Labour Group Calls For Wider Road Traffic Enforcement Rollout

The Swindon Labour Group has called on Swindon Council to produce a wide rollout of road traffic enforcement as part of a renewed Road Safety Partnership. Labour Shadow Lead for Transport, Councillor Jim Robbins, said that he supports greater road traffic enforcement for Thamesdown Drive but it was crucial that other roads which have also had safety problems are properly enforced also.

At the Thamedown Drive Public Meeting on July 22nd the Cabinet Member for Transport, Councillor Dale Heenan, committed Swindon Council to spending £180K on road traffic enforcement measures, including cameras and that it should work alongside a renewed road safety partnership between the council and the police.

According to council data, over the last 3 years accident numbers on some of Swindon’s dual carriageways includes:

The Labour Group’s Shadow Lead for Transport, Councillor Jim Robbins, said:

“It is great news that the Cabinet Member for Transport had said that he supports greater road traffic enforcement, including cameras. This is something the Labour Group has always supported and were disappointed when the Conservative administration sought to withdraw from such measures.

It is clear that enforcement measures need to be taken to make safer Thamesdown Drive but other roads also need to be made safer also. For example, based on Council data, there have been more accidents on Cricklade Road than Thamesdown Drive over the last 3 years.

With the Council seeking to instigate a new Road Safety Partnership I think this presents an excellent opportunity for us to speak to communities that live near to our busiest roads and ask them if they would like greater road traffic enforcement in order to make their roads safer.

At a time when there are more and more vehicles on our roads, more thought does need to be made on how we ensure our roads are safe for both motorists and pedestrians.”