Road Safety Bill : House of Commons Bills 2004-05,10

The Bill contains 51 clauses and six schedules and makes provision for a range of road safety matters designed to help achieve the Government's road casualty reduction targets.

It includes measures relating to: drink-driving and speeding offences, penalties and enforcement matters, driver fatigue, driving standards, driver and vehicle licensing, and road safety grants to local authorities for road safety projects. Specific proposals include: i) the introduction of a broader and more flexible range of fixed penalties for speeding to take account of severity of offence and an increased range of penalty points available for road traffic offences such as lack of vehicle roadworthiness, driving whilst using a handheld mobile telephone, or careless driving, ii) to provide the police with powers to use roadside breath tests in evidence; iii) to require the worst drink-drive offenders to re-take the driving test; iv) to amend the current drink drive rehabilitation scheme to improve take-up and introduce an experimental scheme for alcohol ignition interlocks; v) to give the police powers to detect uninsured driving through the use of Automatic Number Plate Reading technology and access to insurance data; vi) to close the loophole which lets offenders at the highest risk of re-offending drive pending medical inquiries; and vii) to improve the enforcement of road traffic laws through changes to drive and vehicle licensing arrangements.