The Home Affairs President has acknowledged that “more work needs to be done” to make Guernsey’s roads safer for all users.
Deputy Rob Prow was asked about the recent police community meeting, held last Friday evening, where traffic safety concerns were raised.
Deputy John Gollop was at that meeting and he said he was not surprised that traffic safety was such a prominent issue.
During this morning’s States meeting, he asked Deputy Prow whether Home Affairs will put more resources into “effective education and policing of pavement surfing, excessive speeds, and looking at appropriate road speeds and junctions, and safety alignments”.
Deputy Prow said it is essentially a matter for the police to deal with, but his committee would support measures to improve road safety.
“(Deputy Gollop) is right, from the feedback I’ve received, both from Deputy Vermeulen and the Chief of Police, is that many issues and challenges were raised, and that rightly the public concern around traffic and the standard of driving was raised as a concern.
“I think the best answer I can give Deputy Gollop is that it is now a matter for the police to digest the feedback that they’ve received, and they will work with the Committee to see what more needs to be done and can be done in a very congested road network.”
With the election approaching, any changes to laws around traffic or road safety will be a matter for the next Home Affairs Committee to deal with, but Deputy Prow said he is proud of his Committee’s track record on the matter during this term of office.
“This term, we’ve worked very much with Environment and Infrastructure around all these issues, and that both committees are very aware and doing everything they can to make our roads safer. But (Deputy Gollop) is right, this, this obviously a matter of public concern, and more work needs to be done.”
Deputy de Sausmarez asked Deputy Prow if Guernsey might follow a recent example set in Jersey where a ‘collision and casualty reduction plan’ has been implemented based on a safe systems approach.
Deputy Prow agreed that yes, he would like to see something similar in Guernsey too.
“The short the short answer is yes, absolutely, and I would endorse what I said before about working with her Committee for the Environment and Infrastructure, around any study, any initiatives, that we can do to make Guernsey’s roads safer.”