Plans to improve road safety education while taking tough action against the small minority of dangerous drivers were set out by Transport Secretary Philip Hammond today.

Careless driving will be made a fixed penalty offence to allow the police more effectively to tackle reckless driving that puts other road users in danger, while disqualified drivers face having to take a new test before regaining their licence.

There will also be more educational courses that can be offered in place of a fixed penalty and points in appropriate cases as well as a new post-test qualification for novice drivers, under plans set out in the new Strategic Framework for Road Safety.

The new Strategic Framework for Road Safety sets out the government’s plans to:

• Make careless driving a fixed penalty offence to allow the police more effectively to tackle the wilfully reckless driving that puts other road users in danger. Guidance will ensure that that the circumstances in which a fixed penalty notice is appropriate are clearly defined.
• Require offenders to pass a test before they regain their licence after a serious disqualification.
• Make greater use of powers to seize vehicles to keep the most dangerous drivers off the roads.
• Increase the level of fixed penalty notices for traffic offences from £60 to between £80 and £100 and penalty points. Levels have fallen behind those for other fixed penalty offences, which risks trivialising the offences.
• Improve enforcement against drink and drug driving, as announced in the response to the North Report in March.
  Increase the use of police-approved educational courses that can be offered in place of fixed penalty notices to encourage safer driving behaviour.
• Launch a new post-test qualification for new drivers, including an assessment process to give insurers confidence that it will create safer drivers who can expect to pay lower insurance costs. This will replace the current Pass Plus scheme.
• Continue to improve the driving and motorcycling training processes, including introducing film clips into theory test.
• Create a new website to allow local people to easily compare the road safety performance of their local area against similar areas, as well as a new portal to help road safety professionals share information. The framework published today also includes maps which show the recent road safety records and improvements of local authorities.
• Launch an annual road safety day.

The framework also sets out the roles and responsibilities of local authorities, road safety professionals and other stakeholders in improving road safety and the increased freedom that is being given to local authorities in assessing and acting on their own priorities.

The government’s long term vision is to ensure that Britain remains a world leader on road safety and the department will monitor its performance against indicators in a new road safety outcomes framework.