Call for more police action to help improve road safety in Oxfordshire

In 2022 57 people lost their lives and there were 934 serious injuries

The man in charge of highways in Oxfordshire has written to the Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner calling for more action to improve road safety.   Councillor Andrew Gant’s letter to Matthew Barber comes as the number of people killed or seriously injured on the county’s roads rose in 2022 – the first increase for many years.   57 people lost their lives and there were 934 serious injuries.

Councillor Gant has called for the police to become more involved in promoting national road safety initiatives such as Operation Snap, where the public can submit digital footage showing potential traffic offences.

He also called for more action to be taken against drivers who endanger cyclists and horse riders by passing them too closely and patrols to catch mobile phone use and illegal, fake or cloned number plates.

Mr Barber and Thames Valley Police are urged to recognise the promoted benefits of 20mph limits around Oxfordshire, and to work with the county council to implement average speed cameras checks.

Councillor Gant wrote: “Thames Valley Police’s action on road safety appears to be behind what we see from other forces and are hearing from other local authorities. I appreciate the size and scale of TVP is greater than most, but we need to ensure this doesn’t prevent working at a local level and focus on road safety within Oxfordshire.

“We appreciate that resources are tight, but no action is much more expensive than action. Please take action against this rising wave of dangerous driving before we find even worse casualty impacts in 2024.”

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Published: 31/01/2024 10:33am by Banbury FM Newsteam

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