Clwyd South MP calls for urgent Government action to tackle speeding

The MP for Clwyd South has called on the Government to U-turn on police cuts and take urgent action to tackle speeding offences.

Susan Elan Jones MP raised both of the issues in Parliament yesterday – stating that it was time more police were funding to patrol rural roads.

The Clwyd South MP was road safety charity Brake’s 2014 Parliamentarian of the Year and has previously introduced a road safety bill to Parliament.

We’ve got an opposition day debate on rural crime today. I’ll be speaking about why the Government needs to fund more Police officers and why we need to do much more to tackle dangerous speeding on our roads.

— Susan Elan Jones MP (@susanelanjones) June 6, 2018

Speaking in the House of Commons Chamber, Susan Elan Jones MP quoted January Home Office figures that revealed the number of neighbourhood police officers in North Wales had fallen from 160 to 90 in five years.

“It is time we brought in proper speeding bans, time we funded more police to watch over our rural roads, and time we took the issue of speeding seriously,” she said.

“I really hope that this will become a much bigger issue in years to come and that the Government will act.”

Speaking after the debate in which the Clwyd South MP gave examples of speeding of up to 140 mph on country roads.

Ms Jones said: “We’ve seen recently on the A5 here in North Wales a crazy situation where a driver can do 122 miles per hour and get a driving ban of only 56days, or 138 miles per hours and a ban of only 90 days.

“A car or a bike is a really dangerous weapon. It may not injure or kill every time, but every time someone drives at these unbelievable speeds, it makes it more likely that really serious accidents will occur.

“Small wonder that organisations like the Institute of Advanced Motorists want longer driving bans, more visible policing and more anti-speeding tuition.

“The Government needs to fund extra police and increase the length of driving bans in the most serious cases.”