Liz Twist

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Anna Dixon) on securing this important debate and thank the Backbench Business Committee for allowing it. With over 1,624 people killed in collisions on our roads in 2023, something simply needs to change, and today that has come to the forefront. I welcome the Government’s announcement of a new road safety strategy, which is much needed and has the potential to reduce deaths and serious injuries on our roads by 65%. The proposals in the road safety strategy will address a number of issues that my constituents raise with me regularly, particularly the new guidance on local speed limits and enforcement. The issues of speeding and unsafe junctions routinely come up in my constituency work, and they directly affect constituents, whether it is speeding on Lead Road in Greenside, through the village of Dipton, or along the A694, where residents in Ebchester have been campaigning for safer road crossings and better speed enforcement. These issues plague the daily lives of my constituents and cause real concern, so it is welcome that the road safety strategy will look at them. It would be great to know how residents can have a greater and more meaningful say on the concerns they have about the roads in their communities.