Road Safety
Championing road safety initiatives and supporting local campaigns to improve infrastructure.
Making Road Safety A Priority
One of the first campaigns I worked on as a councillor was on road safety and over the last 15 years I have been involved in multiple schemes to support residents in improving access for pedestrians, especially vulnerable people like those with visual impairments, mobility issues or children.
Reduced speed limits, particularly around schools and in places with limited pavements and safe routes away from cars can really increase the likelihood of children walking to school, residents taking more exercise and reduced congestion from excess car journeys.
Reducing the speed on roads where there is increased risk is not about targeting motorists but about prioritising people and as a councillor and now as an MP, it is something that fills my inbox.
Over the years, the cost and time to install new traffic lights or zebra crossings has increased hugely, as have the costs of putting in cycle lanes so that bikes can be separated from cars and from pedestrians. In an ideal world there would be no shared paths, but the space to make this a reality simply does not exist, and it is not a realistic expectation for councils to buy front gardens or sections of privately owned land to build the perfect road layout. Therefore, we have to compromise and work with the highway code which focuses on the hierarchy of risk. This means that those who are most at risk (pedestrians) have the greatest priority and motor vehicles (particularly heavy goods vehicles) who can cause the greatest harm and involve least personal risk sit at the bottom of the list.
Many people have not taken on board the changes to the highway code made several years ago and I welcome the Road Safety Strategy published by the Government in January 2026 which seeks to improve education and bring forward further changes to improve road safety. Several consultations were held following it’s publication and I asked several questions about driver licencing, safety improvements and technology. One area that I feel passionate about is a review of the National Speed Limit of 60mph. This feels completely out of step with the risk so many people face when walking, cycling or horse riding on our country lanes, and a spate of recent collisions on the Cranborne Road and elsewhere in Mid Dorset and North Poole has seen an increase in the number of residents asking me to do more to improve road safety.
Until there is a change of legislation, in the Dorset part of MDNP it is Dorset Council (or National Highways on the A31) who are responsible for changes to speed limits or other road safety changes.
I am always happy to add my support, but where you are seeking a road safety change in your community, please contact your ward councillor and your town or parish council who will need to support the scheme. In the BCP part of MDNP please liaise with your ward councillor in the first instance.
Our roads are much busier than they were in the past. Every driver who chooses to use public transport or active travel instead of jumping behind the wheel reduces the congestion for those who have no choice. I will therefore continue to support improvements in the coverage and service of buses and trains, as well as improving cycle routes, footpaths and bridleways as well as calling for sufficient funding for our two councils to maintain their roads to a high standard and install the latest technology to improve everyone’s journeys.