance arrangements and the roles of partner organisations, and
reflect consensus on best practice.
Supporting Young and Novice Drivers
Road traffic injuries are a leading cause of death worldwide for children and young people. In the UK
young drivers aged 17–24 are at increased risk of being involved in a road traffic collision. In 2022,
around a fifth of all killed or seriously injured casualties from collisions involving cars involved a young
car driver. In 2022, 19% of all car driver fatalities were younger car drivers and 24% of fatalities from
collisions involving a car driver involved at least one young car driver. Young male car drivers aged 17–
24 are four times as likely to be killed or seriously injured compared with all car drivers aged 25 or
over. Young car drivers aged 17–24 make up around 7% of the total driving population.
A lack of driving experience is an important factor in the disproportionate numbers of young drivers
involved in RTCs. Governments should support new drivers and keep them safe by consulting on
proposals to introduce graduated driver licensing in England, Scotland, and Wales (Northern Ireland has
already legislated to introduce graduated driver licensing). Graduated driver licensing encourages
greater and more varied driving practice during the learning phase and limits driving in the riskiest
situations for young and novice drivers, in particular driving in the dark and carrying peer-age
passengers. The consultation must be accompanied by a full equalities impact assessment that
considers the impact of graduated driver licensing on people with protected characteristics and potential
exemptions. The consultation should also consider any future expansion of graduated driver licensing to
young and novice motorcyclists, given their overrepresentation in road casualty statistics.
International research demonstrates that the introduction of graduated driver licensing leads to a
decrease in RTCs, casualties, and fatalities among young drivers. A graduated driver licensing system
introduced in Queensland, Australia in 2007 led to substantial declines in novice driver crashes (13.1%
reduction per year), crash casualties (13.9% reduction per year), and associated casualties (5.2%
reduction per year). In Victoria, Australia, 42.5% fewer drivers aged 18–23 were involved in fatal or
serious injury crashes following the introduction of graduated driver licensing. In Ontario, Canada, the introduction of a scheme with a minimum learning period and restrictions on night driving saw a 42%
reduction in vehicle crashes among people aged 20–24. In New Zealand, the introduction of graduated
driver licensing was followed by a 23% reduction in car crash injuries for 15–19 year olds, and 12% for
20–24 year olds. Evaluations in US states and Canadian provinces suggests that graduated driver
licensing programmes have reduced young drivers’ crash risk by 20–40%.
Analysis by the RAC Foundation suggests that introducing graduated driver licensing in Great Britain
would lead to an expected reduction in annual casualties from collisions involving drivers aged 17–19 of
2733 (281 of which would be killed or seriously injured casualties) and deliver expected value of benefits
at £131.9 million annually. By introducing graduated driver licensing, the Government can support
young and novice drivers through their early driving career, when they are at greater risk of injuring
themselves and others.
Road Safety Education in Relevant Curriculums
Road safety education can help to reduce the prevalence of risky driving behaviour and the frequency
and severity of RTCs. Including road safety in relevant curriculums provides an opportunity to save lives,
as well as reduce injuries and financial cost. NFCC welcomes the explicit mention of road safety and
other community and fire safety risks in the updated Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex
Education and Health Education (RSHE) statutory guidance (for Key Stage 1–4) for England and urges
the UK Government and devolved administrations to continue to prioritise the inclusion of road safety
and community safety within relevant curriculums.
FRSs deliver a range of educational interventions to young people aimed at improving their road safety
skills, knowledge, and awareness and deterring risk-taking behaviours. These help to improve the safety
of young people and others on the roads. Approaches vary between FRSs, but many FRSs focus on
Key Stage 5 (learner drivers, newly passed drivers, and passengers). Educating children about road
safety early and reinforcing key road safety messages throughout the curriculum will support FRSs’
young driver education programmes and help to keep communities safe.
Road safety education should be delivered to consistent, recognised standards of practice covering
professional competencies, content, and delivery. Effective road safety education should also be
research-led and informed, drawing on recognised academic sources and reflecting the prevailing
consensus among academics and specialists. Road safety education should support the health, well-being, and liveability of local communities, ensuring that it does no harm. For example, FRSs and other
organisations that deliver road safety education should avoid interventions based on fear appeal and
focus on positive prevention. Road safety education should acknowledge that road use type changes
for children as they get older, from being passengers at a young age, to pedestrians and independent
cyclists and then young car drivers or motorcyclists.
It is also crucial that road safety education is understood as one part of a broader Safe System
approach to road safety, and that vulnerable young drivers understand that education is only one aspect
of being safe on the roads. Education in schools and by FRSs can tackle some of the multiple
determinants that influence young driver behaviour – such as peer influence – but effective road safety
involves all parts of the transport system. We recommend that education in schools acknowledges that
there are other things young road users can do to support their safety on the roads, for example using
safe road systems, choosing and maintaining safe vehicles, understanding the potential for human error,
and knowing what to do in an emergency. All road users have a mutual responsibility for keeping
themselves and others safe on the road.
