The ruling Conservative party has launched a 30-point “plan for drivers” in a bid to make life easier for motorists across the UK.
Key to the new agenda is a clampdown on “anti-driver” policies aimed at increasing active travel and improving road safety. It highlighted the introduction of low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) and the blanket enforcement of reduced speed limits, such as Wales’ new 20mph speed limit in residential zones, as two examples.
The government will update the guidance for 20mph zones and LTNs with an emphasis on introducing them only where there is local support.
It had also pledged to make fines for traffic offences – such as inappropriate use of a yellow box junction – fairer and to prevent local authorities from profiteering on enforcement.
Local authorities will also be prevented from introducing so-called 15-minute cities. These are a prospective method of local infrastructural design aimed at providing all necessary amenities within a 15-minute walking radius of city residents.
No council formally operates a 15-minute city at present, but several across the country, including Bristol, Birmingham and Oxford, have stated an aim to eventually implement the policy.
The government suggested in its plan that 15-minute cities could eventually bring “excessive traffic restrictions and even permits to ration car use”.
To prevent their introduction, it will bar local authorities that pursue such measures from accessing Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) data.
Under a tranche of policies dubbed “smoother driving”, the government has also stated an aim to reduce the failure rate of road infrastructure, as well as the downtime incurred by repairs.
It will invest a total of £70 million to improve traffic lights, with £30m assigned to boost their reliability, £20m to improve their responsiveness to road conditions and £20m to explore the use of artificial intelligence to manage the flow of traffic in city centres.