SDLP Foyle MLA Mark H Durkan
The funding set aside for the promotion of road safety initiatives was returned at a time when the number of serious injuries and deaths on NI roads continue to rise.
Speaking following the launch of the ‘Road Safety Strategy for Northern Ireland to 2030’ a framework to deliver road safety improvements and reduce fatalities on our roads, the Foyle MLA said:
“Despite the growing number of fatalities on our roads, vital funds intended to enhance road safety and protect lives have gone unused.
“The failure to allocate resources effectively raises serious concerns about the Executive’s commitment to tackling this escalating issue.
“I welcome the launch of this Strategy and I’m all for having ‘frank and honest conversations’ around safety but surely, the first conversation must be around how this strategy will be delivered and how will it be funded?
“Even one penny of underspend at a time when the Executive parties decry Whitehall for decimated budgets is unforgivable.
“From 2016 to 2022, road safety advertising benefitted from over £1m in campaign expenditure year on year.
“The total allocated funding for 2022/23 stood at £0. Which makes the return of £2.2 million for road safety initiatives all the more deplorable.
“I’m acutely aware that budgets have been decimated right across the board – in terms of roads safety, we see that in the PSNI reduction of the number of dedicated road and traffic officers and the decimation of our road infrastructure which has placed road users at risk.
“The Executive as a whole need to look at strategic spend – for example, pumping money into road improvements rather than flushing £25m down the drain on public liability claims for vehicle damage.
“Every life lost on our roads is a tragedy. The rising numbers of deaths must serve as an impetus do to better and employ innovative thinking in terms of strategically spending available funds and exploring cross border collaboration in order to keep people safe and save lives.
“I fully endorse Minister O’Dowd’s pleas for road users to exercise more care, and while road safety is a shared responsibility, this should not absolve government of its responsibility to make our roads safer.”