FRSs work in partnerships and across borders to provide a consistent and effective approach to road
safety education, recognising local differences in geography, risk, population, traffic levels, public
transport, and road design, and targeting interventions accordingly. The UK and Welsh governments
should support multi-agency road safety prevention work by including road safety themes within relevant
curriculums (including national curriculums).
References
1 There were 29,643 and 29,742 killed or seriously injured casualties in road collisions in 2023 and
2022, respectively. Department for Transport,Provisional Road Casualties Great Britain, Provisional Results: 2023 (2023); Department for Transport, Reported Road Casualties Great Britain, Annual Report: 2022 (2023).
2 B.R. Porchia, A. Baldasseroni, C. Dellisanti, C. Lorini, and G. Bonaccorsi, ‘Effectiveness of Two
Interventions in Preventing Traffic Accidents: A Systematic Review’, Annali di Igiene, 26 (2014), 63–75.
3 Home Office, Fire and Rescue Incident Statistics, Year Ending December 2023 (April 2024).
4 In December 2023, there were 41,175,300 licensed vehicles in the UK, an increase of about 1.2%
compared to 2022. There were 36,714,800 licensed vehicles in 2014. Department for Transport, Vehicle
Licensing Statistics: 2023 (May 2024), Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, VEH0101: Vehicles at the
End of the Quarter by Licence Status and Body Type (May 2024). In England, cycling traffic levels
increased by 15.5% between 2013 and 2023. Department for Transport, Cycling Traffic Index, England
(April 2024).
5 FRS duties around preparing for and responding to road traffic collisions are set out in Section 8 of the
Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004.
6 Department for Transport, RAS4001: Total Value of Prevention of Reported Road Collisions by Cost
Element: Great Britain (September 2023).
7 International Transport Forum, Road Safety Annual Report 2023 (2023), pp. 70–71.
8 United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/RES/74/299 (31 August 2020).
9 European Transport Safety Council, Road Safety Performance Index (PIN) Report (June 2024).
10 Department for Transport, The Road Safety Statement: A Lifetime of Road Safety (2019).
11 Transport Scotland, Scotland’s Road Safety Framework to 2030 (2021).
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Safe System (2016).
13 Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety, Manifesto for Road Safety 2024 (2023).
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16 Cabinet Office, National Resilience Standards for Local Resilience Forums (2020).
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(September 2023). There were 1,365 young car driver casualties in 2022.
19 Department for Transport, Young Car Drivers Road Safety Factsheet (2018).
20 RAC Foundation, Empowering Young Drivers with Road Safety Education: Practical Guidance
Emerging from the Pre-driver Theatre and Workshop Education Research (2023), p. viii.
21 Young drivers are more susceptible to peer pressure than older drivers. M. Cassarino and G. Murphy,
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22 Young motorcyclists are overrepresented in road casualty statistics. Between 2018 and 2022, 27% of
motorcyclists killed or seriously injured in RTCs were aged 16–24. Department for Transport, Reported
Road Casualties Great Britian: Motorcyclist Factsheet, 2022 (2023).
23 T. Senserrick, S. Boufous, J. Olivier, and J. Hatfield, ‘Associations between Graduated Driver
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PLoS ONE, 13.9 (2018), e0204107. An interim evaluation of the scheme linked the introduction of GDL
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Safety Research, Policing & Education Conference (2013).
24 VicRoads, Examination of the Impact of the Graduated Licensing System on Young Novice Driver
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25 P. Boase and L. Tasca, Graduated Licensing System Evaluation: Interim Report (Ontario Ministry of
Transportation, 1998).
26 J.D. Langley, A.C. Wagenaar, and D.J. Begg, ‘An Evaluation of the New Zealand Graduated Driver
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28 RAC Foundation, The Modelled Impact of a Range of GDL Schemes. An Update of the 2014 TRL
Report (2018), p. 5.
29 Department for Education, Draft Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE)
and Health Education Statutory Guidance (2024).
30 The efficacy of fear-based educational approaches is limited, with fear appeal being found to have a
short-lived impact on behavioural intentions and knowledge or to engender defensive reactions (e.g.,
rejecting messaging). C.A. Cutello, M. Gummerum, Y. Hanoch, and E. Hellier, ‘Evaluating an
Intervention to Reduce Risky Driving Behaviours: Taking the Fear out of Virtual Reality’, Risk Analysis,
41.9 (2020), 1662–1673; R.N. Carey, D. T. McDermott, & K.M. Sarma, ‘The Impact of Threat Appeals
on Fear Arousal and Driver Behaviour: A Meta-Analysis of Experimental Research 1990–2011’, PloS
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Granados Samayoa, ‘Determinants of Behaviour and their Efficacy as Targets of Behavioural Change
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