4. What action is the Welsh Government taking to improve road safety in Wales? OQ56579

I thank the Member for that question. We routinely monitor data such as personal injury collisions, road geometry and use by pedestrians and cyclists to inform the need for road safety improvements. We are also taking forward initiatives to roll out 20 mph speed limits on restricted roads and tackling pavement parking.

Thank you for that answer, First Minister. The twenty seventh of June will mark the second anniversary of the tragic death of my constituent Olivia Alkir. She was just 17 years old and was killed in a car crash on a rural Denbighshire road. As a result of that tragedy, Olivia's mum, Jo, and Olivia's best friend, Joe Hinchcliffe, started a campaign, the Olivia's Legacy campaign, to promote safer driving, particularly amongst first-year drivers. And their campaign includes the request for all first-year drivers to have telematics devices in their vehicles, which, as you know, can promote improved, safer driving. First Minister, we've managed to secure the support of the chief constable of North Wales Police, Carl Foukes, and many others on this journey with this particular campaign. I appreciate that some of these things are not devolved matters, but can I ask: will you support now the Olivia Alkir legacy campaign to ensure that telematics devices can be something that we can encourage all young people to have in their cars in that critical first year after they've passed their test in order to avoid the awful tragedy that Olivia's family have suffered?

I thank Darren Millar for that. I do remember very well the very, very sad death of Olivia 12 months ago, and I can only imagine the impact that that will have had on her family. Like so many families, they have, as Darren Millar said, channelled their grief into trying to make sure that the same experience isn't shared by others. As far as I am aware, telematic services are not a responsibility devolved to us here in Wales, but I'm very happy to make sure I look carefully at the work of the campaign. 

One of the things that we do fund as a Welsh Government is the Pass Plus scheme for young people. So, it's free for young people in Wales. So, having passed their test, they can then go on to have a further six modules, as I remember, making sure that they don't think that just because they've passed their test, they're fit for all the challenges that driving on modern roads will face them. So, I very much want to associate myself with the general points that the Member has made, and give him an undertaking that I will look carefully at what the campaign is saying on the matter of telematics.

Gwent Police covers the South Wales East region that I represent. In recent years, they were the only police force to record a rise in road traffic accidents. A closer look at these figures shows that incidents where someone was seriously injured have more than doubled from 82 in 2015 to 179 in 2019. I've been involved in a speed reduction campaign on the streets of Six Bells in Blaenau Gwent; residents are worried that if something isn't done soon, somebody will be seriously injured before long. One of the barriers to introducing traffic calming measures is that a serious incident hasn't happened yet. We should be able to act before somebody dies. What can the Welsh Government do to streamline the process to enable communities like Six Bells to have more control over the traffic calming measures on their streets?

Llywydd, I thank the Member for the question. The annual police recorded road accident figures for 2020 will be published later this month, and we'll be able to take those into account in all local circumstances. I'm aware of the issue raised by the Member because it's been mentioned to me previously by the Senedd Member for Blaenau Gwent.

The call for investment in safety on all roads is a very genuine one, Llywydd, but the only way we are able to respond to it is by an evidence base. And I know that that can be frustrating for some communities, but it's the way in which we're able to make decisions that are fair across the whole of Wales. There is a very established way of doing that, using the GoSafe Wales system, and that allows us to collect evidence on a uniform basis through the whole of Wales and then to make investment decisions according to where the need is greatest. I understand the frustration of local campaigners at that, but making decisions on investment in advance of the facts would only serve to disadvantage some other areas where the calls will be equally insistent and equally important to a local population.

Would the First Minister agree with me that some of the best ways of improving road safety are to reduce speed limits in built-up areas, creating traffic-free zones and putting active travel at the peak of the travel pyramid? But how can we ensure that we persuade people to come with us on this journey to a fairer, greener and better future? How do we make it easier for people to make the wise choices for ourselves, for our communities, and for the planet, too?

Thank you very much once again to Huw Irranca-Davies for that question, and I do agree with him: it's one thing for the Government to do things—the Government here, or local authorities—and there are lots of things that we can do, and there are lots of things that we are going to do in the future, but it's another thing to persuade people to do the things that we can all do in our everyday lives. In my opinion, the most effective way to do this is through persuasion, to put everything in place to help them, and to persuade people, when they travel in a way that doesn't lead to climate change or changes in local environmental conditions, they're helping; they're helping their families and they're helping children and they're helping the community where they live. When we can persuade people to behave in that fashion, they can do everything that they can do and use the facilities that the Government can put in place to help them.